Hawaii County no longer has a seat at the table on the state board that oversees Hawaii's public schools. Sylvia Lee resigned as the county's representative on the Hawaii State Board of Education, announcing her departure at a board meeting on September 10 and citing what she described as a lack of transparency, oversight and shared accountability from board leadership.
Lee said the 17 months she spent working alongside BOE Chair Roy Takumi and Executive Director Capsun Poe were marked by a lack of openness, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. She said her questions and concerns about board operations often went unanswered and unacknowledged, and that she ultimately did not feel supported in her position.
The frustration wasn't abstract. Per the same account, Lee submitted 45 written questions and comments covering board policies, procedures, authority and governance, and received substantive responses to only 29 of them. She shared her detailed concerns with the governor, all board members and the executive director before stepping down.
A Lone Dissenting Vote on Agenda Power
Lee's resignation followed a contentious bylaw change in August. On August 13, the board voted to expand the chair's powers, giving that single position sole authority to set the agenda for all full-board meetings. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser article by Grace Inez Adams of the Hawaii Tribune-Herald notes she cast the only vote against the change, and she has said the shift moved agenda-setting authority away from the full membership and concentrated it in one person.
Takumi responded to Lee's departure by saying the board remains committed to conducting its work openly and in full public view, and he wished her well, the article notes. His statement did not address her specific allegations about unanswered questions or the agenda-setting change.
Decades in Big Island Classrooms
Lee brought more than 40 years of experience in Hawaii education to the board, having worked in administrative roles at schools across the Big Island, including in Honokaa, Hilo, Keaau and Mountain View. Gov. Josh Green appointed her to the BOE in 2025 for a three-year term, according to the same report. She had planned to focus her board work on the farm to school program and on updating graduation targets and expectations, and she has said she hopes her departure will spark changes within the board.
Turnover at the Top
Lee's exit adds to a pattern of instability in the board's leadership. Warren Haruki resigned as BOE chair in March 2024, a departure that marked the third change in board leadership in two years, per the Star-Advertiser's reporting. Green had appointed Roy Takumi to the chair position that same month, subject to state Senate confirmation, according to b97hawaii.com. Since 2010, all BOE members have been appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate, a structural detail the Star-Advertiser's coverage frames as part of the board's broader governance backdrop.
Lee's resignation leaves Hawaii County without a representative on the governing body that oversees the state's public education system. The governor’s representative would seek nominations, make an interim appointment and submit it to the Senate for advice and consent during the 2027 session.
