With more than 40 years’ experience in education on the Big Island, Pat Bergin, director of Early Childhood Education at Kanu o ka ‘Aina Learning `Ohana, was nominated for the Hawaii State Board of Education this spring by Governor David Ige. On July 1, she assumed the new volunteer position and will serve a three-year term while maintaining her full-time work at the Waimea charter school.
“I represent the Big Island,” she said. “It will take some listening and learning to get up to speed but it’s exciting. I’ve only attended two official Board meetings and I am already very impressed with my colleagues, how knowledgeable they are and thoughtful in their questioning. I’m very pleased to be a part of this body of people.”
As one of nine members, Bergin commutes to Oahu twice a month for board meetings and serves on two of the four committees: Student achievement and human resources. It’s been 10 years since Bergin left the DOE, bringing a new perspective to the board from her charter school.
“I had been thinking it was about time for me to retire, for the third time, and was asked to apply for the position by an old friend,” Bergin said. “I then had to go through a vetting process with the legislation and the education committee chair. I thought, this may be my last opportunity to see if I can help change what the education landscape is like for our children.”
Bergin has several priorities in mind while serving on the State Board of Education.
“The most important thing for me is the governor’s initiative for changing the way we do things in education in Hawaii,” Bergin said. “He wants to empower people at the school level to determine what is the best way to collaborate with their communities on how they would like to see their children educated and then be held accountable to that. In a way, this is kind of like the expectation for charter schools. Our power is with the school board and yet we have the flexibility to go ahead so that model would suit other public institutions quite well. However, you can’t expect to give people that kind of responsibility unless you provide the support system that goes along with that. I believe that is the intention of people who are looking at trying to do things differently.”
She has other ideas of her own as well.
“I would love to see our schools more innovative in their approach to learning,” she said. “I also feel very strongly that we can no longer look at the education in our immediate environment. We need to prepare our children to be part of the global learning environment. Everything we do impacts each other on a global level and I think our kids are ready for that.”
The Board of Education also encourages community members to voice what they feel should be top priorities moving forward. Two public meetings are scheduled in West Hawaii in August to review future education initiatives.
“The changes in the new federal law are now allowing more flexibility, so I think the time for change is now because all the pieces are coming together,” Begin said. “If we don’t act collaboratively to try to change the whole dynamic of public education in Hawaii, we may have missed an opportunity.
She added, “I think we have to be a little more creative in our approach and change the mindset of how we educate students because we are still hanging on to the way we were educated ourselves. I’d like to think that, given the opportunity, schools, administrators and their teachers can come up with some excellent ideas. We have some outstanding administrators and teachers in the public education system.”
