Posted on: Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Charter schools chief quits

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Education Writer

The executive director of Hawai'i's charter schools has resigned less than six months after taking the job, citing family considerations but also the limits of being an advocate for the experimental schools while answering to the state Board of Education.

Dewey Kim, an attorney who at one time worked with the state attorney general, was appointed to the job in January as the first top administrator for the state's 26 charter schools. He sent a letter to the school board June 14 telling them that his resignation would be effective this Friday.

Kim was expected to bring new direction and stability to charter schools, which have struggled through financial and other growing pains since they were approved by the state Legislature in 1999 as an alternative to empower parents and communities and improve student performance.

Charter schools are free from many state regulations but have to meet the same academic goals as traditional public schools. Administrators are in the conflicting position of pleading for both independence and help from the state Department of Education, and they have at times clashed with the school board and the DOE about whether they receive adequate financial support.

In a recent budget flap, some charter-school supporters claimed that without extra state money some schools might be forced to close, alarming some parents.

Kim could not be reached for comment yesterday, but he had expressed frustration with the job. In his resignation letter, he said a five-month delay in his appointment left him behind in understanding the complex issues facing charter schools. He also said his dual expectations — an advocate for charter schools who also reports to the school board — made problem-solving difficult.

"This has caused many problems," Kim wrote, "because often the position of the two sides is not the same and sometimes at odds."

The school board will consider appointing an interim executive director at its meeting Thursday on the Big Island. Earlier this year, when charter-school administrators insisted that Kim was their only choice, the board reluctantly agreed not to interview other candidates, ending a stalemate that had lasted months and caused the delay in Kim's appointment. Board members said yesterday that there is no obvious replacement, since Kim had yet to hire a full staff.

Carol Gabbard, the chairwoman of the board's public libraries and charter school committee, said she was disappointed that Kim chose to resign. "It's a difficult job," she said. "But it's not an impossible job and I don't feel we were being overly demanding."

Gabbard said an interim replacement is necessary because schools are nearing a critical time when administrators prepare for the next school year. Under a new law signed by Gov. Linda Lingle last week that closed an unexpected budget gap for charter schools, the schools are also able to get half their school money in July — earlier than usual — to get ready.

"They just don't understand the urgency," board chairman Breene Harimoto said of some charter-school administrators.

Donna Estomago, who just retired as principal of Lanikai Elementary School, a Kailua charter school, said she does not want the school board to rush into selecting a temporary replacement for Kim until there is better understanding about what will be expected of the job. Finding a permanent replacement could take several months.

She said she believed Kim had been "ground down" from dealing with the board and the DOE, which just finished transferring charter school functions to Kim's office. "It's not a problem with the person," Estomago said. "It's a problem of systemic dysfunction."

Lingle had wanted the Legislature to include charter schools in a new student spending formula and expand the number of new start-up charter schools. But charter-school administrators asked to be left out of the formula for now.

State Rep. Roy Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Palisades), the chairman of the House Education Committee, has said he hopes to sort out issues surrounding charter schools next session. His counterpart in the Senate, state Sen. Norman Sakamoto, D-15th (Waimalu, Airport, Salt Lake), said he would like charter schools to come to the Legislature with a specific list of concerns.

"The hope I had was that Dewey Kim and having their own advocate would set the stage for issues the charter schools had and what we could do for them," Sakamoto said. "I would hope that the charter schools, with or without an executive director, would bring meaningful issues to us."

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.