April 23

Editorial Mission: As the Department's primary publication, we aim to live up to the meaning of ha‘aheo – to cherish with pride – by bolstering and sustaining pride in public education and touting the successes happening across our system.

Aloha, HIDOE Community –  Welcome to this week’s edition of the Ho‘oha‘aheo Newsletter. Ānuenue School principal wins Tokioka Award Congratulations to Babā Yim, po’o kumu of Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘O Ānuenue and recipient of the 2025 Masayuki Tokioka Excellence in School Leadership Award! The honor comes with a $25,000 prize – $10,000 as a personal award and $15,000 for a school project. We also recognized our two outstanding semi-finalists: Kimberly Anthony-Maeda of Kailua High and Noreen Kunitomo of Hōnaunau Elementary. This recognition celebrates the heart and innovation of Hawai‘i’s public school principals, and these educational leaders truly reflect the best of that. Mahalo to Island Insurance Foundation and Public Schools of Hawai‘i Foundation for shining a light on these incredible educators!

Tyler Tokioka, president of the Island Insurance Foundation, left, and Superintendent Keith Hayashi, right, present Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘O Ānuenue Principal Babā Yim with the 2025 Masayuki Tokioka Excellence in School Leadership Award on April 17 at the Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort. Photo credit: Nanea Ching / HIDOE Communications Branch

Cell phone survey
With cell phone use in schools reshaping the educational experience, we have launched a multi-phase effort to gather stakeholder input ahead of any policy recommendations. The surveys are being administered via Panorama and are open from April 21 to May 5, 2025. The results will help inform HIDOE’s understanding of perspectives and experiences around mobile phone use in classrooms and guide future decision-making and potential policy development.

Inaugural girls flag football conference champs
Congratulations to the girls flag football teams from Moanalua High School and Waimea High School for capturing the inaugural Oʻahu Interscholastic Association and Kauaʻi Interscholastic Federation girls flag football championships! Good luck to Konawaena High School, who will face Hawai'i Preparatory for the Big Island Interscholastic Federation championship tonight.

These ladies will look to extend their historic season in the first-ever Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association State Championships scheduled for April 30 to May 3 at Pearl City and Mililani high schools. The semifinal and championship games will be televised on Spectrum OC16 Sports. Let’s go, public schools!

Moanalua High School won the inaugural Oʻahu Interscholastic Association girls flag football title with a 25-6 win over Mililani High School on April 17. Photo courtesy: Lori McKeown Photography / ESPN Honolulu

Ho‘oha‘aheo Photo of the Week

Three-time Nā Hōkū Hanohano winner Paula Fuga visited Pearl Harbor Elementary School on April 17 to celebrate their win in the Hoʻolōkahi Lyrics Writing Challenge! Guided by music teacher Dustin Chang, students learned to play and wrote an original verse for a song, showcasing their talent. They were rewarded with Fuga sharing songwriting insights and performing with the class. This statewide challenge engaged hundreds of students across Oʻahu, Maui, Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island in ʻukulele and songwriting.

Pearl Harbor Elementary School and other participating local schools will showcase their musical talents at a Ho'olōkahi Play Along event at the Ala Moana Center centerstage at 3 p.m. on May 3.

Credit: Eliot Honda / HIDOE Communications Branch

Submit your public school-related image from this school year for a chance to be featured as next week’s Ho‘oha‘aheo Photo of the Week!

#HIPublicSchoolsProud

Social media highlights of the most engaging posts of the week. 
Use the #HIPublicSchoolsProud hashtag for a chance to be featured!

