Schools chief gets kudos from BOE
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
State schools chief Pat Hamamoto received high marks last night from the Board of Education in her annual evaluation, an endorsement of her almost two years of leadership of the public school system.
"We are very, very confident in the work she's been doing," said Herbert Watanabe, board chairman.
HAMAMOTO
Hamamoto, a former teacher and principal, is in the middle of a four-year contract. She has preached a message of stability since taking over the department in October 2001, trying to protect the schools from budget cuts and to keep teachers focused on the standards and accountability movement.
She is recognized for making administrative changes, improving morale and helping move Hawai'i's special-education system toward compliance with federal law. The system has been under federal court oversight since the state signed the Felix consent decree in 1994.
Hamamoto faces the challenges of improving student performance on standardized tests, which traditionally has been in the lower ranks of the nation, of meeting the demands of the federal education law known as the No Child Left Behind Act, and of recruiting and retaining teachers and principals during a nationwide shortage.
"I think Pat has done a very good job in moving the department in the right direction," said state Rep. Roy Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Palisades), chairman of the House Education Committee. "It's the toughest job in the state in my opinion, more than any of our jobs. Everyone is passionate about education, and everyone thinks they have the solution."
While Hamamoto has overseen the school system during difficult financial, legal and political times, she has avoided controversy herself, and has managed a good relationship with lawmakers, schools and the public.
"She doesn't attack people. She keeps most of her disagreements behind the scenes, and she moves forward," said Joan Husted, executive director of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association.
Hamamoto has worked to restructure the Department of Education bureaucracy, breaking the department's longstanding seven-district structure into smaller complexes — groups of high schools and their feeder elementary and middle schools. Superintendents have fewer schools to oversee, and the district bureaucracy reflects the way that students move through the school system.
State Sen. Norman Sakamoto said he likes Hamamoto's common-sense approach to her work.
"She's uniquely qualified to do some things," said Sakamoto, D-15th (Waimalu, Airport, Salt Lake). "Others have come in and had to have a learning curve. She knows the culture and the personalities."
But superintendents of large school districts like Hawai'i's generally have a short tenure.
"Expectations will climb," Husted said. "There are some jobs in this world in which you can just settle into and be comfortable. Once the honeymoon is over with superintendents, it's almost like it's straight to divorce."
Sakamoto also noted that student reading scores have improved, but said more needs to be done.
"Now it's bringing a rigid system into a reform system. We need more than reading," Sakamoto said. "We need the whole thing."
Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
