High hurdles for new schools chief

Christina Kishimoto will have to not only hit the ground running but also nimbly traverse some challenging terrain when she takes over the helm at the state Department of Education.

The newly hired superintendent of schools starts Aug. 1 on a three-year contract. Given the high stakes — new approaches are being tried in school governance this year — the public must wish her success in improving results for Hawaii students and take encouragement from her work with struggling schools in other districts.

But taxpayers also should be holding their breath at the sight of the three-year contract at $240,000 annually. Given this state’s numerous missteps in hiring for top jobs after a national search, they can only hope the investment pays off.

Besides concern over a rocky departure from a previous post, Kishimoto oversaw smaller bailiwicks. A smooth move to the nation’s only statewide public school district can’t be a foregone conclusion.

First, there’s the overall magnitude of the job. The statewide school district the DOE manages is daunting, with its 290 schools (256 public, 34 charter). Enrollment for the academic year just finishing up: 179,902.

The aim of the current school reform initiative is to make the DOE less of a top-down structure, and more collaborative and campus-based. Gov. David Ige’s long-stated goal for Hawaii’s public schools lies in empowering principals and teachers in shaping the education service they deliver to children.

There’s an enormous bureaucracy that has built up and solidified; sensitivities over the changing of the guard must be navigated. Kishimoto, 48, arrives only months before another election season gears up, one that will revolve around the gubernatorial campaign.

Ige has sunk a lot of political capital in the push for school reform, convening a working group to develop a “blueprint.” It coincides with a new strategic plan adopted by the DOE and Board of Education, as part of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.

As he campaigns for re-election, all eyes will be on the governor — and, by extension, Kishimoto — and the progress of the education overhaul he championed.

It’s a pressure-cooker environment, for sure.

Kishimoto first must overcome public nervousness here over her assessment as superintendent of Hartford Public Schools in Connecticut, where she worked between July 2011 and June 2014. The school board in that district, which serves a mere 22,000 students, downgraded Kishimoto in her job evaluation and rejected her request for an extended contract. Criticism centered on poor communication and what members perceived as a lack of urgency in addressing student achievement.

In her own defense, Kishimoto said the high-poverty district required tough decisions and bold action. Hawaii confronts a poverty problem in a number of areas, so the going won’t be any easier here.

She does get credit for helping to narrow the achievement gap and raise graduation rates, which is part of the DOE’s mission, of course. She listed numerous other accomplishments on her resume, including the creation of a college scholarship fundraising effort and development of a new strategic plan.

Then she moved to head the Gilbert Unified School District in Arizona, where she is closing out three years as superintendent and CEO. She cited a successful campaign for a bond authorization for school projects and worked with the board on a new governance model.

There seems to be the capacity for leadership, if Kishimoto can work the levers of Hawaii’s politically charged system. She’s not going to be given much room for error, and rightly so. The students in her charge can’t afford to stagnate on quality education.

And ultimately, that must be her focus: not on the political maneuvers, but on securing educational success for Hawaii’s students.