Makakilo Elementary School

» It's Earth Day!! 🌍 Which means it's a perfect day to share some pictures of our Gardening Club! A big THANK YOU to all of our students and staff who help take care of our garden. #earthday2025 #gardeningclub #makakilomenehune

Waimea Canyon Middle School

» We were honored to welcome Waʻa Kaulua Pae Kula to our campus! Inspired by Hoʻākea, a dynamic outdoor learning lab, this experience brought the ocean and ʻāina into the classroom—highlighting the waʻa as a powerful vessel for knowledge, connection, and culture. 🚢🌱

Waiākea High School

» Ka Leo Wai members performed at the Merrie Monarch Noon Day Show at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel today! Maika‘i loa, WARRIORS! We are SO PROUD of you! 🌺 #waiākeawarriorstrong

Important Dates & Upcoming Events

• April: Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month
  
  
• April: Poetry Month
  
  
• April: National Financial Literacy Month
  
  
• April: Autism Awareness Month
  
  
• April: Month of the Military Child
  
  
• April 23: Administrative Professionals' Day
  
  
• April 28: Board of Education Community Meeting, Hawai‘i County

The Purple Star NORBERT Hawaiʻi Award, established in 2006, honors public schools that support military-dependent and transitioning students. The name NORBERT comes from a combination of the first names of the principals at the first two schools to receive the award. What were their names?

1. Norm and Albert
2. Connor and Bert
3. Norman and Robert
4. Norton and Gilbert

Find the answer at the end of this newsletter.

HIDOE Headlines

A roundup of announcements, resources and shoutouts.

» Students from East Hawai‘i schools, including Hilo High School and Waiākea High School, had the opportunity to hear oral arguments before the Hawai‘i Supreme Court as part of the Judiciary’s Courts in the Community program. The program aims to enhance civic education and promote greater public understanding about the judicial system. Students observed real court proceedings and had the opportunity to ask the justices questions afterward.

» Wai‘anae Intermediate School student Keziah Bacor has been selected to represent Hawai‘i at the national Do the Write Thing summit in Washington, D.C., for her essay titled “Why Violence?” The prompt asked students to reflect on how youth violence impacts their lives and what they can do to make a change.

» The U.S. Air Force Honor Guard performed during an ʻAiea High School assembly to showcase its precision in observance of Purple Up! Day. The USAF Honor Guard is the pre-eminent ceremonial unit of the Air and Space Force, and this marks the first time the group has performed in Hawaiʻi. Students from military families represent 10.5% of the school’s student body.

April is designated as Month of the Military Child and is a time to recognize and celebrate the unique experiences, resilience and contributions of military children and their families. Schools designated a Purple Up! Day to celebrate their military-connected students by encouraging staff and students to wear the color purple. Purple represents a blend of the colors from all service branches: the Air Force, Navy, Space Force and Coast Guard's blues, the Army's green, and the Marines' red. With eight public schools located on military installations, Hawaiʻi has the highest number of military-dependent children per capita in the nation. See how schools across O‘ahu celebrated Purple Up! Day:

