Vice principal shortage Calling the shortage of vice principals in public schools a crisis, state Department of Education officials are getting ready to open recruitment to people outside the department for the first time.
forces recruitment
outside DOE
State public schools now have 113
vacancies -- up 20% from last yearBy Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.com"The fact that we have over 100 vacancies and don't have a pool with which to bring it up in a sense creates a crisis," Schools Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto said after a Board of Education committee meeting earlier this month. "The department has to look at what we need to do to bring up our pool of applicants."
Still in draft form, the Administrator Certification for Excellence program is expected to be completed in a couple of weeks. One area of the program would let experienced principals or vice principals from the mainland or private schools, for example, be trained and certified to serve in the state DOE.
Renee Tarumoto, assistant superintendent in the Office of Human Resources, said the program is a "milestone for the department" because before, "you (had) to be pretty much a teacher and work your way up ... through the ranks."
She said it was hard to estimate how many more applicants the department might see as a result, but another education official said the program should create a pool of administrators in two or three years.
In its most recent job listing, the department had 113 vice principal vacancies statewide -- a more than 20 percent increase from last year, Tarumoto said. There are about 250 vice principal positions statewide.
"It is with that concern of the increasing number of vacancies that the department has come up with this alternative ... way of attracting and retaining qualified school administrators," she said.
Wendell Staszkow, a personnel officer for the Windward District, said the shortage resulted from vice principals being promoted to fill vacant principal positions and new vice principal positions created to meet the demands of special education.
"We're also being hit very heavily by retirements," he said. "It's just a culmination of many factors that continually stress upon the school system."
Some vice principal positions are being temporarily filled by teachers, creating vacancies in still another shortage area.
Math teacher Jasmine Urasaki is among two teachers filling vice principal vacancies at Waiakea High School. A teacher for 10 years, Urasaki said she never thought about becoming an administrator, thinking it would be too stressful.
"You have to deal with all the disgruntled students and teachers and parents, community members," she said, "just having a lot to deal with."
Her experience this year, however, has changed her mind, and she is hoping to get into the training program. "You have your own rewards," she said, adding, "If you're in a classroom, you have 160 students maybe, but now (as a temporary vice principal) we have almost 700 students."
The department received about 60 applications for the 113 vice principal vacancies, Staszkow said. However, some were duplicate applications for more than one position.
State Department of Education
