New Kamehameha head sees hope in business links
| • | Trustee salaries up about 70 percent |
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
The new head of Kamehameha Schools yesterday said strengthening early-education programs and continuing to fuel the Hawaiian charter school movement rank among the top projects facing the charitable trust in the coming year.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Dee Jay Mailer spent her first week as chief executive officer of the $5.5 billion trust meeting leaders in the business and Hawaiian communities and yesterday attended an early education conference in Kane'ohe.
Dee Jay Mailer, the new CEO of Kamehameha Schools, spent the past week meeting with business leaders and attending an early education conference. She sees opportunities for cooperation in her goal of expanding the trust's reach.
The coming year will be prime time, she said, for fulfilling a central goal identified in the schools' strategic plan: "expanding the reach" of the endowment left by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop for the education of Hawaiian children.
The trust's goal is to improve early education by fostering improvements through providing money for programs at Kamehameha and community preschools as well as by encouraging the sharing of knowledge about effective teaching methods, she said.
A second area Mailer cited is funneling more financial support toward new charter schools and to public schools that want to convert to charter schools with courses and programs designed for Hawaiian children. She had no specifics yesterday; meetings with Ho'okako'o, a charter-school development organization, are set for next week.
Also in coming weeks, the new CEO plans to collaborate with other trust officials on setting spending priorities for endowment revenue.
Mailer, 51, is a 1970 graduate of Kamehameha. Her last job was as chief operating officer of The Global Fund, a United Nations-backed medical aid trust that supports the war on AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Mailer said she's spent some time with business leaders in her first days on the job, noting both how little turnover there's been in the five years since she left Hawai'i and how many opportunities for cooperation there are between the schools and businesses.
"I need to hear from the business community in terms of how we're working with them and how we can support business initiatives," Mailer said. "For example, the work force is undersupplied in certain categories ... technical, tourism, construction industry.
"We need to make sure our students know about these opportunities. We could offer financial support for training, and we have a scholarship program. We would help kids, and help business find a qualified workforce."
Mailer acknowledged that her absence has left a void in her knowledge of other facets of the Hawaiian community to which the school belongs. She was one of a group of people at a ceremony launching the registration of voters working toward self-governance for Native Hawaiians and said she wants to know more about the new political and cultural reality.
"I need to learn what the various Hawaiian leadership groups are dealing with today," she said.
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
