Charter school copes with principal’s sudden departure

Hawaii Technology Academy, the state’s largest public charter school, said Tuesday there would be no disruption to student services or daily operations at the Waipahu school after the departure of its top administrator last week.

Louis Saint-Cyr, Hawaii Technology Academy’s local school board chairman, declined to say why Jeff Piontek was no longer employed at the school and would not say whether Piontek resigned or was terminated.

Piontek had been at Hawaii Tech for nearly three years. He declined comment.

Unlike other public school principals, Piontek was a private employee, whose position was funded by K12 Inc., a Virginia-based for-profit corporation.

Hawaii Technology Academy contracts with K12, which offers a standardized online curriculum.

The school’s close connection with K12 has drawn concerns, including from the state auditor’s office, which is expected to discuss the issue in an upcoming audit of the state’s public charter schools system.

The school, launched in 2008, has seen enrollment quadruple over the last two years, to nearly 1,000 this school year.

Hawaii Tech students come from around the state, and the school has seen particularly high demand among military dependents and home-schoolers.

Saint-Cyr said over the next few weeks, the school board will be working to determine who will handle daily operations at the school and how the work of finding a replacement for Pi­on­tek will proceed.

"Our focus is really on the students," Saint-Cyr told the Star-Advertiser Tuesday. "Our priority is to make sure there’s no interruption in services for the kids. Clearly, our objective is to make sure that operations are normal."

Piontek’s departure comes at a difficult time for Hawaii public charter schools, some of which are under increased scrutiny for their management practices and student performance.

A legislative task force, formed to look at ways of improving charter school accountability and governance, wrapped up months of work last week, after agreeing on proposed legislation that would put each public charter school on a performance contract and strengthen the statewide authority that oversees the system.

About 5 percent of public school children — or some 9,100 students — attend charter schools, which are publicly funded but are not under the state Department of Education.

Instead, their charters are overseen by local school boards, whose authority can be revoked by the Charter School Review Panel.

The state’s 31 charter schools are seen as real-life labs to test innovative approaches to education.

State Sen. Jill Tokuda, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, who headed up the charter school task force, said she didn’t know specific details about the departure of the academy’s head of school.

Tokuda said the school board needs to work closely with the school "to ensure a smooth delivery of educational services."