Shane Myers
Poʻo inoa: School Psychologist
Paena hana: Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua Complex Area
Nā makahiki ma HIDOE: 17
Nā makahiki ma ke kūlana: 17
N: E wehewehe pōkole i kāu ala ʻoihana.
A: I graduated from the University of Toledo in Ohio in 2009 and was hired by the HIDOE Central O‘ahu District right out of graduate school. In my first couple of months, I covered Leilehua Complex schools for a colleague who was on maternity leave at the time. When she came back in October of 2009, I was assigned to the Waialua Complex and was there until last month where I moved into a school psychology position with a focus on supporting the entire Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua (LMW) Complex Area with RTI-B (Response to Intervention – Behavior).
Q: How did you get into this field?
A: My mother ran a daycare out of our home growing up and my grandmother was a school bus driver so I’ve always been around kids. In high school, I had a very inspiring psychology teacher who piqued my interest in how the brain works. As an undergraduate, the lead person of my school’s school psychology graduate program shared a presentation about their program to my Abnormal Psychology class. I was instantly intrigued by the opportunity to practice psychology with school-aged children from an educational perspective and decided to pursue that opportunity.
Q: He aha kāu mau hana mua?
A: Currently, I have the opportunity to collaborate with all schools in the LMW Complex Area in developing, implementing, and evolving school-wide and classroom systems that support behavior and social-emotional wellness for all students and staff through LMW’s focus on RTI-B.
Nīnau: ʻO ka māhele punahele e pili ana i ka hana?
A: Since I mostly support students indirectly — that is, I work with the adults who directly support students — I have to say that my favorite happenstance is when multiple individuals with unique perspectives align with a common purpose and gel as a team that accomplishes more than originally intended. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this multiple times in my years in Waialua Complex both with my colleagues and with the students they serve. There’s nothing more captivating than witnessing the power of a team.
Nīnau: ʻO ka hapa nui loa e pili ana i kāu kūlana?
A: I think recently it’s been trying to keep up with the seemingly supersonic changes with society —especially with technology. Students today have so many more distractions than when I was in school. I feel the challenge is helping to turn those distractions into achievable opportunities.
Q: How does your job support students?
A: Through collaboration with my colleagues, I help set up systems ranging from the complex area-level collaborations and systems down to individual student support that ultimately promote opportunities for growth in the whole child. These include social-emotional learning opportunities, incentive and motivation programs, school attendance initiatives and other pro-social and student wellness projects. I also provide consultation with school counselors and administrators on those foundational RTI-B systems that can impact all students.
Nīnau: He aha kāu ʻōlelo aʻo no ka poʻe e noʻonoʻo nei i kēia kūlana?
A: Relationships are everything. Having a great team can help in so many ways. No one person can do it all, but collectively we can come close!
Q: He ʻoiaʻiʻo leʻaleʻa e pili ana iā ʻoe iho?
A: I’ve swam with (and photographed) 16 different species of sharks including Great Whites, Bull sharks and Tiger sharks. My favorite is the Great Hammerhead shark.
Shane Myers was named the 2026-27 School Psychologist of the Year by the Hawai‘i Association of School Psychologists.
