Monday, June 29, 1998

Dark cloud covers
Amemiya selection

Only three principals
were present for picking the
new head of HHSAA

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

"Unanimous" was the word used to describe the selection of Keith Amemiya by the Hawaii High School Athletic Association's executive board to be HHSAA executive director.

But that term, used by HHSAA president Anthony Ramos, and all business transacted by the executive board on July 22 might be open to question.

The Star-Bulletin has learned only three of the five principals selected by their leagues to sit on the executive board were actually present for the selection of Amemiya.

According to the Section 6, Article V of the HHSAA constitution, ''Four REGULAR members of the HHSAA Executive Board shall constitute a quorum."

Amemiya was picked from a field of four finalists at a meeting from which both the media and public were barred.

In one of the releases distributed at a hastily called press conference to present Amemiya to the media, the names of the regular executive board members were listed. There was no mention of absences.

But Hana High School athletic director Curtis Saiki, one of the three unsuccessful finalists, said he noticed that two regular board members were missing.

The regular board members Saiki said he didn't see were Laupahoehoe High principal Jane Uyehara and Leilehua High principal Norman Minehira.

The board interviewed Saiki, Amemiya and two other finalists on the same day.

Saiki said he saw Big Island Interscholastic Federation executive secretary Roy Fujimoto and Kahuku High principal Lea Albert sitting with the board instead.

Uyehara's husband, Henry, confirmed that his wife has been on the mainland since early in the month and did indeed miss the July 22nd meeting.

Minehira could not be reached for comment. But Albert, when asked, acknowledged she was at the meeting.

But when she was asked if she and Fujimoto voted as board members, Albert said she was bound by the guidelines of the HHSAA executive board not to discuss any business transacted at the meeting. Nor would she confirm that she and Fujimoto were even acting as board members.

The other three regular board members, also principals, were present: Ramos, Wallace Fujii of Baldwin High and Wallace Kawane of Waimea High.

But further clouding the picture is a statement over the weekend by Kawane that he was ''not really" a public school principal when he met with the board last week.

Kawane retires officially tomorrow and he said the fact that he attended the meeting while on vacation meant that he was no longer acting in the capacity of a principal.

That could be in conflict with Section 1 of Article V which states, ''League representatives on the HHSAA Executive Board must be administrative heads, principals or designated officials of member schools.''

Kawane made his statement when asked if he thought taxpayer-funded public school principals should be participating in closed-door meetings as members of the HHSAA executive board.

The board does not allow media or public access to its meetings, held on the Kamehameha Schools campus where Ramos works.

The HHSAA officially became independent of the Department of Education on July 1, 1995, and has since called itself a private nonprofit corporation, not bound by the ''sunshine laws."

But Ramos has acknowledged that the HHSAA receives money from the Legislature. The association also operates out of a public school facility, collects membership dues from public school athletic departments and holds many of its 22 state tournaments on public property.

Four of the five executive board members are public school principals.

In its July 22nd meeting, the board also conducted action on recommendations from the Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association meeting.

Saiki said the only reservation he had about the HHSAA's selection process was that there were no other athletic directors among the final four. He wondered why.

The names of the finalists and the original 18 candidates have been withheld by the HHSAA.

The Star-Bulletin learned of Saiki's candidacy during a random check.

Amemiya, a 32-year-old Honolulu attorney who is vice-president of a small domestic corporation (Camden Group Ltd.) he operates with wife, has no athletic administration background. The ''preferred'' job qualifications called for at least five years of administrative experience.