In the days and weeks since the brutal assault on a Moanalua High School assistant athletic director, the union has been a vocal proponent of stricter protections for public servants.
This week, Executive Director Randy Perreira told Honolulu Civil Beat that school employees need more support from the state when threats, harassment and assaults occur. Our Moanalua Unit 6 member, for instance, had to hire her own attorney to guide her through the restraining order process, rather than the state taking on the burden given the incident occurred while the employee was working.
The incident marked an escalation in safety concerns for employees. Just a few years ago, a DOE communications director and nearly a dozen other employees received harassment and threats from one particular parent. Teachers are frequently the target of threats, too.
For our part, we issued a scathing letter in the aftermath of the Moanalua incident calling for action from the state, particularly the Hawaii Attorney General’s office.
“We are already aware that Ms. Iwamoto had to seek a restraining order from the courts on her own without State assistance; sadly, this is par for the course for our Department of the Attorney General and the DOE,” Perreira wrote.
The AG’s office told Civil Beat that state law doesn’t authorize them to represent state employees filing restraining orders.
In short, the message from the state to petrified employees: You’re on your own.
Perhaps it is time for this to change as the state Legislature prepares for a new session. HGEA is ready to support any bill that creates support for employees facing harassment, threats and assault. Such measures have failed to garner support from lawmakers in the past.
