Hawaii: Teachers Bribed with $410 to Learn How to Make Teens Gay-Friendly?

The Southern Poverty Law Center recently conducted a voluntary two-day training session in Hawaii for teachers interested in piloting the “Perspectives” program. The workshop was meant to precede a research portion in which participating teachers incorporate the materials into their classrooms and then provide the center with feedback. Twenty-eight teachers participated in the workshop and volunteered to teach the lessons to their students, according to DOE spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz.

Hawaii is one of just six school districts to pilot the program. Roughly 200 teachers are formally taking part nationwide, according to Costello, while another 500 or so are informally experimenting with the materials and providing feedback.

The teachers received $160 in compensation from the DOE for participating in the Saturday workshop, as is standard under department policy. They got an additional $250 stipend from the Southern Poverty Law Center for attending the session and helping the center with its research.

McDermott describes that second stipend as “a bribe.”

“I am unaware of any circumstance under which a private, nongovernmental entity can make such large, direct payments to teachers without running afoul of ethical standards,” McDermott wrote in his memo to the DOE. “It would be equally troubling if the tea party of the conservative Focus on the Family were allowed to similarly influence public teachers and educators in their decision-making regarding curricula.”

Les Kondo, executive director of the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, declined to comment, saying the commission has received an inquiry from McDermott about the issue and is looking into it. He said he doesn’t know of another instance in which the commission has been asked to examine this issue, though it has received relatively similar inquiries in the past about things like state employees receiving money to speak at events.