A third new deputy state superintendent for Hawaii’s public school system was confirmed Thursday by the state Board of Education. And while critics have expressed concern that having three deputies instead of one will worsen school bureaucracy, board members say the new appointees will be key to improving the massive state Department of Education.

Heidi Armstrong had been serving under state Schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi as the lone deputy superintendent on an interim basis since July. With a 9-0 vote of the board, Armstrong was made permanent deputy superintendent in charge of academics, meaning she will lead the department’s academic program and initiatives. The DOE veteran of more than three dec­ades also will serve as the line officer for school operations.

Armstrong will join Tammi Oyadomari-Chun, deputy superintendent of strategy, and Curt T. Otaguro, deputy superintendent of operations, in the leadership layer just under Hayashi. Oyadomari- Chun and Otaguro’s positions are new posts approved last month amid criticism from Hawaii’s teachers union and others who said they will thicken bureaucracy at the top of the state’s public school system, and their $190,000 salaries could be better spent at the school level.

But board Chair Bruce Voss said that “the idea is to give the superintendent the support that he needs to succeed, to put him in the best position to make changes in the system, in reporting, in support for the schools. These three highly qualified, committed, highly motivated people, we believe, will put the superintendent in a position to do that.”

Armstrong has served in school, complex area and state leadership positions. Past titles include assistant superintendent of the Office of Student Support Serv­ices, complex area superintendent of the Campbell-Kapolei Complex Area, and school principal.

Voss said she “brings a demonstrated commitment, depth of experience and knowledge and candor. … She’s been excellent in communications with the public and the board, and she’s demonstrated that she has students and student achievement and quality instruction in her heart.”