Politics still at the heart of education reinvention

I supported the 2010 constitutional amendment to replace the elected Board of Education with one appointed by the governor, hoping it would get crippling politics out of public schools.

I should have known you can’t remove politics from anything in Hawaii.

We’ve only exchanged the old school board’s petty politics of indecision and infighting for the grand politics of reinventing education with every new state administration.

Same result either way: Struggling schools struggle on because we never settle on a sound reform plan and give it a fair chance to work.

Former Gov. Neil Abercrombie appointed a distinguished board in 2011 that included four CEOs — Don Horner of First Hawaiian Bank, Wesley Lo of Maui Memorial Medical Center, Cheryl Kauhane Lupenui of the Oahu YWCA and Jim Williams of the Hawaii Employer-Union Benefits Trust Fund.

They inherited Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi from the old board, but worked harmoniously with her to enact a strategic plan that emphasized getting the Three R’s right, fixing underperforming schools, improving curriculum and demanding accountability from teachers, principals and administrators alike.

Teachers fought linking pay to performance and principals bristled at the greater scrutiny; retired Moanalua High Principal Darrel Galera became the voice of the disgruntled and called for Matayoshi’s removal.

The teachers’ union and Galera went full-on political, backing David Ige in his upset of Abercrombie in 2014, and just like that we had education reinvention 2.0.

Ige began replacing Abercrombie’s BOE appointees with his cohorts and circumvented Matayoshi by naming a task force headed by Galera to write a new “blueprint” for public schools.

Ige’s wife, Dawn, a former vice principal who worked with Galera at Moanalua, has been deeply involved; BOE Chairman Lance Mizumoto acknowledged it was the first lady and not the governor who broached the subject of him joining the board.

The Matayoshi plan pursued specific and measurable goals such as better reading and math scores, improved attendance, fewer dropouts and more public school graduates going to college with less need for remedial classes.

Ige’s plan, not yet finished, talks vaguely about preparing students for an innovation-driven economy and empowering school leaders.

Once Ige had a majority, the Board of Education announced Matayoshi wouldn’t be rehired despite stellar performance reviews and named Ige’s newest school board appointee, Galera, to head a subcommittee that set the search process for her replacement.

This week, just as the call went out for applicants, Galera stepped down from the board to apply for the job himself, causing the Castle Foundation to withdraw a $50,000 grant to pay for the search out of concern the process was rigged.

The BOE insists Galera isn’t a lock for superintendent, but nobody is betting against him unless the other finalist is Dawn Amano-Ige.

It’s all for the keiki, right?

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.