Staff Spotlight

Justin Brown Title: Career and Technical Education (CTE) Coordinator Job site: Kealakehe High School Years in the HIDOE: 16 Years in the position: 14 Q: Briefly describe your career path. A: I started my career as a jazz musician playing bass in a variety of ensembles back in Texas. I also did some work in nonprofits and global relations before transitioning to Hawai‘i as part of the Teach For America Corps Program in 2009. I entered the classroom as a math teacher and quickly started supporting students with robotics, jazz, civics, and STEM extracurricular activities. Our students were fortunate to win several state competitions in my second year of teaching, and I transitioned into the CTE coordinator role after that. I continue to teach as many classes as possible, work with students to redefine what stories are told about public education and frequently travel when our students are fortunate enough to qualify for competition advancement. Q: How did you get into this field? A: I have been interested in education policy since I was 10-years-old. I come from multiple generations of teachers and both of my siblings and many of my cousins and aunts and uncles work in public education. I think I’ve always been curious about how and why students have access to different resources and outcomes between various communities as well as the unique role that public education plays, the dominant civil rights issue of this century.  Q: What are your primary duties? A: I teach several engineering, civics, design and research classes which remain the highlight and primary focus of each day. I also support our career pathways, which includes over 1,000 enrolled students, nine physical career labs and almost two dozen professional educators. Within this work, my current main focuses are to bring in the resources, partners, systems, and structures that allow every student to complete a meaningful career pathway which requires living-wage employment within their community. This work currently includes expanding access to industry recognized credentials (IRCs), making more robust work based learning (WBL) experiences, ensuring universal access to meaningful career exploration components, evaluating local job market needs, integrating best practice from global career training programs, forging partnerships with post secondary education/training centers and elevating the role of CTE in state and national education policy.  Q: Favorite part about the job? A: I get to introduce students to many amazing scientific phenomena for the first time in their life. It is such a privilege to really explain how an electron works or which properties embedded in the fundamental nature of a material allow it to solve design problems. We have all seen the great joy when a 2-year-old laughs uncontrollably as they discover some new face of nature. I get to continue this process for 15 and 16-year-olds, who may, at times, have forgotten the tremendous intrinsic joy available in learning something cool. I particularly like when the exploration of those phenomena allows students to compete and travel and meet alumni at universities and companies who have taken bold steps forward in how some of those phenomena can produce exciting, innovative products. Q: Most challenging part about your position? A: I constantly feel like I am not doing enough for enough students to justify the resources and opportunities we have. A lot of our education system, structures, buildings, and approaches are six economic generations old. In CTE, we must prepare every student for the economic generations to come which creates friction between what is happening and what needs to happen. Often, the tension between the headline and trendline aspects of the work keeps me quite anxious. Q: What advice do you have for people considering this position? A: Find a set of grounding values and beliefs that you can measure your success against for a given day, month, school year, decade, and career. Make sure to include universal access to excellent educational outcomes as at least one of those values. Then, you can be a great ally in ensuring that one day the best school in the whole world for most students in Hawai‘i will be their local public school. We aren’t there yet, but in many small ways and a few big ways we are closer than we were not too long ago. Q: How does your role support student success? A: I serve as a Zamboni, leveling the ice and filling in the gaps for a very talented team of teachers and industry partners who need a fast, reliable, and safe playing field for their skills development. Left on its own, the ice can get very rough and bumpy leading to many slips and falls as well as a higher friction resistance as people navigate their path. I like to be the first one on the ice each day, cleaning it out so that when our fantastic teachers get to work with our talented students, they can have the smoothest possible skate. Oftentimes, this means bringing in outside help from the community as we have expanded our courses and opportunities. Sometimes, I also get to be the one to skate with the students (especially on trips), which is a lot of fun.

Are you a Hawai‘i State Department of Education employee and want to share about how your role supports student success? Please fill out this form for a chance to be featured as a future staff spotlight.

Work With Us!

Federal workers or contractors impacted by the federal cuts are encouraged to explore employment opportunities with Hawai‘i public schools. Sign up for personalized notifications.

Automotive Mechanic I, Repair and Maintenance Operations Section (Oʻahu)
Human Resources Assistant IV, Employee Records & Transactions Section (Oʻahu)
Office Assistant II, III, H.P. Baldwin High (Maui)
Grade PreK-12 Visually Impaired Itinerant Teacher, Kaua‘i District (Kaua‘i)
Grade 7-12 CTE Natural Resources Teacher, Kaʻū High & Pāhala Elementary (Hawai‘i Island)

To learn more about career opportunities in the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education, please visit hawaiischooljobs.com or stop by our booth at our upcoming recruiting events:

Honolulu Star-Advertiser Career Expo
Neal S. Blaisdell Exhibition Hall
777 Ward Ave., Honolulu, HI 96814
Wednesday, April 30 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Public School Pop Quiz! Answer: 3. Norman and Robert. The origin of the name NORBERT is a combination of Norman Minehira, former principal of Leilehua High School, and Robert Stevens, a former principal of Radford High School.

HAWAI‘I STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Keith Hayashi

Superintendent

ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENTS

Ho‘oha‘aheo

PUBLIC SCHOOL PROUD

Contributors

1390 Miller St. Honolulu, HI 96813 | Phone: 808-784-6200 Fax: 808-586-3234

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