Kamehameha to welcome 3 new principals

Kamehameha Schools has chosen Wendy Erskine, principal of Chicago Bulls Prep Academy, to lead its Kapalama high school as po‘o kumu, or principal.

Erskine, a Punahou School alumna who graduated from Northwestern University in 2001, has been principal at the Chicago charter school since 2015 and was assistant principal before that. She will take on her new role this summer.

“Principal Erskine is currently leading the top academic charter school in the city of Chicago as their high school principal,” said Taran Chun, head of school, or po‘o kula, of Kamehameha Schools Kapalama. “She brings a lot of passion and energy to the position.”

Chicago Bulls Prep Academy was launched in 2009 with a donation from Chicago Bulls Charities, the philanthropic arm of the basketball team. It has been among the highest­-performing high schools in the Windy City, with about 1,100 students, most of them from low-income families.

Although Erskine will be a new face to the Kameha­meha Schools Kapalama campus, two longtime Kamehameha educators were selected to lead the middle and lower schools. Both are already on the job as interim principals. Kula Gaughen-Ha‘ili and Deede Santiago will shift to permanent positions as principals of the middle and elementary schools, respectively, on Friday.

The three previous principals left the Kapalama campus in the second semester of the 2017-18 academic year, an unusual exodus.

Carney, Sandoe &Associates conducted a nationwide search for candidates. Finalists were presented at open-forum sessions to get community feedback before Chun made his selections.

Santiago, a 1982 Kamehameha Schools alumna, has spent decades teaching at Kapalama, as a math teacher and then instructional coach, and led its summer school for 15 years before becoming interim principal.

“Her heart is full of aloha for kids,” Chun said. “She will always put kids first.”

Gaughen-Ha‘ili had been elementary principal at the Kamehameha Maui campus and a vice principal at Kapalama’s elementary school.

“Many of our students will be able to relate to him as someone who grew up on the west side of Oahu, who grew up on homestead property and who is the first of his family to graduate from college,” Chun said. “His unique background as a police officer and then as a counselor and teacher in the public school setting will serve him well as he leads our middle school.”

Early in her career, Erskine taught at University Lab School in Honolulu, served as program director at Teach for America in Hono­lulu and was director of Teach for America in Chicago. She earned her master’s degree in curriculum design from National Louis University.

“The newest leaders of Kamehameha Schools Kapalama are deeply committed to our mission to elevate student achievement and well-being at every level as we continue to develop as a world-class institution,” Chun said.