Kane'ohe CEO leaving post to teach

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer

Inspired by 11 years as a Big Brother and believing he can make a difference in the lives of Hawai'i's youth, Randy Moore plans to give up his job as president and chief executive officer of Kane'ohe Ranch Co. to become a seventh-grade public schoolteacher.

Randy Moore, chief executive officer of Kane'ohe Ranch Co., hopes to become a seventh-grade teacher. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser • Training options available

He said he's leaving one of the best jobs on the island, but he's ready for something new, challenging and stimulating. At 62 he's not about to retire, but seeks growth, he said, recalling advice from a former director for Castle & Cooke.

"People are like potted plants," Moore remembered the director saying. "Unless they changed their pots, they became root-bound."

"That always made sense to me," Moore said.

Moore said he made his decision last fall. Since then, he has been attending night classes at Chaminade University to obtain his teaching certificate. He already has bachelor's and master's degrees, but he'll eventually have to obtain a license as well. He applied for the job in January, has had his first interview with the Department of Education and hopes to be in the classroom by fall.

Now all he needs is a job offer.

Those who know Moore say he is energetic, highly qualified and a natural teacher. Randy Hitz, dean of the University of Hawai'i College of Education, said Moore will be a great teacher because of his business expertise and knowledge of the community. Moore will take a sizable pay cut, but people don't enter the education field to make money, Hitz said.

"He'll find it invigorating," said Hitz. "That's what keeps teachers going. The financial rewards are not that great. Working with young people, knowing you're making a difference, it's a very powerful thing."

It's so powerful that the number of people switching careers is growing, Hitz said, citing attorneys, engineers and doctors who have done so.

Nationally, three in 10 people pursuing a teaching career do so after they have already received at least a bachelor's degree, according to the National Center for Education Information, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C. Besides Hawai'i, 39 other states now have some type of alternative to going back to college and majoring in education to become a teacher.

Claudia Chun, DOE personnel specialist for teacher recruitment, agreed that the trend seems to be increasing. And recently, a federal grant has made it easier for people with other than teaching degrees to make that change, Chun said. The grant provides a way for people to return to school to earn a teaching certificate and still earn money.

"The hard part is if you're changing jobs, you don't have the luxury of going to school and not earning an income," she said. "This is a recognition by the feds that this is a resource we should use."

Moore has sat at the helm of Kane'ohe Ranch Co. Ltd. since 1989. The company manages the assets of the Castle Family Trusts and the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, which together own about half the land under Kailua's business district. The Castle Foundation had net assets of $172 million at the end of 1999.

Moore also has served as executive vice president of the foundation, which has been a big supporter of Windward education efforts such as Le Jardin Academy and Hawai'i Pacific University.

While most of his career has been with Hawai'i businesses, Moore has had a taste of teaching, first as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia, at Punahou summer school years ago, and at a Moloka'i High School Junior Achievement program in the late 1980s.

Now, banking on the DOE teacher shortage — approximately 1,400 teachers are needed — he said he hopes to be teaching next school year, at least on a part-time basis. Because he's still working to earn his teaching certificate, he is eligible to teach, he said.

With a bachelor's degree in math, Moore has an advantage because that subject is one of the declared shortage areas, Chun said. But Moore must learn how to teach, pass the interview process, stand in line behind other qualified teachers who have certificates and licenses and then be hired by a principal.

Moore's wife, Lynne Johnson, said his decision is very much in character with the man, who doesn't criticize from the outside but gets involved. On the many boards and community committees he has served on, he has always been the teacher, Johnson said.

"He's been a natural teacher in whatever else he's done," she said. "Wherever he's been he's taught other people to do whatever they're doing better."

The Kane'ohe Ranch CEO has two children in college. He said he wants to teach middle school because students that age are interesting and they've reached a point where learning habits are at risk.

"If they are not interested in learning by the time they pass out of middle school, the danger of them ever getting engaged by school is pretty high," Moore said. "They come out of elementary school gung ho and some come out of middle school gung ho, but too many don't. So the challenge is how to keep children engaged in learning as they go through early adolescence."

Advertiser staff writer Jennifer Hiller contributed to this report.