By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

While there has been much discussion, debate and demagoguery about what's wrong with Hawai'i public schools, one local company has set out to recognize what's right — in a big way.

Island Insurance Co., through its philanthropic foundation, has set up an annual award for an outstanding Hawai'i public school principal. The honor comes with a cash award of $25,000 — the same amount as the prestigious Milken Award for teachers.

"Island Insurance has long been a supporter of the Public School Foundation," said Clayton Fujie, Department of Education deputy superin-tendent of schools. "This kind of recognition for an outstanding principal is long overdue. We really appreciate it when people in the community do things like this for our people in the field that are working very hard. Being a principal today is so different from just a few years ago."

It all started when Island Insurance chairman Colbert Matsumoto was invited to be a teacher for a day at Farrington High School through the HSTA's Executives in the Schools program.

"It was really eye-opening. In just that one day, I saw so much," Matsumoto said. "After that, I thought about what is it we could do to help this situation in the schools. What I came to realize is a lot of it boils down to the leadership in a particular institution."

DOE complex area superintendents will nominate principals and a committee will make the final selection. The honoree will receive $10,000 as a personal award and $15,000 for a school project.

"We didn't want to just give them a plaque," Matsumoto said. "We thought, 'Why don't we do what we do in the private sector?', which is give a financial award that gives it some prominence."

The Excellence in School Leadership award is named in honor of Masayuki Tokioka, the founder of Island Insurance Co. Tokioka became a successful businessman and generous community benefactor after rising from humble beginnings. He came to Hawai'i from Japan when he was 12 years old. He graduated from McKinley High School in 1921, earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Hawai'i and, in 1927, became the first Japanese American to earn an MBA from Harvard University.

Tokioka lived to be 101.

"To succeed in public education today a principal must be visionary, community-minded and have an entrepreneurial spirit — qualities of leadership that Mr. Tokioka represented," Matsumoto said.

The award will be given at the annual Public School Foundation dinner in May.

"A lot of times, nobody knows about these great leaders except for their immediate school population," Matsumoto said. "We hope this will give them the opportunity to share what it is they did to make a difference."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.