OUR SCHOOLS • MILILANI MAUKA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
High-tech campus experiences student overload

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

Mililani Mauka Elementary School was built to be the school of the future.

Starr Hoku Young, a first-grader at Mililani Mauka Elementary School, receives assistance from teacher Beth Oka during a writing exercise. The school is among the few elementary schools statewide with accreditation. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Built to hold 900 students, the campus is overflowing with nearly 1,250, a number that's expected to swell to 1,300 next school year.

There are so many students that they must eat lunch in three different shifts. The school's A-Plus program is at capacity with 560 kids — and a waiting list. And 72 teachers have to cram into the school library for faculty meetings.

And while Mililani Mauka Elementary is already bursting at the seams, the community just keeps getting larger.

Castle & Cooke is expected to build about 350 more homes in the area in the next year. The state Department of Education estimates a third of those homes will have an elementary school-age child.

The crowding issue has prompted the DOE to pay for another elementary school in the area, to give relief to Mililani Mauka. The new school, tentatively named Mililani Ike, is scheduled to open in January 2004.

The development of the Mililani Mauka residential community is the reason enrollment has increased so dramatically, said principal Carol Petersen.

But despite the crowding, the school does its best to meet the needs of the children, from keeping the teacher-to-student ratio low, to offering a variety of activities for students to participate in.

Students' SAT scores have consistently been above national and state averages. And the school's teachers have garnered national recognition. Math teacher Phyllis Nakama-Kawamoto is the most recent recipient of the 2001 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science; she earned a $7,500 grant for the school in March.

"Our students and parents are just great," Petersen said. "The students come to school ready to learn, excited about learning. And the parents want their kids to get a good education. They do whatever they can to help."

When Mililani Mauka was designed 10 years ago, it was hailed as the model school of the future, the first "high-tech" school completely networked for voice, video and data communication. Each air-conditioned classroom has four computers, and bathrooms have sensor-controlled faucets. Teachers have their own office space within the classroom and individual phone lines.

But among the carefully designed buildings are signs of the times: portable classrooms.

Like many other schools in Leeward and Central O'ahu, Mililani Mauka doesn't have enough permanent building space to accommodate the rise in enrollment. The school has 13 portables on its campus.

The opening of the new school, near Mililani Middle School, will offer some relief. About 540 kids live in the new school boundary and will attend the new school.

That means for the first half of the 2003-04 school year, Mililani Mauka will house the students scheduled to transfer to the new school and its teachers. Petersen said to accommodate the extra bodies, the school has requested five more portables; she's hoping they get at least two.

In the meantime, Petersen continues onward, always hoping for the best and expecting nothing less.

"To me," she said with a smile, "it's a wonderful school."

• What are you most proud of? "Our students," Petersen said. "They have a desire to learn." She feels the students exemplify the school's mission to "develop each individual to be a thinking learner and an active user of knowledge."

• Best-kept secret: Mililani Mauka is one of the few elementary schools in the state with accreditation (it's optional for elementary schools). "The feeling is we're professionals," Petersen said. "Accreditation verifies you're doing what you say you're doing."

• Everyone at the school knows: Jerry Bevacqua, the physical education teacher, who has been at the school for six years. He is so dedicated to his job that he puts out a newsletter for parents and updates a PE-specific Web site. He has organized a cross-country meet with the other elementary schools in the Mililani complex tomorrow with a focus on participation rather than strictly performance.

• What we need: Petersen said the school needs updated technology, which she calls a "forever process." They could always use updated equipment and software.

• Special events: The school is having parent/teacher conferences through Monday, with school dismissal at 1 p.m.