An overwhelming majority of public school principals who responded to an independent survey about their working conditions say they lack the needed support and autonomy to act in the best interests of their schools, but hesitate to speak out for fear of retaliation.

The school leaders say their ability to make decisions at the school level has been stymied by "top-down" management by the Department of Education, and that sweeping academic reforms the state pledged for its federal Race to the Top grant have dragged down morale at their schools.

The anonymous survey was conducted last month by longtime DOE principals Darrel Galera and John Sosa, who both retired in December.

A total of 160 principals responded, representing 63 percent of the principals leading the state’s 255 public schools. The survey found in part:

» 64.4 percent feel less empowered to implement decisions to help their schools.

» 87.7 percent say they don’t have a "system of support" as required by their collective bargaining agreement.

» 75.5 percent feel the implementation of Race to the Top reforms, especially the new performance-based evaluation system for teachers, has negatively impacted their schools.

» 94 percent feel the teacher evaluations have negatively affected morale.

The idea for the survey came about through volunteer consultant work Galera’s been doing with schools and leadership groups since retiring, most recently as acting principal at Castle High School.

"People were informing me of issues and concerns and there were suggestions to collect information because some of the things being said were pretty serious," said Galera, 55. "We identified some key areas and sent out a survey and it didn’t take very long. Principals seemed very interested in responding and being heard."

The survey was done informally and anonymously using principals’ personal email addresses, but Galera said, "I stand behind it 1 million percent."

He and Sosa say the results highlight the need for empowering schools by empowering principals.

"I think principals are crying out," said Sosa, 71, who retired from Kaiser High School at year-end after 44 years with the DOE. "Study after study after study says empowering schools is really where the change occurs."

The state Legislature aimed to do just that a decade ago when in 2004 it passed the education-reform law known as Act 51, which in part gave principals more control over school-level spending.

"Today, 10 years later, things are almost in the total opposite direction. The school system is more centralized, principals are less empowered and that definitely has an impact on student learning," Galera said. "Things won’t change until we change the system so that it’s not top-down with everyone having to fit into a one-size-fits-all approach. Every community is unique and very diverse."

DOE Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe, a former principal himself, said feedback from the DOE’s most recent survey of principals and vice principals, which is administered annually to all principals, "shows that principals believe that the department is improving and that our strategic direction is the right approach."

Regarding the complaints that the DOE is too centralized, Nozoe said, "There needs to be clear definitions of success and targets, which is set by the department. However, how a school achieves this is up to the school leaders."

Galera acknowledged the academic reforms may be well-intended, but "if the changes become more important than the people in the system, it’s going to be counterproductive. In leadership we talk about establishing a positive culture where people feel creative and inspired to work. That’s what I think we need."

Both principals said they had hoped to put in more years before retiring. In Galera’s case, he left Moanalua High after 13 years to help lead a new principals academy to train new leaders.

"I gave up my school to help the system. It obviously didn’t work. I didn’t have to retire. I’m 55. I loved my job," he said. "But the concerns in this survey had an impact on my decision to retire, I’ll be honest. Leading a school when things are going well, it’s extremely challenging. When you have to go up against other barriers, it’s demoralizing. And I’m obviously not alone."