THURSDAY MAY 9, 2024 A3 DITOR Wyatt Haupt Jr. 808-245-0457 HONOLULU A Senate bill sent to Gov. Josh Green would keep the state schools annual salary at $248,000 or even increase it, which is considerably more than pay of $165,000. A decade ago Act 90 passed out of the 2014 leg- islative session to raise the salary cap for the superin- tendent to $250,000 and mandated an annual per- formance assessment, which aligns with other DOE employee evaluations. The provisions are scheduled to be repealed unless Senate Bill 3207 be- comes law starting June 29.
The bill allows the BOE to pay the superintendent as much as $250,000. If Green sign it, the current $248,000 salary of Department of Educa- tion Superintendent Keith Hayashi will revert to its former limit of $150,000 an- nually, and the mandatory evaluation of the superin- tendent will be eliminated. or State Rep. Gene Ward (R, Kai-Kalama Valley) comparable qualifications called Hayashi a guy (who) does his job, and got a super salary Woodson said. which is right now about during comments on the House floor last week.
Currently, Green earns just over $165,000, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke makes about $162,000 and Attorney Gen- and student performance eral Anne Lopez earns about $162,000. was a nice Ward said of Hayashi. from the superintendent, in terms of the salary, I think deserving to go any State Rep.
Justin Wood- son (D, Kahului-Puunene) who chairs the House Education Committee said during the House floor $500 million or $100 mil- session that reverting the superintendent salary to a whatever it takes to get us sized that SB 3207 does not crease, Woodson said maximum of $150,000 in the top five or the top 10 call for an immediate raise. other salary problems superintendent with with a similar school size earns $356,000 what justification do salary if the we have for that position to only yield 40 percent of what the market is bear- ing? That is not fair to thing that otherwise is me- very strong of SB dents, whose pay is aligned him more than 30 0ther Woodson claimed that education system rank in the top 10 nation- wide. is a direct result his team, our teachers, our during a public meeting principals and vice princi- he said. However, Ward earlier called public edu- salary. cation system mediocre.
would be willing to pay (D, Waipio-Mililani) vice worked during the lion, or $10 million, or in the Ward said. now we even read and do math in third Ward said he would sup- port increasing the super- performance was worthy. not sure agreed to reward some- Ward said. Currently, the state Board of Education does not have a suggested sal- ary for the superintendent. Woodson said, does not Former BOE Chair War- ren Haruki previously said that the BOE should con- sider establishing a salary commission to review the State Rep.
Trish La Chica lar sprinting of how he chair of the House Educa- tion Committee empha- The superintendent would could arise for positions in- tricts, the still be subject to a thor- ough review process by the BOE. is really a policy of are linked to the superin- ensuring stability in our she said. Woodson later told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that in and 3207 and called Hayashi a hard The perception of those in opposition to the bill, align with reality. He thanked team and his leadership in tially downward. That is placing fourth grade reading scores in the top 10 nationwide, and praised ducing the said.
If the salary cap in- cluding the assistant su- perintendent and deputy superintendent, whose pay would have com- pounding negative impacts said. because then you have the complex-area superinten- with the deputies and as- sistants, and then you have across the country. principals and vice princi- Woodson said. would basically force money for important all the compensation down things in the Department of to the school level, poten- the wrong La Chica said during the House floor session that re- six figure Otts salary back to $150,000 could trigger an exodus of administration and the who oversee 20,000 employees. Vanessa Otts, a former DOE teacher for years, testified in writing that the superintendent should not be entitled to higher pay.
However, she also want other admin- pay to be limited. the salary reverts to $150,000 after his contract expires in 2025, then anyone mak- ing more than that would also have a salary reduc- tion because a rule that none of the Superin- subordinates can earn more than the Otts wrote. Otts then told the Advertiser that raising the salary cap could be a good idea if the Legislature pro- vides data in support. During a March House Education Committee meeting, Haruki pointed out that among six other school districts of compa- rable size and student en- rollment, Hayashi has the lowest salary at $248,000 a year. Among the six other dis- paid superintendent earns $280,000.
Others are paid $310,000, $330,000, $380,000 and $598,000 in Gwinnett County, Haruki But Otts said salary of $248,000 earns state superintendents session, they were saying how no Education and all they seem to be interested in is raising the salaries of peo- ple who are already making seemed like they wanted to raise the salaries simply so that they could raise all the other salaries underneath School salary cap rests with governor Victoria Budiono STAR-ADVERTISER CRAIG T. KOJIMA STAR-ADVERTISER Schools superintendent Keith Hayashi receives an annual salarly of $248,000. A Senate bill sent to Gov. Green would keep the annual salary at that level, or even increase the salary. Man awarded from city charged in shooting HONOLULU A 38-year-old man allegedly disabled and awarded $12.5 million after he sued legedly found ammunition the city following a trau- matic brain injury result- ing from a police pursuit was charged Monday in connection with a shoot- ing in Kapolei.
