Patricia Hamamoto will continue to participate in talks to end Furlough Fridays for Hawaii's public schoolchildren despite her sudden departure this week as schools superintendent.

“;She's not in charge of it anymore ... (but) she said she would continue on the negotiating team,”; Board of Education Chairman Garrett Toguchi said yesterday.

The Lingle administration, state education officials and Hawaii State Teachers Association leaders met Wednesday in yet another attempt to reach a deal that would end or reduce Furlough Fridays. Hamamoto attended that meeting even though she had submitted her resignation earlier in the week.

  Hamamotos planned out resignation

 

Hamamoto's sudden decision to resign, turns out, wasn't such a sudden decision after all.

[ Watch ]

 

Toguchi said the Governor's Office on Thursday asked to meet again, after rejecting a proposal by the board, the Department of Education and the teachers' union to restore seven days to the current school year.

Hamamoto “;worked collaboratively with us. ... Pat will continue to give her input and expertise,”; HSTA President Wil Okabe said.

Hamamoto called yesterday to be sure the union notified teachers that they must report to school Monday, he said. “;That tells us that the governor rejected our proposal,”; Okabe said. The teacher planning day, minus students, is in the school calendar, but the union and board negotiators proposed swapping it for a classroom day later in the month.

Hamamoto's surprise resignation, which was effective New Year's Eve, left her bosses at the BOE and her colleagues stunned.

Toguchi circulated Hamamoto's letter of resignation Thursday afternoon in e-mails to other board members, four days after she submitted it to him. After she notified him of her intention, “;I was asking her to stay until the end of March,”; Toguchi said. “;She asked me to give her a few days to think about it.”;

He said Hamamoto discussed retiring last year, but “;took back her resignation,”; he said. “;It really was her decision. She has been around for a long time and been through a lot. Who could fault her for leaving now?”;

Hamamoto has been superintendent for eight years and has been with the department for 34 years. Her four-year contract was to end Oct. 31, 2011.

She did not respond to requests for comment.

“;She was an integral part of our strategy; she participated in long drawn-out discussions between the administration and the union,”; said board member John Penebacker. “;I had no clue she intended to leave. It will most definitely affect negotiations with the governor.

“;I can speculate that ... with constant criticism of outsiders, who have no idea what it takes to run a Department of Education, enough is enough,”; Penebacker said.

In her letter to the board, Hamamoto said she has put together a team of competent administrators to keep the department operating while a search for new superintendent is launched.

Deputy Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi will be acting superintendent until the board acts to name an interim superintendent, possibly at their Thursday meeting. She came to the department with seven years' experience as director of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

State Sen. Norman Sakamoto, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, applauded Hamamoto's appointments of “;assistants that had more business orientation”; in positions such as the Office of School Facilities and Support Services and human resources department, “;rather than placing people because they had been teacher, principal, and looking for a next spot.”;

“;When a decision was needed, she was quick to make a decision rather than delaying,”; Sakamoto said.

The resignation “;timing took most of us by surprise,”; board member Karen Knudsen said. “;This will be my fourth superintendent search. Every time there is transition, there is anxiety. Right now I'm just looking forward. We have systems in place to continue.”;