Schools want charter director to be reinstated

The school board fires Jim Shon after an annual review

Some Hawaii charter schools are demanding the reinstatement of Jim Shon, ousted executive director of the state Charter Schools Administrative Office.

The state Board of Education fired Shon at a meeting Thursday after conducting an annual evaluation of his performance.

"It is quite upsetting that we were not included in this process to any degree," said Keola Nakanishi, director of Halau Ku Mana charter school in Manoa, who also represents an alliance of 12 Hawaiian charter schools.

Those schools called for Shon's reinstatement.

School board Chairman Randall Yee said board members will discuss their reasons for voting to fire Shon, but only after he talks to Shon. Yee said he called Shon on Thursday night to inform him of the decision but would like to have an in-depth discussion with him.

Shon did not return telephone messages left at his home.

Charter school directors said they did not even know that Shon's job was on the line until after the board made its decision.

The directors praised Shon as a strong leader and advocate, and they say the charter school movement in Hawaii will suffer.

"It's a sad day for charter schools in the state of Hawaii," said Steve Hirakami, director of the Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science on the Big Island.

Hirakami said charter schools have flourished under Shon's leadership the past two years, bringing in more grant money and raising student test scores.

But not all of the state's 27 charter schools are doing well, said Karen Knudsen, Board of Education vice chairwoman.

"Like our public schools, some need a lot of help," she said.

And Yee said Shon did not always support Board of Education policies and decisions.

"To the extent that he supported those, that was good. To the extent that he didn't, then that's not so good," Yee said.

Hirakami believes Shon was fired because he was able to successfully lobby the Legislature to strengthen his office and win more autonomy for the charter schools.

"It's got to be politics," he said.

But state House Education Chairman Roy Takumi said Shon never lobbied him, and he said lawmakers overhauled the state law on charter schools this year because it was recommended by a task force.

One of the changes lawmakers approved clarified that the executive director of the Charter Schools Administrative Office operates under the direction of the Board of Education and that the school board has the sole responsibility of hiring and firing the executive director.