Fates of police, telescope, schools in the balance in 2017

The next 12 months may prove to be a watershed year for three of Hawaii’s biggest stories, starting with embattled Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, whose fate may be known as soon as Wednesday.

That’s when the Honolulu Police Commission is expected to take a hard look at the situation and decide what to do next.

Kealoha turned in his badge and firearm last month under voluntary restricted status after receiving a letter informing him that he is the target of a federal grand jury investigation.

Commission Chairman Max Sword has declined to comment on what options the commission will consider at its meeting or to specifically say whether termination will be one of the options.

But Mayor Kirk Caldwell has urged the commission to take decisive action, and other community leaders have called for a change in leadership, saying the ongoing controversy has tainted the department, created morale problems and eroded public trust.

The grand jury is investigating alleged corruption within HPD stemming from a case over a stolen mailbox. That mailbox belonged to Kealoha and his wife, Katherine, a deputy prosecutor, and the case has led to a tangle of investigations, lawsuits and unflattering publicity.

Maintaining that he has done nothing wrong and has no intention of stepping down, Kealoha has described the ongoing criticism of him as “baseless attacks” from those who either misunderstand or are pursuing a political agenda.

But removing the chief might not be so easy since Kealoha signed his employment contract under the commission’s old rules, not the new voter-approved ones that will enable the panel to remove or suspend a chief for any reason, including behavior inconsistent with the public interest.

Before November’s vote, the commission could fire a chief only for cause or, as the charter stated, for “continuous maladministration” after giving him or her a reasonable period to correct the problem.

Telescope in the balance

The next few months are also pivotal to the stalled Thirty Meter Telescope, the $1.4 billion next-generation observatory planned atop Mauna Kea.

The TMT International Observatory board continues to assert that it needs a permit in enough time to secure funding to launch construction by the spring of 2018.

If not, the plan is to take the project to the Canary Islands. Last month TMT Executive Director Ed Stone said the board is closing in on a backup agreement securing a site there.

Meanwhile, the Hawaii Supreme Court-ordered replay of the project’s contested case hearing continues to plod ahead with 14 days of hearings scheduled in January and at least 35 witnesses being questioned by two dozen parties. At this rate, the hearing could stretch on for months.

House Majority Leader Scott Saiki (D, McCully-Kaheka-Kakaako-Downtown), worried the process is “rapidly headed in a downward spiral,” called for the state’s highest court to appoint a special master to oversee the case to ensure a timely decision free of due process issues.

Looming over all of this is a court ruling by Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura, who said the state Board of Land and Natural Resources should have held a contested case hearing before it consented to a sublease between the University of Hawaii at Hilo and TMT.

Will there be yet another contested case to generate further delay? That may not be known until Nakamura issues his written order.

New school law, leader

Big changes are in store for Hawaii’s public schools this year as the search for a superintendent gets underway and a new federal education law takes effect.

The state Board of Education is looking to have a new schools chief in place by the summer to replace Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi, whose contract ends in June; she has not been asked to stay on.

The new leader will join the 10th largest school district in the nation, with 180,000 students, at a critical time for public education. Responsibilities include implementing both a newly adopted strategic plan that outlines goals covering student achievement and staff development, as well as a long-range “education blueprint” authored by volunteers hand-picked by Gov. David Ige.

Adding to the changing landscape will be the scheduled implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act. The federal law, which replaces No Child Left Behind, was designed to devolve federal control over public education to states when it comes to school accountability, teacher evaluations, student testing and support for struggling schools. States are required to submit a plan to the feds before the law takes effect for the 2017-18 school year.

Officials say, however, that although the new law passed both chambers of Congress with strong bipartisan support, it’s unclear what will actually be enforced under the new presidential administration.

Meanwhile, funding for school facilities — namely, air conditioning for classrooms — is expected to remain a top priority at the state Capitol.

While the governor pledged to cool 1,000 classrooms last year, fewer than 50 were completed, and Ige has budgeted another $62 million for the upcoming fiscal year.