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The Hawaii Department of Education is investigating a teacher’s allegations against a former Pearl City High School principal, including claims that she practiced favoritism and egregiously misused funds during her six-year tenure at the school.

District officials and union leaders say Carlyn Fujimoto is a well-respected administrator who has never had any complaints.

But May Yamamoto, a Pearl City High special education teacher, filed a 10-page complaint against the principal with the department on June 17. Two weeks later, the superintendent of the regional office that oversees the school announced that Fujimoto was being moved to a temporary role in a regional office that focuses on helping schools adapt to a new teacher evaluation system.

The announcement said one of the school’s vice principals would be taking over starting this school year.

The detailed complaint accuses Fujimoto of shoddy leadership that created a “hostile environment” at the school, taking a toll on student performance and, in some cases, crossing legal lines. The complaint, Yamamoto argues, reflects the struggles of teachers across the state who feel “powerless” in the face of school administrators who are not scrutinized.

“As long as we continue to allow unfairness and favoritism to dominate our workplaces, and keep promoting administrators who appear to care less about the integrity of the schools in their charge than for their own self-preservation and aggrandizement, there is little hope for change and a better future for our public schools,” Yamamoto writes in the complaint.

Yamamoto alleges Fujimoto “targeted, removed and replaced” every major department head at the school, in many cases promoting inexperienced young men to fill those positions. According to Yamamoto, the woman who ran her school also engaged in sexist and ageist hiring practices.

The complaint says that Fujimoto wasted school funds and used public monies for herself. Fujimoto cancelled existing phone contracts and incurred extra costs in order to buy new iPhone 5s for herself and four vice principals, used school monies to take a personal trip to Las Vegas after traveling with the school’s band to Alabama, and purchased equipment that has languished in boxes since mid-2012, according to Yamamoto.

The complaint goes on to contend that Fujimoto “routinely reappropriated” funds meant for special education department positions to spend it on other teachers and specialists.

Students have suffered during Fujimoto’s tenure as principal, Yamamoto wrote. While it remains to be seen if that is the case, Pearl City High has and, during Fujimoto’s six years there, the school never broke from strict sanctions imposed on struggling schools.

And Yamamoto claims that misused and poorly handled funds forced the school to save elsewhere, discontinuing a range of elective classes such as automotive and graphic arts programs.

DOE Spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said many classes were eliminated because of budget cuts or because the school couldn’t find instructors to teach them.

Fujimoto and regional Superintendent Rodney Luke aren’t ready to comment on the complaint, Dela Cruz said, citing the department’s auditing office’s pending review of the allegations. The district’s Civil Rights Compliance Office is investigating the complaint’s alleged discrimination and equal-opportunity violations.

“The department takes all complaints seriously,” Dela Cruz said, noting that the department would take disciplinary action against Fujimoto if it concludes that she engaged in inappropriate behavior. “In any complaint, we take a thorough review and see all sides from it.”

But in a follow-up letter to the department dated July 13, soon after Fujimoto’s new position was announced, Yamamoto asked why Fujimoto was placed in a leadership role amid ongoing investigations.

Luke told Civil Beat in an email that his decision to hire Fujimoto for the short-term position in the regional office, where she is helping school administrators implement the new teacher evaluation program, wasn’t in response to the complaint. He emphasized that Fujimoto would have to apply and compete with others if she wants to shift into the position longer term.

Fujimoto, Luke added, is well-respected among school administrators. In the letter announcing Fujimoto’s appointment, he wrote: “She has provided leadership and guidance to create a positive and nurturing learning environment for the students.”

Hawaii State Teachers Association Executive Director Al Nagasako, who also received a copy of the complaint, told Civil Beat it’s the first time the union has heard any objections to Fujimoto.

“This (complaint) was from left field,” Nagasako said, adding that Fujimoto served as vice principal at Kapolei High School when he was its principal. In fact, Nagasako said he was so satisfied with Fujimoto’s tenure at Kapolei that he nominated her as principal of Pearl City High.

Pearl City Neighborhood Board member Cruz Vina Jr. said he hasn’t heard of any complaints against Fujimoto in his nine years on the board either.