Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.
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School districts in California may be able to solve Hawaii’s oversupply of teachers in the public school system.
Walton M. Gordon, Superintendent of Public Instruction, said recently he has received letters from two California school districts stating they are interested in teachers who do not have jobs this fall.
The Department of Public Instruction announced last week it cannot place 216 applicants for Island teaching positions this fall.
“We will release from contract without penalty any teacher we have hired for fall if we have someone to fill the position,” Gordon said in response to the California offer.
He said the D.P.I. has an oversupply of English, social studies, boys’ physical education and commercial teachers.
“But we don’t have enough kindergarten or girls’ physical education teachers,” he said.
Baldwin Park and West Covina unified school districts, both outside of Los Angeles, California, are looking for teachers at the elementary and high school levels.
Gordon said the D.P.I. is sending the qualifications of teachers waiting for positions here to both these districts.
He said he is also writing other California school districts to see if he can fine more vacancies.
Anyone interested in applying to the Los Angeles school districts should contact Lawrence Magee at Baldwin Park and Norbert F. Fuelling at Covina.
Both are directors of personnel services for their respective districts.
The D.P.I. does not have a definite plan to take care of the teacher supply if teachers will not go to the Mainland, Gordon said.
“But we will act a whole lot differently in hiring teachers next year,” he said. He declined to say how.
Gordon said this is the first time Hawaii has had too many teachers since 1942 when high school enrollment dropped because of the war.
He claimed today’s teacher supply is due to increased salaries, better social security benefits, fewer contract terminations and sabbatical leaves and better military accommodations.
