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How would you like to be the boss and not have control over who’s on your team?

That’s the situation Hawaii school principals say they find themselves in — and they’re not happy about it. It isn’t new. What is new is that and education reform places demands — and expectations — on principals that they say they can’t meet unless they’re treated more like CEOs and less like bureaucrats.

The Hawaii State Board of Education chairman says principals have plenty of authority, but the deputy superintendent of the Hawaii Department of Education says administrators know hiring is an area that needs improvement.

Principals said “flexibility and empowerment for hiring of teachers” is the No. 1 thing that could empower them as school leaders, in response to a recent survey conducted by the Principals Planning Group. The group was formed this year to ensure principals were a meaningful part of the current education reform conversation.

“If you want to hold me accountable, you have to give me the ability to control the staffing at the school,” John Sosa, principal of Kaiser High School, told Civil Beat. “The most important thing that goes on here is interaction between teachers and students.”

Sosa speaks as a former teacher, former administrator at both school and central office levels and former superintendent of a small school district in Washington.

The topic of principals’ authority has come to the forefront in part due to Hawaii’s “Reinventing Education Act of 2004” — also known as Act 51 — which required principals to develop and implement contracts that would hold them accountable for their performance. That hasn’t happened. But the federal grant program has escalated the discussion, because one of its objectives is to help school districts recruit and retain effective principals and teachers. Local politicians have been jumping on the bandwagon, too. Training to help principals become “effective CEOs of their schools” is a key component of gubernatorial candidate Neil Abercrombie’s , and three former Democratic governors have started to, among other things, give Hawaii’s principals more power.

“In the current system, principals have all the responsibility but no authority,” Abercrombie told Civil Beat when discussing his education proposals.

So how much power do principals really have to recruit the teachers they want? Here’s how the hiring of teachers works in Hawaii. (As for the firing, that’s a whole other story, and one that’s coming soon.) When an opening occurs, tenured teachers who have been displaced from another position get the first crack. Then, if the opening isn’t filled, the posting goes to a department-approved list of non-tenured, or probationary, candidates who have already been approved to work within the school system.

“We couldn’t interview a person unless they were on a hiring list,” said Lydia Trinidad, principal of the formerly public Kualapuu Elementary School.

A probationary teacher may remain in that position for three semesters before the job is re-advertised to displaced tenured teachers as a vacancy — even if the probationary teacher is doing a satisfactory job. A tenured teacher may then “bump” the probationary teacher and take the position. A probationary instructor earns tenure after teaching for four consecutive semesters in Hawaii’s school system — not necessarily all in the same school or position.

Budget Cuts Mean More “Bumping”

Karen Maeda, principal of Waiahole Elementary School in Kaneohe, said “bumping” has happened at her small school (seven total faculty members) several times in the last few years. Layoffs at the central office and district office levels due to budget cuts have sent many seasoned teachers, who had worked their way up to administrative positions, back to the schools.

“I really didn’t have a choice, per se,” Maeda said of three tenured teachers who were reassigned to her school after their positions were cut elsewhere in the system. “I was able to sit down with them and interview them, but I wasn’t given a choice. I was told those teachers would be coming to my school.”

Recruitment Rules Cost Time, Energy And Consistency

It’s hard to calculate the cost of a recruiting system that forces principals into posting jobs that are already filled.

“It really doesn’t have an impact directly on the students,” said Maeda, who acknowledged that through recent “bumps” she gained three highly qualified and seasoned veterans. “As a system, it’s costing us so much money, energy and time that we spend on professional development and collaboration training. It’s difficult to sustain professional development initiatives when you have almost half of your faculty changing every year. And it’s hard to sustain your drive and focus when you’re re-teaching, redeveloping and re-articulating all the time.”

More Freedom Hiring For Charter Schools

Trinidad spent seven years hiring teachers when Kualapuu was a traditional public elementary school. She knows how the system works, and after struggling to make the school federal progress requirements, she and her faculty decided they needed the freedom to be more responsive to the school’s needs. Following the school’s 2004 conversion to a charter school, the hiring experience changed.

“I’ve done hiring both ways,” she said. “And I can tell you this: I like how we do it now, rather than with the (Department of Education). The candidates still have to be highly qualified and certified, but I think I can hire faster and I’m actually getting people who are interested in Kualapuu.”

Each charter school has its own hiring practices, but Trinidad said the benefits she’s experienced include:

She can make her own job postings.
Candidates who seek out and are interested in working at Kaupaluu in particular, rather than just at any school within a geographic area.
The advantage of interacting directly with all of her candidates rather than working from a list.
The ability to hire teachers primarily for their qualifications and fit with the school instead of having to worry about whether they are tenured.
No risk of tenured teachers “bumping” out other faculty who are already working out well.

“You always want to find a teacher that works for your school and has the ability to get along with students, parents and colleagues,” Trinidad said. “You hire based on that. But in the department, if your teacher is still a first- or second- year teacher and not tenured, their position has to be advertised, and chances are they might be bumped out by another teacher. And if you don’t accept that tenured teacher, you’re opening yourself up to possible grievances. Now, if I have a teacher who’s working out in a position — even if they’re a first-year teacher — I don’t need to advertise for that job. That’s huge, because then you can keep the teachers who are actually working in the school.”

The changes have resulted in a more stable school, she said.

Hiring Limitations Are A Known Problem

Hawaii State Board of Education Chairman Garrett Toguchi told Civil Beat a different story.

“There is no doubt principals have the authority to hire or not-hire who they want,” he said. “They may not find their Michael Jordan of teachers, but if someone meets the qualifications and is willing to do the job, it’s also part of a principal’s job to work with those individuals, to train them and help them to meet the needs of the campus.”

Acting Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe said that the department is aware of principals’ concerns and is working on changing the hiring process. As a former principal, Nozoe understands exactly what Sosa and other school leaders are asking for.

“It is difficult,” he said. “One of the wisest pieces of advice I ever got was, ‘your hiring process is your most important and valuable tool.’ In every role I’ve played, I’ve held that to heart and am very careful about who I hire. You really want the best people.”

More Power Is No Silver Bullet

“Ultimately principals are saying they want to hire who they want to hire,” Nozoe said. “And at face value I understand that. That’s a logical expectation of anybody who’s hiring, but the fact of the matter is there are rules in place with collective bargaining. We have to go through the process of looking out for the teachers we deem qualified first. Principals have to be smart about making sure they’ve given all the applicants their due.”

The school system’s success — at every level, he said — is about everyone doing their jobs and doing them well, and helping others do their jobs well.

“Our most successful principals take everybody from where they are and move them along a continuum of success,” Nozoe said.

Success continuums aside, he explained that the department recognizes room for improvement on practices that may have worked just fine several years ago. The changes he and other administrators are considering aren’t limited to simple hiring practices, though.

“It’s a giant work in progress,” he said, adding that the hiring challenges are not unique to Hawaii. “But it is a big concern for us, because we’re taking a look at our whole educational system and trying to see how we can have the most effective teachers and principals possible in every school. We’re really seeking to improve recruitment and retention. We’re also looking at partnerships with the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board and the (University of Hawaii) College of Education and rethink the way we develop, recruit and keep teachers in our system.”