Arakaki open to being state superintendent

LIHU‘E — While his heart, soul, family, friends and work are here on the Garden Isle, Kaua‘i Complex Area Superintendent Bill Arakaki said Monday that he would consider moving up the state Department of Education ladder if asked.

“My commitment is to the people and families of Kaua‘i, and I’ll stay here as long as I’m welcome,” he said.

But if asked, he said he would be “a good soldier” and consider applying for the state superintendent slot that Patricia Hamamoto vacated last week for personal reasons.

Hamamoto stepped down New Year’s Eve from the post she had held since 2001, asserting that her resignation had nothing to do with the financial woes facing the DOE.

“These are trying times for all,” Arakaki said of the DOE transitions.

“I owe it to all who have been good to my kids, my family and me,” to stay on Kaua‘i, he said. Arakaki has served as principal of Waimea High School, Kapa‘a High School and Ni‘ihau School during his DOE career that also included teaching and coaching.

Daniel Hamada, a Kaua‘i native who moved from teacher to principal to Kaua‘i superintendent and is now assistant state superintendent in the DOE Office of Curriculum, Instruction & Student Support in the Honolulu office, said he is more interested in working to further improve student test scores in math and reading than in Hamamoto’s former office.

Good progress has been made in increasing reading scores, but “we need to beef up math scores,” Hamada said from his Honolulu office Monday evening.

On Monday, state Board of Education Chairman Garrett Toguchi officially welcomed Kathryn Matayoshi as the acting superintendent for the DOE. Matayoshi named Ronn Nozoe, superintendent for the Farrington-Kaiser-Kalani complex, as acting deputy superintendent.

Hamada said Matayoshi, an attorney and director of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs from 1995 to 2002, is an able interim replacement for Hamamoto and would make a good permanent superintendent.

Matayoshi does her homework, is bright and prepared, works well with the existing DOE leadership team and quickly mirrored Hamamoto’s skill set, Hamada said.

“I think so,” Hamada said when asked if Matayoshi would make a good permanent superintendent.

Nozoe joined the public school system in 1995 as a language arts and social studies teacher at King Intermediate. He later served as vice principal at Mokapu Elementary and principal of Keolu Elementary. In 2005, Nozoe was appointed as the complex area superintendent for the Farrington and Kaiser complex, which expanded in 2008 to include Kalani, according to a BOE press release.

The BOE plans to schedule a special meeting next week to formally name Matayoshi interim superintendent and to discuss the next steps for filling the superintendent’s position permanently, the release states.

Since being appointed deputy superintendent in July, Matayoshi has focused on strategic planning and on Hawai‘i’s application for the federal Race to the Top program, which has criteria aligning with many DOE initiatives aimed at raising student achievement, the press release states.

Hamada is also involved in that Race to the Top program.

“I am honored to serve as acting superintendent of Hawai‘i’s public-school system. During this transition period, I want to assure students, parents, educators and the community that we will be moving forward with ongoing initiatives such as standards-based learning, literacy, fiscal accountability, and Race to the Top, all of which are outlined in the department’s strategic plan,” Matayoshi said. “With the support of the Board of Education and a solid foundation in place, we will take the department to the next level with a primary focus on our students.”

Video messages from Hamamoto and Matayoshi may be seen on the DOE Web site, doe.k12.hi.us, or hawaiidoe.org.

The video messages were also supposed to start airing Monday on Oceanic Time Warner Cable channel 56, Arakaki said.