Hawaii's Governor Neil Abercrombie Plays his Nepotism Card

12/26/11

We have often questioned Governor Abercrombie's commitment to the education of our children attending  Hawaii's  public schools, particularly considering the fact that we now  have a hand- picked, appointed school board and a superintendent with lawyer , but little or no educator  skills.   But, if that isn't bad enough,  last July the governor appointed Stephen A. Schatz,  the twin brother of Lieutenant Governor Brian Schatz,  to the position of Assistant Superintendent for Strategic Reform, in charge of the Race to the Top grant.

On July  5, 2011, Governor Abercrombie affirmed Stephen Schatz's appointment to the  Assistant Superintendent for Strategic Reform position in a notification to Dr. James Butler of the United States Department of Education  (see attached).   According to Stephen Schatz, in a phone conversation with Carroll Cox of THE CARROLL COX SHOW,  there was no competitive effort to fill the position.   Stephen Schatz told us he was appointed on July 15, 2011, by  Superintendent Kathryn  Matayoshi , because she knew of his work from earlier projects (see attached).     

It  should be noted, we recently asked for all records relating to competition for the selection of Assistant Superintendent for Strategic Reform and all we received were these two attachments.   

With the threat of grant monies for Race To The Top being revoked, and the recent report by the state's auditor that public charter schools are operating with many flaws and inefficiencies,  and possibly some criminal practices, it appears the state's  school systems can best be described as a rush to reward friends,  relatives and businesses with taxpayer money intended for public education.

If the Race To the Top grant is worth seventy-five million dollars, and the charter schools also received seventy-five million of taxpayer's money,  the Governor and the DOE should not be having so many  problems meeting the goals they set.   Now, the state is blaming the teachers, and their union,  for the problem.   We have to wonder if the reason Hawaii even got the grant was due to the close relationship between President Obama, Hawaii, and "uncle" Governor Abercrombie.    It has been stated the grant was issued because Hawaii stopped  teacher furlough days, which were  temporary anyway.    The state has done nothing to prove it has a viable plan that can be implemented in a timely manner and would actually fix our severely broken education system.