Hawaii Catholic Herald
Casey M. Asato
Saint Francis School in Manoa has named its first male head of school in its 94-year history. The school’s board of directors selected Honolulu-born Casey M. Asato after a nationwide search began in early June.
Asato, 46, is also the first person to lead the school who is not a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities. Asato succeeds Sister Joan of Arc Souza, a Sister of St. Francis.
He is a 1989 graduate of Damien Memorial School and a graduate of St. Anthony School, Kailua.
Asato has worked at Seabury Hall on Maui since 2006 as a teacher and administrator. He was the school’s director of curriculum since 2012.
He has a bachelor of science degree from Santa Clara University majoring in finance and minoring in Japanese.
He earned master’s degrees in social studies from Columbia University and in Asian studies from the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
Asato received his doctorate in professional educational practice in 2017 from the University of Hawaii-Manoa. He interviewed Sister Joan of Arc as part of his doctoral dissertation.
In a news release, Asato said that, as head of school, he wants to raise Saint Francis to another level.
“My vision for Saint Francis would be a world class college preparatory school,” he said, “in which students are pursuing their interests, they’re engaged with their learning and they find meaning and purpose through their contributions to society.”
Asato is a world traveler who has visited 24 countries. He has done four motorcycle tours of Japan and one on the U.S. mainland. He has also bicycled through France.
He and his wife of 10 years, Mariangela, a native of Peru, have recently adopted a baby girl.
Before stepping down in June, Sister Joan of Arc led St. Francis for 27 years, transforming it from an all-girls high school into a pre-kindergarten through grade 12 coed institution.
