A longtime Farrington high school teacher is retiring from service there because recent Department of Education (DOE) policy reforms have led to an increase in interference and top-down policies, making it impossible for her to continue teaching effectively. Judy Sadoyama writes, on her blog, a farewell letter to the DOE, outlining her reasons for leaving:

Today I end a 24-year teaching career.  It’s not because I can officially retire—I have enough years of service but not age.  It’s not because of ill health—thank goodness.  It’s not because I don’t like my job—I’m passionate about teaching and since I was a high school sophomore, it’s the only career I ever thought to pursue.  It’s not because I don’t have good colleagues—I have the best team on campus. It’s not because I don’t like my students—I think I relate well to them and I truly care about them.

After 24 years, I am leaving because the DOE is making it impossible for me to stay.  As a teacher, I knew I would be subject to a top-heavy bureaucracy and there would be cumbersome policies that I would be called upon to implement. I’ve seen a lot of change in the two-plus decades I’ve been at Farrington (my alma mater, by the way) and though I didn’t always like the policies, I was always willing to roll with it and give it a try.

Not anymore.

The system is abusive to its teachers and the worst part of it is it is the better teachers who are most affected by this abuse.  Bad teachers go on doing what they always do:  NOTHING.  They don’t relate well to the kids, they ride on the coattails of their colleagues and when called to task, they plead ignorance.  They must do it well because there are too many of them and they make the same amount of money, or more, than I do.

Yet it’s never been about the monetary angle for me.  It’s the inconsistencies and the contradictions; rather than take care of these “educators,” the system passes policies across the board; policies that make more work for the good teachers who are conscientious professionals and policies that don’t truly serve the population they claim to:  the students.

Dear DOE, I am tired of you.  I am tired of you poking your nose into my classroom and telling me what you think is best for my kids. And they truly are “my” kids.  I am the one who identifies their weaknesses and tailors my teaching to them.  I am the one who challenges them to excel and holds them to a standard that is high, but realistic. I see them as the individuals they are and you judge them based on STANDARDIZED tests?  How dare you!

Though I would like to say that I am personally unlike the DOE, I’m afraid that’s not true.  You see I, too, have STANDARDS, professional and personal standards that do not agree with the changes being made.  I refuse to be a part of anything I cannot support.  I refuse to go through the motions.  And, I refuse to put aside my personal values for the sake of a job. 

People keep asking me if I’m sad.  Of course I am.  I will miss teaching and I will certainly miss my kids. But mostly, I am sad that it had to come to this; teaching should have been my only career.

Originally published on Derrick DePledge’s Political Radar:

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa on Friday will debut her first television advertisement in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, a spot that stresses her roots growing up on the Leeward coast.

The ad shows the congresswoman driving past her family’s service station in Waianae and shopping at a local grocery.

“I was very fortunate to be born and raised in Waianae,” she says in the ad. “We didn’t have many privileges. But I learned from my parents, family and neighbors the values of Hawaii. How to work hard, and do your best with every opportunity you have. And I know with every opportunity comes obligation, to help others, to give back, to represent Hawaii well.”

Hanabusa is challenging U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz in the primary.