Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
By COLIN M. STEWART
Tribune-Herald staff writer
John Colson, the principal whose exit from Waimea Middle School earlier this month raised an uproar among parents, students and community members, has accepted a position with Hawaii Preparatory Academy.
While Colson’s hiring ensures that the widely lauded educator will remain in the Waimea community, it also largely shuts the door on a return to the charter school.
At a heavily attended meeting at the school last week, community members demanded answers as to why their principal had left in the midst of a school year, and particularly before the Hawaii State Assessment tests. Board members have refused to address those questions, saying that any response would violate Colson’s privacy. Colson, too, has been mum on the reasoning behind his departure.
School board members from Honolulu-based nonprofit Ho’okako’o Corp. agreed during last week’s meeting that they would open communication with Colson to explore releasing more information about his departure, or to discuss a possible return.
Colson will begin work as acting director of development at Waimea’s HPA on Thursday, March 1, according to a press release issued late Wednesday afternoon by Phyllis Kanekuni, HPA director of public relations.
According to the release, Colson has served HPA in numerous capacities over the last 23 years. He joined the school in 1979 as a counselor and coach and taught at the school for 11 years before being named headmaster in 1991 — a position he held until 2003.
“Having a gentleman of John’s stature join our administrative team is not an opportunity that comes around every day” Barnes was quoted as saying. “This is not an opportunity I would have predicted, but it’s one we were ready to explore when it was confirmed that John was available.”
In a Wednesday evening phone interview, Barnes said that the job offer was made “well after” Colson’s departure from Waimea Middle and was not the cause of his exit.
“I wouldn’t do that to another school,” he said.
He added that Colson’s job at HPA will largely focus on fundraising for the private school.
“We are very dependent on contributions to our annual fund, and part of John’s function will be to work on our annual fund drive. … He’ll also work on contributions to be applied toward scholarships … and he’ll be in charge of planning for several small developments on campus,” Barnes said.
Calls to Colson’s home in Waimea seeking comment went unanswered Wednesday afternoon, but in HPA’s prepared statement he was quoted saying that he looked “forward to rolling up my sleeves and working with Lindsay and everyone else at HPA as they continue to improve the HPA Experience.”
Parents who had decried Colson’s departure from Waimea Middle said they were happy to see him find work in the community, despite being saddened at the prospect that he would not be returning to their school.
“I am so happy that this man has a job and he has a place where he can still call home,” said Melissa Lindsey, a mother of two students at Waimea Middle. “Though the situation is that we’ve lost him, I’m just so happy. He needs to take care of his family, and we need to respect that.”
Brenda Resendiz, a former employee at Waimea Middle and a mother of an eighth-grader there, had not yet heard the news about Colson’s hiring at HPA, and her first reaction was one of relief.
“That’s great!” she said Wednesday afternoon upon being told.
However, she said, the problems with the leadership provided at Waimea Middle by Ho’okako’o continued this week.
“From what I heard from my daughter, today there was an assembly for the students, and Mr. Colson came to talk to them,” she said. “He didn’t talk about why he left, but he told them he would miss them, and he would be available to them. … My hope is that it was able to give the students closure. But, my concern, once again, is that the parents weren’t notified that an assembly would take place. … I would have liked to be notified, given the circumstances.”
Waimea Middle parents have complained about Ho’okako’o’s communication with them since learning of Colson’s departure. Parents were not officially notified until the day after their children were told during a school assembly.
Founded in 1949, Hawaii Preparatory Academy is a co-educational, college-preparatory K-12 and post-graduate boarding and day school located in Waimea. The school’s 606 students come from the Hawaiian Islands, 17 other states and U.S. territories, and 18 other countries. For more information, visit hpa.edu.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.