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UPDATED 7/11/11 11:00 a.m.

The has seen seven directors in seven years, but Roger McKeague plans to stop the leadership crisis — and bring more accountability to the charter school system.

Some of what the new executive director has planned seems like no-brainers: setting clear performance goals, encouraging open dialogue and upgrading computer systems. But McKeague says the administrative office has lacked even these basic essentials.

Hawaii’s charter school system consists of 31 public charter schools that enroll more than 9,000 students.¹ Its $60 million budget is larger than Hawaii’s departments of agriculture, commerce, Hawaiian home lands and taxation.

Setting Clear Expectations

The charter school system has been plagued by scandal in recent years while the director’s office developed a revolving-door reputation.

Former executive director Maunalei Love was forced to resign in February after months of disagreement with the about her job scope and performance. Meanwhile, legislators threatened to curtail funding for charter schools in the wake of nepotism charges at Myron B. Thompson Academy.

A newly established is charged with fixing some of those problems, namely by improving accountability. Its first meeting will be July 20.

But McKeague, Love’s newly appointed replacement, is getting a head start. He is working with the review panel to outline clear and measurable expectations in his contract. Former contracts for his position were not specific beyond requiring compliance with , he told Civil Beat over coffee last week.

Part of the problem for his predecessors was that they couldn’t be held accountable because they didn’t have a clear understanding of what they were supposed to do. Laying out those objectives in writing, he says, will help the review panel determine if McKeague is doing his job — and how well.

“A good contract is one where everybody wins because expectations are clear,” he said. “This is only the first step. After we establish those expectations, then we can adequately prioritize our goals as we go forward.”

One of McKeague’s first priorities will be to bring that same kind of clarity to all levels of the charter school system.

First Priorities

McKeague seems undaunted by the tasks ahead. He’s an energetic, animated speaker. A pair of iPhone earbuds hung off his shoulder as he talked about using new technology to improve education.²

He bubbled with enthusiasm as he talked about a recent staff retreat where the team set a strategic plan aimed at bringing the department’s systems and procedures into the 21st Century. For example, the office uses outdated software and issues handwritten checks. Administrative office employees still use Lotus Notes, a notoriously cumbersome collaboration software system designed by IBM in the 1980s.

“In a time of fiscal constraint, we should be running so hard down the information highway so fast that our heads spin,” he said.

After all, charter schools were designed to be incubators, or laboratories, for trying new education methods and curricula. He wants to bring that same innovative spirit into the administration.

The short-term strategies, he said, will in the long term help improve communication, efficiency, innovation and accountability — at both the administrative office and charter school levels.

During the next three months, the new director and his staff of nine will begin on projects ranging from software updates to rethinking how they handle data and communicate with their 31 charter schools. The projects fall under several broad categories, including:

• Infrastructure (computer hardware, software, etc)
• Communications
• Information management
• Information technology
• Policies and procedures

Some of the key initiatives:

• Establishing standard operating procedures for the office
• Updating HCSAO’s financial software so they’re no longer using Quickbooks for their $60 million budget
• Upgrading to an exchange server so calendars and contact lists can be maintained and shared in the office with minimal time and effort
• Getting set up with Automated Clearing House so they are no longer cutting, mailing and depositing paper checks for every financial transaction.
• Launching a weekly newsletter for charter schools, local charter school boards and anyone else who wants to read it
• Working with the Hawaii Department of Education to give schools more flexibility spending the federal dollars they receive

“The Charter School Administrative Office is a young organization, but charters are a focus of innovation, and we want to be innovative at the administrative level too,” McKeague said.