DOE deputy Stephen Schatz accepts UH position
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / MAR. 2012
Stephen Schatz: Will direct a statewide coalition aimed at an ‘education pipeline’
Stephen Schatz, deputy superintendent for the state Department of Education, is leaving his post for a job at the University of Hawaii.
Schatz, a former teacher and schools administrator in Hawaii and California, was promoted in mid-2015 to deputy superintendent, a position that serves as chief academic officer for Hawaii’s public schools. He had previously been the assistant superintendent for strategy, innovation and performance.
At UH, Schatz will be the director of Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education, a statewide educational partnership between the University of Hawaii, Department of Education and the Executive Office on Early Learning. The organization, which is based at the university, has a mission of strengthening the “education pipeline” from early childhood through higher education so that all students can achieve college and career success.
A Jan. 17 memorandum that sought approval from UH President David Lassner to appoint Schatz says the position is “crucial to the mission of the UH system and the 10 campuses of UH to prepare more students to enroll, persist and complete college certificates and degrees and to reach the statewide goal of having 55 percent of working age adults achieve a 2-year or 4-year college degree by the year 2025.”
Schatz’s appointment is effective March 1, with an annual salary of $166,008. He will be replacing Karen Lee.
“I’m excited for this opportunity that allows me to continue advocating and working toward higher expectations for students and their success,” Schatz said in an emailed statement.
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Schatz’s move to UH comes amid controversy over the Board of Education’s decision not to retain schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi.
Matayoshi’s contract is set to end June 30, and despite receiving positive annual performance evaluations, the board announced in October that her contract would not be renewed and has convened a search committee to find her replacement. The board’s chairman said at the time that the state has an opportunity to move public education in a new direction, citing a revised strategic plan and changes under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. But no specific details about Matayoshi’s performance had been given.
Under questioning by lawmakers at a budget hearing last week, some board members pointed to a lack of improvement under Matayoshi in closing the achievement gap between students categorized as high-needs — those receiving special-education services, those who are economically disadvantaged and English-language learners — and their peers on standardized tests.
43 responses to “DOE deputy Stephen Schatz accepts UH position”
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Good luck Schatz! Good for you. Please take me with you:(
That is a handsome salary for sort of a side show organization
Nice to have high level political connections, I guess.
Interesting that the SA doesn’t mention that he’s the brother of US Senator Brian Schatz. B. Schatz was picked by Abercrombie as US Senator over Inouye’s recommendation of Hanabusa. Steven Schatz becomes a deputy director of DOE at a very young age over many older and qualified woman candidates. Still very young and inexperienced he is getting a high salaried job at UH. Hawaii politics as usual and B. Schatz is likely to get re-elected, because Hawaii voters continue to look the other way. It’s like the battered wife syndrome. It’s all they know and they keep hoping things will get better. Yet they keep getting abused, by nice looking people with a title they trust, that keep making empty promises and keep cheating on them. SAD!
Is he getting paid more than the Governor and Mayor?? How much does the Police Chief make??
I bet his position is because of his useless brother. A way like matayoshi the DOE has progress just a little.
Rats jumping ship because Matayoshi (sincere thanks BOE!) is on her way out. Crying all the way. Now she knows what it feels like for all the people she drove out of DOE.
CAS driving out teachers as well at district level only taking care of themselves and fellow Administrator type jobs. No opportunities for RTs to work 12 months. CAS rather sell 12 month RT positions they were given and buy Administrator type positions and travel. Meanwhile asking 10 month RTs to come in during the summer and paid measly $169/day do they can get their work done. It’s degrading and offensive. Trump seems to be here as well.
Nice to be named Schatz. Kind of like being named Espero.
Nah, being named Espero is embarrassing.
and Schatz isn’t?
The DOE, at all levels from teachers and custodians on up, needs committed people who stick it out through easy and tough times, not politicians who are in it only for me, me, me, I, I, I. Good riddance.
Interesting comment! It does appear that he is jumping ship. actually he is! But, I think he may be better suited for this position. Until the State straightens up their bureaucratic mess, people will leave. Some, good riddance, others good move.
I don’t know why the DOE needs so many superindendants. The monster of bureacracy is so big and that no one can cut it down. If you look at the main office, it is unbelievable how many positions there are. My friend was there for one year and said if he wanted to push donuts, he could be comfortable for the rest of his career. Thankfully, it stood up to the boss and got out and went back to the front lines
Good move… glad to hear that the UH is doing some research in early education.
If you want needy kids to have opportunities at the college level, then you need to start at the preschool level before kindergarten.
That said… this article points out that poorly performing kids have not made as much progress as their college ready peers. It’s probably because these needy kids never have had the preschool early education that they needed.
The DOE continues to aim at the more privileged kids because they hate the competition from private schools that get to select the smart applicants to attend. The DOE wants to do the best it can for the smart ones that remain in the public schools and who have had good preschool and early learning experiences.
Politics is the family business. S. Schatz isn’t “jumping ship”, he’s moving from one office to another in the State-monopoly Pre-K-PhD indoctrination industry.
