Since 1972, when the Hawaii State Teachers Association signed its first contract, no deal approved by the union leadership and put out for a vote has been rejected.

So the overwhelming "no" vote on the proposed teachers’ contract comes as a wake-up call to union leaders as well as to the state.

"There has never been an HSTA collective-bargaining agreement that was not ratified until this one," said Joan Husted, former executive director and longtime chief negotiator for the union.

"We never sent anything out to the teachers that we weren’t reasonably sure was going to get ratified. We were very careful to explain everything. … Even after three weeks of a strike, when we took the contract out to them, they ratified it overwhelmingly."

This time around, the contract proved too bitter a pill. Some teachers said they felt pressured into a quick response to a deal that wasn’t adequately explained, particularly the new evaluation system that would tie pay raises in part to student performance. Many turned to the union’s Facebook page to make sure the leadership got the message behind their votes.

"HSTA did a very poor job of explaining the offer to teachers and needs to be far more proactive on contract issues," Tracy Palmgren wrote in a post.

Added Campbell High teacher Danny Pecoraro, "Please exhaust every avenue before thinking strike. We do not want to strike; we want evaluations spelled out. We are expected to use rubrics for our students, so why not ask for one ourselves?"

HSTA President Wil Okabe, who is up for re-election later this spring, affirmed that he would reach out to teachers to determine the union’s next steps. So did Board of Education Chairman Don Horner.

"Our teachers clearly have concerns, primarily about the evaluation process," Horner said. "Our task as a board is to listen and to identify and to address those concerns over the coming weeks. A key to any evaluation is that it’s fair and it’s done well."

He added that he remained confident because "our teachers have the same goal as the board and the department, which is the best interests of students."

Over the last year Hawaii’s public schools appeared to be making headway. Hawaii was the only state to show significant gains on math and reading test scores in the National Assessment of Educational Progress in both fourth and eigth grades last year, attracting national attention. Winning a $75 million grant in the Race to the Top competition was a coup. And voters who chose to switch to an appointed Board of Education were hoping it would prove more nimble in getting results.

"It seems like we were going forward, and this definitely seems like a step backward," said Melanie Bailey, a parent who pushed successfully for legislation to increase instructional time in public schools.

Husted said the contract rejection has serious ramifications for relations among the Department of Education, the state administration and the union.

"It’s not a minor event," she said. "It’s a major, major event. How do you problem-solve from this point forward? How is the administration assured that HSTA can sell what they agreed to? And how can HSTA agree to things without knowing where their teachers are? This is a very serious problem."

In any case, the notion of assessing teacher performance based in part on classroom results is not likely to go away.

"That is the way of the future," said Terry George, chief operating officer of the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, which has invested heavily in training to improve instructional leadership in Hawaii.

"We have heard from Washington that future federal grants are going to encourage, support and in some cases require the ability to tie student work to specific classrooms so we can better understand what works," George said.

"One of the best things about this proposed work," he added, "is to find out who are our master teachers and who can serve as mentors, particularly to new teachers."

"When it’s done right, this is coaching that makes teachers feel more supported and allows for genuine dialogue about to how to develop the skills and create the conditions in the classroom where all kids can succeed."