The Board of Education gave schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto an overall evaluation of “effective” Thursday but criticized her for not keeping the board in the loop on decisions or providing adequate data.

“I appreciate the superintendent’s vision and her passion for equity for all students, and she’s done a great job at that,” said board member Bruce Voss. “But many of her other objectives remain a work in progress.”

“Student achievement levels are erratic at best and stalled in certain areas,” he said. “And on the COVID front, we need data on how many students actively participated in learning on a daily basis in distance learning during the shutdown, and we don’t have that.”

Kishimoto, on the job since August 2017, received an “effective” rating in three categories on her annual evaluation: “visionary leadership and organizational culture,” “board governance and policy” and “communications and community relations.”

She got the top rating of “highly effective” in the “equity advocacy” category but was rated only “marginal” on “operations, resource and personnel management.”

The four grades are: highly effective, effective, marginal and unsatisfactory.

Board member Kenneth Uemura, who heads the Finance and Infrastructure Committee, ticked off examples of where he thought she fell short, including a lack of metrics to measure progress even before the coronavirus hit.

Some members complained that they found out about initiatives just before having to vote on them, and said that also shortchanges the public. Earlier input on decisions could have improved outcomes, they said.

“Extra compensation for teachers was a great initiative but poorly planned and left a lot of questions regarding funding and potential impacts to programs,” Uemura said.

Kishimoto also received an “effective” rating in May 2019. But this was the first time the annual evaluation was conducted in public, in response to a court ruling. It was streamed as part of the board’s general meeting, which was conducted virtually.

The superintendent said the rapidly changing coronavirus situation required fast action.

“The fact that we’ve gone into crisis and had to do things quickly and figure it out, I don’t think should be used as an example of things we should improve on,” she said.

But she acknowledged that “our data systems have not been great.”

A contracted survey of teachers, students and parents to measure their experience with distance learning and recommendations for the future is underway, she said. Principals are also gathering data on availability of tech devices, training that was provided for distance learning, and what more is needed.

Board member Kili Namau‘u praised Kishimoto’s focus on equity, integrity and fairness for all students and staff members.

“This is one of her greatest strengths,” she said. “She really is passionate about it. She really does make sure that this equity issue is addressed in everything she does.”

Chairwoman Catherine Payne and Vice Chairman Brian De Lima stressed that constructive criticism during the evaluation should not be construed as lack of support.

“I have been very impressed with the quality of engagement and dedication and scholarship that the superintendent has brought to the state and our school system, and I appreciate her hard work,” Payne said. “We wouldn’t want anyone listening to this or reading about it later thinking that we have doubts about the capacity of our superintendent to lead the system in very challenging times.”