Uncanny charter school conversion links between Big Island and Kualapuu

MOLOKAI, Hawaii: An article in the Molokai News features the story of Pualani Akaka, a 5th grade teacher at Kualapu’u Elementary Charter School, who recently resigned from her position on the Charter School Review Panel, along with two other members, after the state Board of Education overturned the CSRP’s decision to delay the conversion of the Laupahoehoe Public Charter School.

From the Molokai News website:

In her Jan. 26 letter of resignation, Akaka stated: “I have difficulty believing you considered the children of Laupahoehoe, Hamakua, and Honomu at all. In these decisions, you have undermined six years of work in two months. So, I am done and moving on.”

The other two resigning members were Chairman Carl Takamura and former Chairwoman Ruth Tschumy.

Strangely, the CSRP, Kualapu’u Elementary Charter School, and Hawaii Island education have gotten mixed up in another controversy recently.

Kualapu’u Elementary Charter School principal, Lydia Trinidad, has been named interim principal at Waimea Middle School by the Honolulu based Ho’okako’o school board, following the sudden departure of beloved principal John Colson.

Colson was recently himself a member of the Charter School Review Panel. His seat was designated for the head of a conversion charter school. The CSRP website now lists the seat as “vacant.”