Students proud of garden that provides food
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
WAIAHOLE — Farmers are part-time teachers at Waiahole Elementary School, where all 113 children participate in a gardening project that yields corn, taro, cabbage and leafy greens.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser • • • At a glance Where: 48-215 Waiahole Valley Road. Phone: 239-3111. Principal: Gerald Smith, since March. School Nickname: Aholehole. School Colors: Blue and yellow. SATS: Here's how Waiahole Elementary students fared on the most recent Stanford Achievement Test. (Listed are the combined percentages of students scoring average and above average, compared with the national combined average of 77 percent.) Fifth-grade reading, 75 percent; math, 60 percent. Computers: The school has a computer lab with 15 computers and at least one in every classroom.
The students eat what they grow on about a half-acre of land, knowing that they not only perpetuate an agricultural lifestyle but also enhance the environment.
Meileah Kanekoa's kindergarten class gathers in the shade of a parachute canopy at Waiahole Elementary. Campus enrollment is 113.
"I'm proud of our garden because we can grow all sorts of fruits and vegetables and we can use them to eat," said sixth-grader Wayne Kane, 12. "It's important because it's better for the environment and it shows how Waiahole really is."
The Waiahole school, which opened in 1883, is the oldest in Windward O'ahu and the smallest. Everyone knows everyone else's name, students call staff members "auntie" and "uncle," and decisions concerning school operations and curriculum are shared.
The campus, surrounded by farm lots, isabout a half-mile inland from Kamehameha Highway on Waiahole Valley Road.
Four permanent buildings and two portable classrooms sit on extensive grounds that once accommodated schoolchildren from kindergarten through Grade 12.
With a strong reading program and backed by willing parents and a supportive community, the school operates under the philosophy that "everyone on this staff is a teacher," said Gerald Smith, who has been the temporary principal for two months and has applied for the permanent job.
"Two days after I was here, I could feel the support," Smith said, recalling how people came up to him, introduced themselves and offered any help they could.
As examples of the help the school received this year from the community, Smith pointed to a 200-foot moss-rock wall outside the school cafeteria and a new paint job that saved the state $140,000.
"We're blessed in a lot of ways," Smith said.
"We have a beautiful campus, dedicated staff and community support."
Smith said he plans to expand the curriculum and give students more of a say in campus activities.
In an effort to bring more art into the school, teachers will be offered an opportunity to attend an art institute.
For the first time, students will join the Principals Leadership Committee and Safety Committee, where they can have a voice in activities offered on campus.
"They'll be standing members with voting rights," Smith said.
• What are you most proud of? The garden where taro farmers Charlie and Paul Reppun teach students and, with help from grants, pass on the farming tradition to the younger generation.
• Everybody at our school knows: Auntie Dolly Galeng, the parent community network coordinator who has her hand in everything, including education, discipline, the May Day program, after-school care and fund-raisers.
• Our biggest challenge: Because of limited enrollment, the school gets less money for programs, said Galeng. Each person has to double up on duties.
"One person wears more than one hat," Galeng said. "We wear more than two or three hats."
• What we need: Money to bring the arts back to the school, Galeng said.
• Programs: "Reading Mastery," in which students devote half the day to reading.
