2 DOE officials leave leadership vacancies

Two key members of Superintendent Christina Kishimoto’s administration are leaving for other high-powered jobs in the public sector.

Amy Kunz, assistant superintendent and chief financial officer of the Department of Education, and Dann Carlson, assistant superintendent in charge of school facilities and support services, are stepping down this month.

Kunz will become associate vice president for budget and finance for the University of Hawaii system effective Aug. 1, according to personnel materials posted online with the agenda for the Board of Regents’ Thursday meeting. Her appointment does not require approval by the regents.

Kunz’s departure has not yet been announced and she did not respond to a phone call and email to her office Friday afternoon. Her salary at the university will be $180,000 a year, according to an executive compensation listing.

Carlson will be taking a position as 154th Wing commander with the Hawaii Air National Guard. He had been deputy commander for Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam before becoming assistant superintendent in November 2014. His last day on the job at DOE is Monday.

Carlson is credited with revamping the way public schools handle repair and maintenance, creating an online Project Tracker for capital improvement projects and repairs. He adopted job-order contracting to vastly expedite completion of routine repairs such as roofing, and also oversaw the extensive effort to cool Hawaii’s schools without pushing up electrical consumption, including the use of solar power.

Kunz, appointed as chief financial officer for the public schools in September 2011, has worked to modernize DOE’s fiscal management system, update its payroll system and make more budget information readily available online.

Christine Shaw, a former interim assistant superintendent for the Office of Information Technology Services, will take Carlson’s place on an interim basis starting Tuesday while a search is conducted for a permanent replacement.

The rest of Kishimoto’s leadership team includes a deputy superintendent and five other assistant superintendents who oversee curriculum, student support services, information technology, talent management and “strategy, innovation and performance.”