P-20 (“early education”) is based on fraudulent research. Studies which find a benefit to early institutionalization compare children of seriously deficient parents who receive intense intervention to children of seriously deficient parents who do not receive treatment. These results DO NOT generalize to the children of normal parents. Early institutionalization is counter-indicated. Homeschool.
Normal parents do not neglect their children in such a manner. There is NO NEED for such a study.
The studies you mention are perfectly valid and show a huge need for free preschool for children of parents who neglect their kids.
Calling such research “fraudulant” does not make them so. These studies are made by many researches from many institutions and they point to the same result. The facts count and not opinions.
You’ve bumped your head again.
Nothing more political than the DOE in Hawaii!
If you want kids to someday achieve “career success” then you need to train them to suck up to politically-connected people, especially if they want to stay in Hawaii. Because that’s how to achieve success here (just ask this guy named “Schatz”). WHAT you know isn’t nearly as important as WHO you know. I hope that’s a core message of this program. Schatz seems like a good candidate to get that message out there to the kids.
It’s unfortunate. Your bitterness comes through so vividly all the time, with just about every comment.
I’ve watched politicians slowly ruin Hawaii, decade after decade. Don’t blame the messenger.
See what happens when you point out the obvious to those who do not care to listen. This is the reason I opted to not work for the State, the partisan politics was stifling. I found out that many find it difficult to acknowledge the obvious. Perhaps even more disappointing is the decision not to speak up due to being ostracized or blinded by partisan sentiments. Both result in what you pointed out (ryan02). Regardless Captain Obvious
That is not bitterness. More like ryan02 is speaking the TRUTH. Also Hawaii parents know this to be true because despite all of the SA feel good and propaganda stories of the DOE, many Hawaii parents still in record number choose to sacrifice financially to send their kids to private school. You can put lipstick on a pig but those not in denial knows it is still a pig. I could factually list point by point all the problems with the DOE but don’t want to type a 10,000 word response and the post gets censored for being too long.
ryan02 is totally true. This who you know thing in Hawaii is not just limited to politics. How do you think Peter Ho rose up to the chairman of Bank of Hawaii at such a young age ? It’s because of his family ties. And Walter Dod’s son also became a senior VP at First Hawaiian Bank rather fast.
100% agree with your comment. Just the same people taking care of their own. The rest of us get the peanuts.
Total waste of money.
So was the current head of P-20 (Karen Lee) a failure? Or someone needed a soft spot for the brother of Hawaii’s Senior Senator to land?
Dr. Lee has a PhD so is probably more interested in research. And will probably continue to direct the Early Learning Office Programs as senior researcher.
Schatz doesn’t have the same academic credentials – to even be minimally qualified to direct such research – so I wonder that they see him as having a lot of “pull” on federal money bag strings – his twin brother being our senior Sen. Schatz.
Most research at the UH – even very good programs – and elsewhere is being starved for federal grant money because Congress has done away with ear marks in legislation.
Now that Republicans are in control, I fully expect that ear marks will return to entice enough Democratic senators to help pass Republican legislation.
And related with that, I wonder that with the new DOE administration that a lot of federal money that it has, will start to dry up.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. Neither one has a single research accolade or has ever published anything relevant.
“He will be replacing Karen Lee.” That’s it? Is she retiring, found a better job, was terminated and/or replaced for political reasons?
Probably more like retired with the high three in place for her.
Here’s a novel idea. Eliminate the position and use the annual savings for scholarships.
Nice to have a braddah in da kine office, yeah?
Feeding at the public trough. When will Hawaii wake up?
This story gets front page coverage (online) but Dow 20000 and the Walk for Life … – 0 -. So sad how the SA has really leaned (fill in the blank)…should be difficult.
Another Schatz gets to jump on the gravy train. I doubt the DOE will miss him at all as he seems to have had a make up job anyway. UH is known to be the place to dump
your political hack and cronies in a high paying job doing nothing on the way to a sweet retirement pension on the backs of the taxpayer. Great if you can manage to swing it.
Congrats to Stephen and to the public service the Schatz family has provided to Hawaii
Again UH is proven to be little more than a slush fund for the Democratic party and their families, friends and insiders. Nepotism runs rampant in Hawaii government. This guy has had quite a rise in employment opportunity since his twin brother was elected Lt. Gov a few years ago. From California school teacher to deputy superintendent in Hawaii to now a six figure truly “do-nothing UH admin job. Must be nice!
Keep voting for the same corrupt people Hawaii and expect a different result. Voters are getting exactly what they deserve from the Democrats.
Why the big emphasis on collage grads. Most college grads can’t find “degree required” work in Hawaii. Plum jobs are construction and freight terminal workers (longshoremen)- no degree, only connections required.
Funny how these same Party people get big paying positions in government.
Its a coincidence, that’s all. Move along nothing to see here.
“Schatz’s appointment is effective March 1, with an annual salary of $166,008. He will be replacing Karen Lee” means someone at UH pushed Karen Lee out so Schatz’s (Brian’s twin brother)can be there? Was he qualified? Can someone tell us what he accomplished at the DOE besides always trying to get higher positions and salaries and referencing his brother?