I know how Thomas Jon Giel can get a $2,2000 bonus (“Teachers get bonuses; other workers left out,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, May 13):

>> Go to college full-time for four years, pass all the Praxis tests, student teach, and pay for it.

>> Secure a teaching job.

>> Write a curriculum that satisfies Common Core Standards and is appropriate for your students; satisfy a daunting amount of Department of Education requirements and get assessed on it; teach yourself ever-changing technology and apply it immediately; stay hours after the required school day and/or take work home; deal with stressed parents and document all communication, taking 100% responsibility; and actually teach (maybe online and face-to-face at the same time).

Spend much of personal breaks recovering from teaching, preparing for the next round of school, and taking care of family/home tasks that you didn’t have to time to get done during school days.

Educational assistants get to go home after work and are responsible for a fraction of the things teachers are.

If you want the “big bucks,” then you stop whining and become a teacher.

Louise Furniss

Kalihi

Many workers help schools run smoothly

All school personnel deserve equitable appreciation.

To be clear, I am not in opposition of the teachers’ receipt of the $2,200 bonus. I feel that teachers have worked tirelessly throughout this pandemic.

However, our custodians, clerical staff, security staff, educational assistants, head custodian, cafeteria manager, school safety officer and SASA have worked exponentially hard and tirelessly this past year and deserve the same.

Our custodians deep-clean the campus so that our students and staff are safe. Cafeteria workers worked in the summer and school year distributing 300-400 meals a day to our community. Clerical staff provide responses to questions from parents. Educational assistants provide the behind-the-scenes support in and out of the classroom. And classified supervisors were helping me coordinate and plan safety protocols as well as provide the leadership to their departments.

Every group plays a critical role in order for a school to operate successfully.

Richard Fajardo

Principal, Kapolei Middle School

Listen to experts who predicted rail’s failure

The commentary, “Why Honolulu’s rail system should end at Middle Street” (Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, May 10), written by Cliff Slater, Panos Prevedouros and Randall Roth, should be required reading by all city elected officials and the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.

These three highly regarded citizens have been warning Honolulu about the cost overruns and construction delays since the very beginning of the project.

Cliff Slater has provided remarkably accurate details about the future of rail since 2007, and has been correct in his predictions. We cannot say the same about those who have been responsible for building rail.

What was proposed as a $2.7 billion, 34-mile rail system that linked east Kapolei to Ala Moana Center and then the University of Hawaii at Manoa, has changed to a $12 billion, 20-mile system to who knows where.

Let’s not discount what these three individuals are telling us now. Stop rail now.

Earl Arakaki

Ewa Beach

Most presidents trusted science, acted quickly

John Tamashiro should be educated on why we are in this pandemic in the first place (“Biden’s policies create a nation in crisis,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, May 17).

We have had virus outbreaks in the past under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Yet we’ve never had to employ drastic public health or economic measures.

Why? Unlike recent attempts, previous administrations appreciated the role of science, took immediate action, focused on the issue instead of passing blame, and placed a high standard for the health and safety of everyone.

Instead of trying to assign blame, of which there is plenty to go around, we should be standing together. I implore Tamashiro to do the same.

Ryan Tin Loy

Nuuanu

Base city’s tier system on vaccination numbers

Since the increasing number of COVID-19 infections doesn’t bother the mayor, and he uses the number of vaccinations as a reason, I suggest we tie the number of vaccinations to moving to the next tier.

That way, we can’t go back to a lower tier, because the number of vaccinations can’t decrease. But the requirement to advance to the next tier may be enough to encourage the vaccine-hesitant to make the effort.

Cyrus Won

Wilhelmina Rise

Show only numbers of fully vaccinated people

As of May 13, the total number of vaccine shots given in Hawaii was roughly 1.42 million. Of that total, fewer than 600,000 were fully vaccinated: 42%.

Why are we all excited about reaching a high percentage of people vaccinated in Hawaii when we are not even at 50% of those fully vaccinated?

So stop listing the total doses unless it reflects those who are fully vaccinated. You are giving people a false sense of hope. Those who don’t want the vaccine will just figure, “Oh good, no need get the shot because we are at herd immunity.”

Kip Anderson

Salt Lake

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