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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, July 13, 2003

Hawai'i public schools facing principal shortage

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

The Department of Education is confronting one of the biggest shortages of principals and vice principals it has ever faced.

Silberstein
For years, DOE officials have pointed to the rising age of school administrators and predicted a problem on the horizon. This summer, it arrived.

More than twice the usual number of principals retired last month, leaving the DOE to fill 33 top positions in public schools statewide.

Another 128 of about 270 vice principals also left their jobs — some of them to become new principals — when the new fiscal year started July 1.

"You're looking at about 15 percent of the principals," said Wendell Staszkow, personnel specialist with the DOE. "It's a significant number."

While the DOE has been able to hire 27 principals and 90 vice principals, the challenge of dealing with an aging work force has been compounded by the challenge of persuading people to take the top jobs.

Palolo Elementary Principal Ruth Silberstein has tried, so far unsuccessfully, to persuade a colleague to enter school administration. "She doesn't want to, and I don't blame her," Silberstein said. "It isn't worth the money. You have to love the job. I enjoy it, but I don't enjoy the extra demands without the help."

Silberstein said she spends much of her time writing grant applications to try to find extra money and programs for her campus. And because schools need more than 550 students to have a vice principal position, many school administrators are left on their own to shoulder the loads of paperwork and responsibility the job demands.

"Schools without vice principals are losing their principals," she said. "Principals who were willing to stay beyond retirement age are no longer willing to do so."

Nearly 70 percent of school-level administrators are older than 51. Less than 2 percent are younger than 40. More than half are eligible or will become eligible for retirement in a few years, according to DOE reports.

"It's a whole bunch of factors that have all come together at the same time," Staszkow said. "The bulk of our principals can retire already. They can go and many have opted to. Our vice principals are a younger group. We still have a fair number of them at retirement age."

High-school principal jobs have been the most difficult to fill, followed by middle-school positions, probably because of the additional programs, athletic events and after-school activities that take place, Staszkow said. Many secondary-school principals spend evenings and weekends on campus attending activities.

"At the elementary level we still get a fair number of applicants," he said.

Recent improvements in teacher pay also have made the administrative positions less tempting for some. "Depending on the position you have as a teacher you might make more than an administrator," Staszkow said. "Why would you want to change?"

Starting vice principals earn between $52,251 and $59,215. Starting principals earn between $56,796 and $72,946, depending on the size of the school, Staszkow said. But teachers with doctorates can earn about $64,000.

Although the DOE has summer training programs for principals and vice principals, much of their training comes on the job.

"It's probably the toughest job in the educational system," Staszkow said. "With all of the programs you have to administer and the needs of the students as well as the employees, you don't have a break-in period. The first day on the job that principal is going to handle 10 trying situations. It's a tough occupation. Many teachers have said they're happy with handling 25 kids."

Donna Estomago, principal at Lanikai Elementary, is one of the administrators who decided to retire this summer. She has worked in the DOE for 32 years, but now plans to devote more time to her family and volunteering with the Charter Schools Network.

"I've been working really hard at this for a long time. It hasn't been easy, but it's been exciting," said Estomago, who has offered to remain at Lanikai this summer until a new principal is in place. "You have to look at a balanced life. You have to consider your family. I think I'm supposed to work a little differently now."

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.