On Saturday at about 1:13 p.m., Jonaven counts of possession or Sinapati, a convicted felon control prohibited of any with more than 40 state ar- firearm or ammunition by rests and citations, al- legedly fired a gun in a residential area near Ewa Makai Middle School. He was arrested at 91- 5431 Kapolei Parkway. is being prosecuted by the Depart- ment of the Prosecuting career criminal division. No one was hurt in the shooting, and police al- and methamphetamine on Perkins-Sinapati. He was charged Tues- day with place to keep pis- tol or revolver, possession of prohibited detachable magazine, ownership, two a person convicted of cer- tain crimes, promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree and sec- ond-degree reckless en- dangering.
He is being held in lieu of $750,000 bail. Sinapati is scheduled to appear for arraignment and a plea hearing on Monday, May 13, at 8:30 a.m. before Oahu Circuit Court Judge Ronald G. Johnson. Perkins-Sinapati faces enhanced penalties if con- victed as he has prior fel- ony convictions for car theft, robbery and promo- tion of a dangerous drug.
The city agreed to pay $12.5 million to Sinapati, the driver of a car that crashed in Sep- tember 2021 in Makaha during a pursuit by Hono- lulu police officers who al- legedly left the scene only to return and act as if nothing happened. His attorney in the civil case, Michael Green, previ- ously told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that would never work again and could not participate in physical activities with his kids. Perkins-Sinapati al- legedly little use of his left arm and He to speak clearly and displays be- havior that is comparable to stroke who lose partial or total con- trol of critical functions, Green previously told the Green told the Advertiser on Tuesday that of in- juries were ever of the testing he re- ceived by the expert corroborated the deficits he has sustained regarding the speech, the use of his left arm, his ability to am- bulate. This was not a drive-by shooting. There was no one shot said Green.
would call his stroke not severe, but certainly a stroke that the experts say will cause him to need long term care for the rest of his life. But the City through line and verse ver- ified and checked with their expert that the inju- ries were real and paid ac- Ian Scheuring, Mayor Rick deputy communications director, told the Star-Advertiser in a statement that the city in extensive dis- covery to evaluate Mr. claims arising from the injuries he sustained from the ac- cident and settled the case based upon evidence the City Seven officers have been disciplined by the department in connection with the Sept. 12, 2021, in- cident, originally de- scribed to the public as a single-car accident. Three Honolulu police officers have been fired, and they, along with a fourth officer, go to trial in June on state criminal charges.
Peter Boylan STAR-ADVERTISER Former IBEW union official charged with felony theft HONOLULU A 44-year- old former office associate with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 1186 has been charged with fel- ony theft for allegedly em- bezzling $44,367 in union dues. Lilinoe Chris Yen Smith, who worked for the union for 14 years, allegedly exe- cuted an undisclosed scheme from about Oct. 10, 2018, until July 12, 2021, to steal union dues, and falsi- fied union financial records to cover her tracks. The criminal charges come after Smith defaulted on a civil agreement she en- tered into with IBEW Local 1186 to repay the money it caught her stealing in order to avoid criminal prosecu- tion. On Jan.
31 a default judg- ment against Smith was en- tered in the amount of $55,918.13 for unpaid prin- cipal from her civil agree- ment and $3,320 in unpaid interest through Jan. 8. Smith was also ordered to pay filing fees in the amount of $323.19 and ser- vice fees totaling $84.82. She entered into a promis- sory note on Nov. 18, 2021, to pay back the union $64,084, plus interest.
amounts due under the Promissory Notice, in- cluding accrued interest and late charges, were to be paid in full by October 31, read a civil com- plaint filed Sept. 1 against Smith. request for payment of all amounts owed under the Promissory Note, Defendant Smith has failed and refused to pay the amount due under the Promissory Smith worked in member support and earned an an- nual salary of $49,934 in 2021, according to labor management reports filed with U.S. Department of La- Office of Management Standards. Smith was charged with first-degree theft by the state Department of the At- torney Special In- vestigation and Prosecution Division, following an inves- tigation conducted by fed- eral labor investigators with the Office of Management Standards.
Smith turned herself in to the state sheriffs Monday morning, according to a news release from state At- torney General Anne E. Lo- pez. from union members is a serious breach of said Lopez in a statement. members expect that when they pay their dues that the money is being used for union business. My depart- ment will work to ensure that anyone who steals union resources will be held accountable.
like to thank the U.S. Department of Labor for their thorough investigation and for their continued collaboration with my Department as we move forward with prose- cuting this First-degree theft is a Class felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and up to a $25,000 fine. Smith falsi- fied union records to con- ceal her all of which resulted in a loss of about $44,367.08 to the union, ac- cording to state felony in- formation filed April 30. Smith is scheduled to ap- pear for arraignment and plea at 8:30 a.m. May 13 be- fore Oahu Circuit Judge Ronald G.
Johnson. important mission of the U.S. Department of La- Office of Management Standards is to promote financial integ- rity and safeguard union funds and said Ed Oquendo, district director, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Manage- ment Standards, in a state- ment. are committed to seeking justice on behalf of union members when any- one puts personal financial gain ahead of the best inter- ests of their membership.
We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate these types of Peter Boylan STAR-ADVERTISER.
