DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Derrick Tsuruda, front left, and Kerry Higa, front right, are among the many people taking a training program held at Radford High School for aspiring principals.

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Applicants for
principal drop
despite higher pay

Added responsibilities undercut
the appeal of a $107,000 salary

Gerald Suyama has been principal of Pearl City High School for 18 years and he encourages people to follow his footsteps. But it's a tough sell.

Bruce Naguwa: He emphasizes the importance of offering help to the new principals

"I have at least two, three people on my staff who are potential principals," Suyama said last week. "They say, 'I see what you're doing and I don't want to do that.' The job has gotten bigger and bigger. They keep on adding to the dish."

Starting this month, the job is expanding yet again as public school principals begin working year round, up from their 10-month schedules, and shoulder new duties under the Reinventing Education Act. It's a job that not many people want to take. And a lot of people are ready to give it up.

The exodus of administrators from the state's 256 regular public schools over last year was sobering. Sixty principals retired or left their jobs during the 2004-2005 school year -- nearly one quarter of the total, according to Gerald Okamoto, assistant superintendent for human resources for the Department of Education.

That's despite the prospect of a 24 percent pay raise for principals, to an average $107,443 in annual salary, which came with the switch to 12-month contracts on July 1.

The pipeline to the top campus job took an even bigger hit. A whopping 159 vice principals out of 261 gave up their posts over the course of the school year, some moving up to replace principals, while others retired, returned to teaching or chose other jobs. That's six out of 10.

The department managed to fill the positions with new recruits and temporary assignments. But the departures don't bode well, especially since 40 percent of Hawaii's public school principals will qualify for retirement by 2008. Ten years ago, 10 to 15 people vied for each open principal's spot. Now it's more like three to six, Okamoto said.

"On the vice principal vacancies, we got hit hard," he said. "I'm a little concerned now because next year and the year after, I could have some problems because that's a feeder to the principals. We're constantly doing different things to try to develop these people to step up to the principal position."

In that effort, his staff has the help of a cadre of devoted principals who care deeply about their profession. Instead of relishing their last chance at a summer break before switching to year-round contracts, 25 veteran principals spent nearly two weeks in June in classrooms at Radford High School, working with the latest group of recruits.

"We really need to build our own profession," said Kipapa Elementary's Bruce Naguwa, this year's National Distinguished Principal for the state of Hawaii. "If one principal doesn't do well, it reflects on all of us. We feel it's very important for us to give back and ensure the next generation is going to be competent and able to face those challenges."

Naguwa could have been home playing with his 3-year-old twins and nearly 7-year-old son. Instead, he joined colleagues, including Suyama and Campbell High's Gail Awakuni, the 2005 National High School Principal of the Year, in sharing lessons they'd learned.

They came to mentor participants in the Administrator Certification for Excellence program, which grooms potential vice principals, and help evaluate which ones were really up to the task and should be certified.

The genial Suyama kept the audience chuckling as he let them in on secrets, such as how as a novice principal he figured he'd steer clear of politicians -- and wound up with no money for capital improvements at his school.

Awakuni highlighted how freshmen get lost in the shuffle in high school and how to keep that from happening. Under her leadership, Campbell High has been transformed from a school known for gang fights into a "Breakthrough High School," honored nationally for having 90 percent of its graduates accepted to college or qualified post-secondary programs, despite having a disadvantaged population. Awakuni said she loves her job and is "forever grateful" to Naguwa for steering her to Campbell.

Dale Tanouye, a first-grade teacher at Mililani Ike Elementary, came away from the sessions jazzed. She said she was inspired to try administration by her school's principal, Steve Nakasato.

"I'm just really excited to see how I can make a contribution and help a school," she said. "With this ACE program, there's so much mentoring and support, it's not threatening."

In the afternoon sessions, applicants were put on the spot as they tackled real-life problems. As the hum of traffic blew in through louvered windows, recruits sat in small groups, hashing out together how they would handle a bad day in the life of a principal.

In one scenario, fights have broken out on campus just three weeks into the year, an irate parent is threatening a lawsuit, and restive teachers are demanding stronger discipline. As the newbies sorted through the issues and liabilities, veteran principals watched like Olympic judges, evaluating their every move and jotting down ratings.

Thirty percent of applicants to the program had already been weeded out through the initial screening, which included interviews, portfolios and letters of reference. Of the 52 who went through the ACE program, seven didn't make the cut.

"Because the challenges of the job are so great, we need the very best," said Lilliann Noda, administrator for the ACE program. "At the same time that we need to recruit actively and fill our needs, which are critical, we still maintain our standards."

A principal's most important role is as an instructional leader, but they are also responsible for personnel issues, aging buildings, needy children, discipline problems, media inquiries, and, most recently, federal mandates to continually raise test scores.

In the coming school year, they will begin working with School Community Councils, which have just been elected on each campus and will have more of a say in school life than their predecessors.

Principals will now have to prepare their own school budgets, making decisions that used to be the purview of the central administration. They'll need to analyze data and develop academic plans based on their students' strengths and weaknesses, and monitor how changes they make affect student learning.

"The job is difficult, part of the reason we went from 10 to 12 months is that it gives them more time to manage and plan," Okamoto said. "They're assuming a lot more of a leadership position. There's a lot more accountability with it."

Not far on the horizon are performance contracts for principals, which are to be finalized over the next year.

With their new 12-month contracts, the average annual salary for principals will rise to $107,443, up from $86,648 for 10 months. And a separate arbitration award will boost that paycheck roughly 3 percent in October, about 3 percent in January, and another 3 percent in October 2006.

"There's a lot of money there, but there's a lot of responsibilities, too," Okamoto said. "They're going to have to change the way in which they do business."

To help them prepare for their new duties, all principals are going through training in the new Hawaii Leadership Academy, which gives them guidance on leading their staffs as well as technical tools such as budget techniques and making public presentations.

"Principals are not paramedics, but they can be trapped in that," said Joseph Pascarelli, a consultant on systemic change who now heads the graduate level school leadership program at the University of Portland. "They can be swallowed up in the day-to-day stuff unless they force themselves to take a step back and look at the big picture, to assess the extent to which the school is moving forward based on their vision."

He marveled at the team spirit and enthusiasm shown by the mentor principals at the ACE program and said their attitude gives Hawaii a leg up.

"We need to change this image of principals who are overburdened and de-motivated, and transform it into school leaders who are motivated and have passion for leading schools," he said. "I know of no state that has that kind of demonstrated commitment by its principals."