Hawaii County’s representative on the state Board of Education, Sylvia Lee, recently resigned. Her departure was announced briefly during a Sept. 10 meeting of the board.

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Hawaii County’s representative on the state Board of Education, Sylvia Lee, recently resigned. Her departure was announced briefly during a Sept. 10 meeting of the board.

Lee provided a copy of her resignation letter to the Tribune-Herald which cited concerns about lack of transparency and oversight among the board’s leadership as the reasons for her decision.

“My 17 months working with the two people who lead this Board, one over its staff and one over its members, were marked by a lack of openness and shared accountability,” she wrote, referring to BOE Chairperson Roy Takumi and Executive Director Capsun Poe. “I am not aware if that pattern was felt by other Board members; I did not see it openly. After that time in service, however, remaining in that established routine would serve neither the Department, the Board members, nor me.”

Lee was appointed to the BOE by Gov. Josh Green in 2025 to serve a term that was meant to last three years. She has over 40 years of experience working in education in the state, including administrative roles at schools across the Big Island, from Honokaa to Hilo, Keaau and Mountain View.

When she joined the BOE, she said she was looking forward to working on Department of Education initiatives including the Farm to School Program and updating graduation targets and expectations. However, she did not feel supported in her position.

“My hope in joining this Board was to help build and add something accountable, transparent, and responsive — with and for the Hawaii Department of Education, its students, its staff, and for the public we serve,” she wrote. “What I did not anticipate was that the greatest obstacle to my vision would come from within, not without.”

Lee told the Tribune-Herald that her questions and concerns about BOE operations often went unanswered and unacknowledged. She said she received “substantive” responses to only 29 out of 45 written questions and comments she submitted regarding policies and procedures, authority and governance during her time on the board.

“I experienced a documented pattern of resisting any effort to formalize, explain, or put in writing how that authority is actually exercised: no historical document, no current protocol, and no consistency in answers to basic questions like remote attendance or how to propose an item for the BOE agenda,” she said in a written response to questions about her decision.

At an Aug. 13 special BOE meeting, she was the lone vote against changes to the BOE bylaws that extended powers of the board chair to include “the sole authority to set the agenda of all meetings of the full Board.”

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“Agenda-setting is the single most consequential authority a board holds — it determines what even gets examined — and that authority moved from the full membership to one person. It is worth asking why the Chairperson needed this authority at all,” Lee said.

Lee’s resignation comes following previous concerns about transparency and accountability on the BOE. The board and its staff has a history of turnover, especially in recent years. Former chair Warren Haruki resigned from his post in March 2024, after less than a year in the position, marking the third change in leadership in two years.

Lee’s resignation leaves Hawaii County without a representative on the governing body tasked with overseeing the state’s public education system. Lee said it was not an easy decision to leave, but that she hopes it helps spark changes within the board.

“It was not made lightly,” she said. “It is common practice in many organizations to depart quietly; I considered that and chose against it. Quiet departures rarely produce real change, and challenges are swept under the rug. I shared detailed concerns with the Governor, all Board members, and the Executive Director. What they choose to do with that information remains their choice and their responsibility.”

While previously an elected position, since 2010 BOE members have instead been appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.

A representative for Green said the governor would be seeking nominations to fill the seat and make an interim appointment, “which would then go before the Senate for advice and consent during the 2027 session.”

In response to a request for comment about Lee’s resignation, Board Chair Takumi provided a written statement.

“While we respect her decision to step down and her perspective regarding Board processes, the Board remains committed to conducting its work openly and in full public view. We wish her well, as we do all former members of the Board,” he wrote.

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Email Grace Inez Adams at [email protected].