Chairman of the House Education Committee, Vaetasi Tu’umolimoli Moliga said when the Education Committee visited the governor last week, it was not a strike or “solo tete’e” because of their personal ties to those working for SPED. He was referring to a report by Samoa News of the Department of Education director’ remarks about the visit.

In the email from the Education director, she describes the ‘visit’ as a strike or a “solo tete’e’ and noted that many were related or were friends (uo) with SPED employees.

Vaetasi, who is the governor’s brother, explained that they are representatives elected by traditional leaders and members of the public and their visit was to understand the situation at SPED. He further noted that the governor was already aware of the SPED issues when they had the meeting.

His comments were made during a hearing on Wednesday before the House on the issues pertaining to DOE, including the recent drama with the Special Education Program.

Human Resources Director, Sonny Thompson, SPED Assistant Director, Jeanette Vasai Tilo and DOE Director Vaitinasa Salu Hunkin Finau were called to testify.

The House Education Committee visited the governor last week, after DOE moved to decentralize SPED following a review by five Special Education professionals from the Hawai’i Department of Education, which cited lack of accountability and major non-compliance in the services provided for local SPED children.

During the hearing, Vaetasi said the words “solo te’ete’e” — or strike — used by the DOE Director in describing their visit to the governor — did not sit well with the Education Committee, noting that he and lawmakers went to see the governor about the problems with SPED.

He said solo te’ete’e has a deeply negative meaning, while what they did was to try to get a message to the governor as to what was happening. He was adamant that they did not go see the governor last week in the manner of a strike as described by the DOE Director.

Vaetasi instead pointed out that there is a lack of communication between the SPED Assistant Director and the DOE and that is the problem.

He said, communication or “soalaupule” — when you really look at this word it means, the authority to communicate among others, but it’s not done solely by one person. The Chair said communication is very important because when you make the decision all by yourself, that will not work. He then made it clear that a Director has the authority to run their own department, however they should communicate with one another.

Vaetasi stated that while he’s not familiar with technology nowadays, he is a great reader and can read between the lines as to what is aired publicly.

With all due respect to Vaitinasa, Vaetasi said, whatever was publicly published is one’s freedom to express — however in the Samoan language there is a proverb that goes “e iai e fa’alele… e iai e maitau” (there are those who talk and there are others who are listening and observing).

He then said that whatever was published publicly does not have a bearing on the House.

Vaetasi continued, this time saying he has also told the DOE Director there is a lack of communication between the House Education Committee and DOE — and the Director must keep them informed of certain issues, or they are left in the dark. And, from what he’s heard, it’s been six months since the governor was informed as to the changes at SPED, Vaetasi said in Samoan.

Vaetasi further stated that when the SPED officials came to meet with the Fono last week, they were not aware as to what had happened — and even with the letters going back and forth, other lawmakers received them, but he was not kept in the loop.

“And the question that poses is why?… _Why is the Chairman of the Education Committee not informed of these delicate issues? We should be working together for the betterment of the students involved… and this problem should not happen again.”

Vaetasi urged Vaetinasa to keep them informed if there are any drastic changes to the DOE so the lawmakers would then know how to address the matter when the public approaches them.

He took up with the DOE Director — again — that traditional leaders and members of public elected lawmakers and that’s something that should not be taken lightly as they are elected leaders of the counties.

“No, we will not bring our family ties into the Fono, we are here to serve the public and if there are concerns raised by the public, that’s our job to look into it,” said Vaetasi. He also told the DOE Director that this is an internal matter and it should've been solved internally. He was “saddened that the governor had to step into this matter,” Vaetasi said in Samoan.

The Chairman also asked Vaitinasa to give Tilo a hug, which she did.

Responding to the comments and recommendations by the Chairman, Vaitinasa apologized to the lawmakers as to what was said, however she stated that there were attempts to keep this matter internal, but that was not the case, it was publicized.

She pointed out that she was shocked when the lawmakers went directly to the governor, instead of calling her to come before the Fono to discuss the matter. However, Vaitinasa said, what matters the most in all of this — is the students.

CABINET MEETING

In a brief interview with the DOE Director, at the Cabinet meeting held yesterday, at the Agriculture Conference Room, she explained to Samoa News that Governor Lolo M. Moliga has supported the move for all SPED teachers to be assigned to the five districts for all the disabled students in all the schools — to decentralize the program.

She explained that there are 923 students with special needs from the 14,000 students attending DOE schools, and close to 300 teachers with SPED starting from the Early Childhood Education up to High School. She said that the students would be better served within their districts when the teachers head out to the schools.