By Ember Reichgott Junge
It is with profound sadness and deep aloha that the National Charter Schools Founders Library honors a dear friend, colleague, and Founder who helped shape chartering from its earliest days in Hawaii. Steve Hirakami passed away November 26, 2025 leaving an “immeasurable void in our charter school ‘ohana, communities and movement” as told by the Hawaii Charter Schools Network. The Founders Library invites you to join Steve’s Celebration of Life Gathering by livestream at the Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science Campus this Saturday, February 21, from noon to 5 p.m. Hawaii time (program at noon) or 5 p.m.—10 p.m. ET at https://youtu.be/4nzVprkLpuc.
The Founders Library honors Steve because he was a founder in many senses of the word. He was the first Executive Director of the Hawai’i State Public Charter School Commission. He co-founded and directed the Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science. He was a key leader of the Hawaii Charter Schools Network (“Network”). To me personally, he was a dear friend who gave every inch of his heart and soul to ensure quality charter schools for the children of Hawaii.
Whenever I speak about charter schools—no matter what part of the country—I always highlight my enormous pride at what I saw first-hand in Hawaii. Many of Hawaii’s schools were founded to preserve the Hawaiian indigenous culture and language for future generations. And they have succeeded! Today thousands more Hawaiians celebrate their language and culture. I never even imagined that a chartering law first passed in Minnesota would have such a profound cultural effect thousands of miles away.
Steve has been instrumental in that growth. And he was instrumental in co-founding and leading one of the most innovative charter public schools I’ve ever had the privilege to visit: the Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science (HAAS) in Pahoa. When I toured the campus with Steve and his team in 2017, I was amazed at the unique learning offerings of the school and how they engaged students in community. Here are just a few examples:
- A large mac nut field that students care for, maintain, and sell mac nuts. This is a Work Readiness program for students with moderate and severe disabilities. It teaches student financial skills like opening bank accounts, budgeting, and timesheets. Students earn a paycheck and learn life skills like laundry and cooking.
- A garden area with a food processing station. Students elect to learn the process from planting food to creating recipes and preparing food.
- The tilapia ponds. Students designed structures for three tilapia ponds for a competition and won $500. Instead of celebrating with a party, the students asked to build the ponds. Attendees of Steve’s Celebration of Life will fish in the ponds on Saturday.
- The surf elective course. Started in 2001, Steve believed if he got kids into the ocean they would stay out of trouble. Now the state is offering surfing as an official sport.
When I left, I had tears in my eyes at the incredible opportunities that were being created for these children. And Steve was right in the middle of it all.
One thing of most pride to Steve was that the school gave back to the community. The school requires two credits (240 hours) of community service for students to graduate. My favorite example is when a volcano erupted in 2014 and the lava flow was coming toward the school. Students jumped into action to create and attach insulation to the power poles to protect them. They also made air purifiers.
And through the political challenges that always seem to follow chartering, Steve had a way of rising above them. He was the person who could bring people together from the authorizer to the Network to the policymakers. He introduced me to legislators at the state capitol on Oahu, and all of them regarded him with respect, even if they differed in perspectives.
One of my most proud moments in my chartering career was joining Steve and his colleagues in February 2025 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of chartering in Hawaii with the entire membership of the Hawaiian State Senate. These photos at the capitol and in the office of Senator Michelle Kidani, Chair of the Senate Education Committee, hold a special place in my heart not only for the significant anniversary, but because it was the last time I would see my friend Steve.
And Steve knew how to be a friend. When I visited Hawaii in 2017 with a friend from Minnesota, Steve gave us a personal tour of the Big Island, including the top of Mauna Kea. Steve introduced us to his wife and family, to whom we now send our deepest condolences for their profound loss. Mahalo to his family for sharing Steve with the chartering community.
Steve’s legacy will live on in Hawaii and across this nation as a pioneering model of resilience for chartering, cultural grounding, and community empowerment. As the Network said, “Through it all, he held his aloha, his humor, and his unwavering conviction that every child mattered.”
We’ve lost a giant for Hawai‘i’s keiki. But he lives on in every child who has or will attend a charter public school in Hawaii.
And he will live on forever in my heart.
—Memorial prepared with assistance from Terri York of HAAS
More about Steve Hirakami and HAAS
→ PBS video about HAAS students protecting school from lava flow.
