Hawaii’s Interim School Chief Wants The Job Permanently. Is He Up To It? …Keith Hayashi has been running the statewide school system for nearly a year, dealing with a pandemic, staffing shortages and other problems.
As Hawaii’s search for a permanent school superintendent unfolds in the coming weeks, one person certain to be a contender is Keith Hayashi, the longtime school principal who has served in the top job in the school system on an interim basis since August.
“I am in the process right now of finalizing (my application),” Hayashi said last week.
The window to apply for the Hawaii Department of Education chief executive role — in which annual pay could be as high as $250,000 — had been due to close Friday. On Monday, however, the state Board of Education extended the deadline to April 12. The board had planned to interview candidates in April and announce its choice by May.
With the BOE’s nationwide search for the next leader of Hawaii’s 160,000-student single-district school system already underway, Hayashi is intent on staying in office and expanding on the work he’s done since August, when he first stepped into the role.
