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LeMahieu gets
decent marks
from Board
He has 'laid the bricks'
Aimee Holt is DOE employee of year By Lori Tighe
for massive schools overhaul,
the chairman says
Star-BulletinSchool Superintendent Paul LeMahieu has received an "above satisfactory" report card and a pat on the back from the School Board for his performance so far.
Even though LeMahieu inherited a school system that was "percolating only in spots" 19 months ago, he has "laid the bricks" for a massive overhaul, School Board chairman Mitsugi Nakashima said.
The chairman said the board admires LeMahieu's work, but remains concerned about seeing the effects filter down to classrooms.
"The superintendent is a tremendously complex job. He is 'The Man.' Yet we realize he has to rely on a whole host of people at the school level," Nakashima said. "Unless things are done at the school level, you don't really have very much going for you."
LeMahieu said he felt great about a successful year at the Legislature, receiving almost everything the DOE requested.
"We approached the Legislature with a very clear and specific agenda. There was coherence. The Legislative session revolved around our agenda," he said.
All of the DOE's nine bills passed this session. "I've been told that's quite remarkable," he said.
No other superintendent in the nation spends 60 days of the year lobbying the state legislature as LeMahieu does, board member Herb Watanabe said.
"I think I did pretty well," LeMahieu said. "It's a funny job. The first half of the year you have to pay attention to the political agenda," he said. "The second half is about working with folks in schools now."
Teacher Joan Kamila Lewis said she has worked under three superintendents and LeMahieu has been the most visible.
"He has personally visited every school there is. He's at every education meeting," Lewis said. "He has a very clear vision and he shares it quite well: Common standards and high expectations."
But she's concerned that LeMahieu may be changing things too fast before teachers are ready.
"He probably wants to go faster than this system is prepared to go. As teachers, we feel dragged along at a breakneck speed without a lot of planning and training," Lewis said.
Vaughn Tokashiki, president of Hawaii State Teachers Association Windward, said he would give LeMahieu an "A-" for his performance.
"He is more accessible, open and listens to teachers. But then I'm an easy grader," he said, smiling.
LeMahieu's accountability system, making everyone involved with the education of children held responsible, is good, Tokashiki said. So is LeMahieu's emphasis on educational standards.
Tokashiki said he would like to see LeMahieu's changes come about faster.
As to the second half of his year, LeMahieu said, "I'm looking forward with delight to getting back to being an educator."
DOE names
Star-Bulletin staff
Aimee Holt its
employee of the yearThe Department of Education named Aimee Holt, Waipahu Elementary's food service manager, employee of the year.
Holt, a 13-year employee, won the department's highest honor for her expertise as manager, contagious enthusiasm, positive attitude and creative mind.
"We're here to provide our children with nutritious, balanced meals so they can focus on studying and learning, and not having to think of being hungry," she said.
Holt won $200.
The department chose Holt among five winners of the Sustained Superior Performance Awards.
Also honored were:
Geraldine Casil, school custodian at Baldwin High on Maui for keeping the school clean and graffiti free.
