OUR SCHOOLS • KAIMILOA ELEMENTARY
Sudden bounty works to lift school spirit, literacy
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
Kaimiloa Elementary School students are climbing and swinging on new playground equipment.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
They're bouncing a ball at recess at a game of four-square and jumping through a hopscotch course designed by volunteers.
Elton John Wayasen works with wooden blocks during a math workshop for younger students at Kaimiloa Elementary School.
The administrative building sits at the front entrance to campus, freshly painted by employees of a local company.
Kaimiloa Elementary has been blessed this year by a wave of community volunteers eager to help the 'Ewa Beach school, and by the completion of playground equipment and other new programs on the campus in a high-poverty area.
"This has been a busy year," said Principal Debra Hatada. "We can't figure out why this year, but we are glad all of these things are happening."
A Head Start preschool opened on campus this fall. On Wednesdays, a morning play program brings in neighborhood parents with their toddlers and infants to learn parenting techniques.
Where: 91-1028 Kaunolu St., 'Ewa Beach Phone: 689-1280 Web address: www.campbell.k12.hi.us. Principal: Debra Hatada, a former special-education teacher who was once Kaimiloa's vice principal for four years. She left the campus for two years to help open Kapolei High. Hatada worked in banking before making the switch to teaching. "Banking was never a good fit for me," Hatada said. "I wanted to be with kids." School nickname: Cougars School colors: Orange and yellow Enrollment: 750 students in kindergarten through sixth grade Computers: The campus is fully networked, has computers in all classrooms and enough machines for all students, including a computer lab with 24 terminals and wireless notebooks in the library. SATs: Here's how Kaimiloa Elementary students fared on the most recent Stanford Achievement Test. Listed is the combined percentage of students scoring average and above average, compared with the national combined average of 77 percent. Third-grade reading, 82 percent; math, 78 percent. Fifth-grade reading, 81 percent; math, 81 percent.
"We really believe the earlier the intervention the better," Hatada said. "Eventually we're going to have all of those babies in the community."
At a glance
Click on links to Kaimiloa Elementary.
And the Parent Project, a national program of drug prevention and intervention for high-risk adolescents, will start this year throughout the complex.
Kaimiloa has gone through some major reforms itself in recent years.
It is one of about 20 America's Choice schools in the state. The designation, founded by the National Center on Education and the Economy, establishes a school reform program that works to enable students to reach internationally benchmarked academic standards.
A major focus of the program for Kamiloa has been an uninterrupted block of time early in the day when students attend reading and writing workshops for two and a half hours.
"The advanced kids go as far as they can," Hatada said, "and our safety-net students can get the help they need."
The school has tried to take the program schoolwide by encouraging teachers and staff members to read and write more themselves.
"Kids ask what book I am reading this month," Hatada said. "They want to know what it is about. As an administrator, you have to set the model for them to follow."
Kaimiloa opened in 1972 with portable classrooms and an outdoor cafeteria. The campus has grown to about 750 students, all living within a mile of the campus. That makes Kaimiloa Elementary a true neighborhood school. It also is one of the few public school campuses that is not served by school buses, because all of the students can walk and do not qualify for state bus service.
"The school is the heart of the community," Hatada said.
• Most proud of: "I'm most proud of our teachers and their commitment to professional development," Hatada said. Despite high test scores, the school was labeled a "corrective action" school under the federal No Child Left Behind Act because of its attendance rate. Kaimiloa had to go through a restructuring that included bringing in America's Choice.
"It's hard to be in a school that's 'corrective action' and has gone through a major reform," Hatada said. Teachers must undergo professional development almost constantly. Vice Principal Glen Iwamoto said they lost some control over their classrooms because of the curriculum introduced by America's Choice. "They basically lost the right to plan their own curriculum," he said. "They're sticking it out and they're willing to learn."
• Best-kept secret: Jean Jones, the school administrative services assistant, whom Hatada and Iwamoto credit with working behind the scenes to keep the campus and its programs working smoothly. "I also think this school itself is one of the best-kept secrets around here," Iwamoto said. The campus is tucked behind Campbell High School on a street that can be confusing to reach.
• Everyone knows: Elward Kim, the school custodian and all-around handyman, who keeps the plumbing working, comes in on the weekends to lay cement and uses his carpentry skills to build shelves and dry-erase boards around campus. He's been at the school for 17 years, sits on the student council's advisory committee, and is the one children turn to for special events because he can do things like help build a bonfire.
• What we need: Volunteers and tutors for the schoolwide reading program. Kaimiloa would like to have volunteers on campus before, during and after school to read to students.
• Special events: Kaimiloa has a Spring Carnival every year, with booths and games to help raise money for the school. It also has a book campaign and holds celebrations quarterly to reward students who are keeping up with the school's reading goals: a million words a year for older children and at least 160 books for younger students.
The school recently pasted newspaper pages on the walls of one room, floor to ceiling, to demonstrate what 1 million words looks like. Next, they plan to demonstrate the quantity using stacks of books.
