As Keith Hayashi assumes official control of Hawaii’s public schools, he faces a number of complex and daunting challenges arising from the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, the state Board of Education approved his contract for a three-year term as state superintendent. In just two weeks, the next academic year begins.

Hayashi has served as acting superintendent since August, so the scope of the job ahead will not be new to him. Nonetheless, his official tenure begins in the wake of an unprecedented shift to remote learning forced by the pandemic during the 2020-21 school year, leaving thousands of students with learning, social and emotional deficits.

COVID-19 continued to cause rampant absenteeism among both students and teachers during the 2021-22 school year, and this also took its toll. At the end of that second quarter, 31% of students had excessive absences and “were at risk of being chronically absent,” reported the Department of Education.

Hayashi’s first charge must be to address the student learning loss and social/emotional damage inflicted over these years.

The most recent findings on student achievement showed that a significant percentage of Hawaii youth are facing serious learning deficits. During the first two quarters of 2021-22, more than 1 in 5 elementary school students received a failing grade in English, and more than 1 in 7 failed math. Screening assessments in math and English for students in kindergarten through grade 8 showed that a majority tested at one or more grades below their grade level.

Among high school students, more than 1 in 10 had failing grades in these primary subjects. That leaves far too many students at a troubling academic disadvantage.

Federal funding has been allocated to help remediate pandemic damage. It should be used strategically to provide targeted academic services, reach out to repeatedly absent students, and help students and families recover from pandemic learning deficits and trauma.

Against this backdrop, Hayashi must lead the state through the process of creating and implementing a new strategic plan, itself a heavy lift, in that no updated plan has been in place throughout the pandemic. The last strategic plan covered academic years 2017-18 through 2019-20; along with the pandemic, rifts between the board and the previous superintendent stymied its replacement.

This new strategic plan will be prepared as some observers continue to call for school reform, and for evolving curriculum so that graduates can thrive in a future dominated by new technologies and employment pathways. Hayashi will be called upon to make effective use of nearly $1 billion in pandemic aid that is flowing into public schools, and deploying the funds in ways that significantly improve student competence, achievement and social/emotional well-being.

Bills just signed into law by Gov. David Ige indicate the state’s commitment to improving the system. A workforce readiness measure requires the DOE to provide students opportunity to earn associate degrees, as well as diplomas in in-demand job skills, pre-apprenticeship certificates and other industry-recognized certificates. Hayashi and the DOE must designate schools to participate, and ramp up these services.

New positions for a state coordinator for summer learning — long overdue — and a statewide school garden coordinator have been created. Hayashi acknowledged during his hiring ceremony that amplifying summer learning opportunities is “more crucial than ever,” and that’s an understatement; meanwhile, expanded school gardening programs can further DOE efforts to educate an agricultural workforce.

In light of the unprecedented harm inflicted by the pandemic, the pressure is on Hayashi to marshal the state’s educators and all resources at his disposal to provide Hawaii’s students with the most effective and supportive educational experience possible. They, and the state, deserve nothing less.