The state attorney general is conducting a theft investigation of teachers and staff at the Myron B. Thompson Academy who may have been paid improperly for compensatory time, chief investigator Dan Hanagami told a state judge Tuesday.
There could be a case to be made if the school has paid people for time they were not at the school, Hanagami said. He also said there were other entities being paid in a manner not in line with normal business practices.
"If these people we are investigating are members of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, they cannot receive comp time benefits without a special agreement with the HSTA," Hanagami said.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser first reported on allegations of nepotism at the charter school in 2010, raising questions about accountability at charter schools. The newspaper reported that Principal Diana Oshiro had hired her sister, Kurumi Kaapana-Aki, as vice principal of the elementary school. Kaapana-Aki was also working full time as a flight attendant for Hawaiian Airlines. Although teachers were expected to attend school daily, she was often absent.
The attorney general’s office went to court to ask Circuit Judge Richard Perkins to order HSTA to turn over material the department had requested in a subpoena it served on the teachers union in September.
The office wants a list of all HSTA members working at the school and any and all special provisions granted to charter schools and their employees to deviate from practices outside the teachers union’s collective bargaining agreement. The office also wants HSTA to provide to department investigators a union official who can explain various sections of the collective bargaining agreement and can comment on practices by charter school HSTA members that may be outside the scope of the agreement.
Perkins granted the request.
HSTA had said it will not voluntarily turn over what the attorney general has subpoenaed because doing so would violate the constitutional right of members to associate and bargain collectively. Union lawyers had also said the information is not subject to disclosure.
To address HSTA’s concerns, Deputy Attorney General Vince Kanemoto said the union can redact all personal confidential information from the material and that the attorney general’s office is not interested in communications between the union and members.
Hanagami said the office needs the material to confirm material school officials have already turned over. He said school officials issued documents that are not signed by any HSTA official. He said there is no confirmation that the list of employees the school provided is accurate, and that the school lists multiple people for a single position.
Kanemoto said, "We’re not comfortable with the information from MBTA."
The attorney general’s office has also asked the State Ethics Commission to turn over all records relating to charges the commission served on Oshiro and Kaapana-Aki. The commission is so far refusing to do so.
In 2011 members of the Charter School Review Panel initiated probation and revocation proceedings after the school failed to answer questions about hiring practices.
In addition to Kaapana-Aki, Oshiro hired three nephews. Oshiro put two of Kaapana-Aki’s sons on staff even though they had no college degrees or teaching licenses. One was the athletic director even though the school had no sports teams. The other was the school’s film teacher. A third Kaapana-Aki son worked as a part-time clerk.
New questions arose after an audit showed Kaapana-Aki received a $35,000 bonus in addition to her salary and that the school made a $175,000 donation to a nonprofit foundation set up to support the school.
