OUR SCHOOLS • MA'ILI ELEMENTARY
Wai'anae Coast campus ready to meet challenges

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward Coast Writer

Some schools have it easy. Others fight for whatever they can get.

Students can dine comfortably in Ma'ili Elementary's cafeteria, thanks to newly installed air conditioning. Previously, students sweltered in classrooms that would often hit triple-digit temperatures. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

It hasn't been easy. Built in the early 1960s in rural Wai'anae Coast surroundings, the school was forever plagued with dust, rank farm orders and flies. Instead of a playground, the school initially had an automobile junk yard. Eventually the junk yard gave way to an actual field on which children could play.

With teacher turnover a constant problem, the school at one time took the extraordinary measure of building cottages on the premises for teachers to live in. The cottages are now gone, and teacher turnover remains a problem.

But the school's most noted victory came after a dedicated, successful and well-publicized campaign to get the state to put air conditioning in its classrooms — which in the summer would routinely hit temperatures of more than 100 degrees.

Last week, for the first time, students sat down to study in rooms that were not hotter than the temperature outside. Principal Linda Victor believes comfortable classrooms will mark a new beginning for Ma'ili Elementary School.

What are you most proud of? "The way we all work together — the parents, students, teachers, staff and the community," said Victor. "The best example was when we started the push to get the air conditioning a couple of years ago. Together, we all marched down to the Capitol with our signs and our flyswatters. And it worked."

Best-kept secret: The correct pronunciation of the school's name, Ma'ili, (mah-illy) not to be confused with maile. Otherwise, it's how improved the school has become in a short time, says the principal.

"There's a perception that Ma'ili Elementary is this dusty, hot school where the kids aren't making progress," said Victor. "That's not true anymore."

Two years ago, with the help of the Native Hawaiian special education group Pihana Na Momo, the school began using a reading mastery reform model known as Direct Instruction. Victor expects the September SAT scores to show exceptional scholastic improvement.

Everybody at our school knows: William "Uncle Billy" Kailianu, head custodian, who has been at the school for nearly a decade. "He's just an awesome person," said Victor. "He's an all-around man, does anything and everything. He comes in early and goes home late. He's here on weekends. He really cares."

Our biggest challenge: Teacher retention has been a constant challenge. Part of the problem is the lack of available housing in the area and the travel distance required for teachers who live in, say, Waialua or Kaimuki. At one point the teacher turnover rate at the school was near 25 percent annually. That's down to 14 percent, and Victor hopes that the school's more inviting atmosphere will bring that figure down even lower.

What we need: More money to support teachers and part-timers involved in the model program and more classroom space. Victor is aware of the realities of the current budget, and understands that building new classroom building in the school's limited space is probably out of the question right now.

"Maybe a couple of portable buildings, just so we'd have more classrooms," she said.

Projects: The school would like to initiate three projects this year: Better fencing around the facility, a hedge row between the school grounds and Ma'ili Community Park, which the school is allowed to use, and new grass to cover bare patches and places where grounds were recently dug up for water lines and air-conditioning trenches.

Special events: In addition to its annual open house early in the year, the school hosts an annual celebration in May, which includes a Makahiki Festival in which students and teachers participate in traditional Hawaiian games.