Remove Executive Director/Principal at Kanuikapono Public Charter School
Change.org petition, Sept, 2025
The Issue
We, the concerned students, parents, and community members of Kanuikapono Public Charter School (KPCS) are advocating for positive changes in order to elevate the quality of education and create a safe and nurturing learning environment. By signing this petition, we urge the Kanuikapono Governing Board and Hawaiʻi State Public Charter School Commission to enact an immediate change in leadership.
We demand the immediate removal of Kanuikapono Public Charter School's current Executive Director/Principal Kanoe Ahuna. In her current roles, Ahuna is responsible for a five-year decline in K-12 enrollment and using school funds for improper personal expenses benefiting herself, her family, and associates. These issues became public at the KPCS Governing Board meeting on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.
(NOTE: Kanoe Ahuna is wife of OHA Kauai Trustee Dan Ahuna.)
Executive Director/Principal Kanoe Ahuna took a leave of absence on Thursday, April 24, 2025 due to a personal family matter. Her impending return to KPCS campus is cause for concern since the school is thriving in her absence.
The following are just some of the concerns being voiced by students, parents, and community members...
1. Executive Director/Principal Kanoe Ahuna fosters a toxic workplace along with a student environment rife with bullying, fighting, and no discipline. Many qualified teachers have left or been fired due to personal and/or ethics issues with Ahuna.
2. Executive Director/Principal Kanoe Ahuna has made parents who bring up concerns feel disregarded, disrespected, degraded, and ignored. Many parents removed their children from KPCS because of ongoing issues with her thus accelerating a decline in enrollment.
3. Executive Director/Principal Kanoe Ahuna has not been willingly accommodating to students with special needs. This resulted in a special education complaint in which KPCS was determined to have violated IDEA. The SPED department was her responsibility at the time.
4. Executive Director/Principal Kanoe Ahuna gave special treatment to her husband Dan Ahuna (OHA Trustee) when she failed to reprimand him for multiple instances of using foul and abusive language toward middle school students while he was a KPCS teacher during the 2024-25 school year.
5. Executive Director/Principal Kanoe Ahuna and Shane Cobb-Adams (Governing Board Chair) have targeted KPCS employees who they feel might be a threat to their personal and professional agendas. Teachers and staff members reportedly feel afraid to speak up because of potential consequences. Cobb-Adams also made several intimidating visits to campus during Ahuna's absence.
6. Executive Director/Principal Kanoe Ahuna has been forced to make restitution multiple times for using school credit cards for her personal travel expenses including purchasing airplane tickets and renting hotel rooms.
7. Executive Director/Principal Kanoe Ahuna used school funds to hire her sister Jennifer Gonsalves (Outreach & Implementation Specialist/Contentment Foundation) as consultant on the construction of an elementary outdoor playground at KPCS which was never built and there are no plans to do so. Ahuna also hired Gonsalves as consultant for the SEL program and KPCS master plan.
These are just some of the reasons why we are demanding the immediate removal of Executive Director/Principal Kanoe Ahuna. Her return would create a drop in morale on campus and cause tension in the KPCS community. There is also an existing belief that Ahuna intends to undo the progress that KPCS has made while she's been on leave.
By signing this petition, we express our collective desire for positive changes at Kanuikapono Public Charter School that will empower our students and provide them with the best possible education. Together, we can create an environment where every student thrives academically and emotionally.
read … Petition · Remove Executive Director/Principal at Kanuikapono Public Charter School - Anahola, United States · Change.org
BACKGROUND