OUR SCHOOLS • KUHIO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Mo'ili'ili campus strives to live up to prince's ideals

By Kalani Wilhelm
Advertiser Staff Writer

Four months of long-awaited renovations at Kuhio Elementary School were nearly completed when vandals struck last weekend.

With the new school year opening a week from today, fourth-grade teacher Grace Makaimoku prepares a sign to welcome Kuhio Elementary pupils. The campus has undergone an $870,000 makeover.

Keola Tavares of Installation Services Inc. works on a second-floor restroom as the campus renovation project nears completion. Photos by Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

The second-grade classroom next door was hit even harder.

But Principal Evelyn Hao said it will take more than the work of a few vandals to discourage her school from pursuing a productive year.

The vandalism scars were painted over two days later by a community volunteer. Hao said the school has become accustomed to depending on volunteers to help cope with its tight budget. "We've always had to figure out a way to do more with less," said Hao.

Hao said Kuhio Elementary is one of a handful of public schools not affected by a statewide hold placed on renovations. "We were lucky," she said, noting that the renovations were "20 to 30 years overdue."

Hao said the $870,000 campus makeover, which began in May, will be completed before the new school year begins a week from today.

Kuhio Elementary School is improving in other ways. It is one of four Title I schools to better its reading and math scores in three of the last four years, said Hao. Student achievement has continued to rise in the past eight years despite increasing numbers of youngsters in three categories that tend to correlate with low standardized test scores: poverty (65 percent of students receive free or reduced-price lunches); special education; and English as a second language.

In 1996, more than half of the third-graders and 30 percent of fifth-graders tested below average in reading, Hao said. Last year, two-thirds of third-graders and nearly three-quarters of fifth-graders scored average or above average in reading on the Stanford Achievement Test.

Hao said such academic improvement is a result of a dedicated faculty and an emphasis placed on student creativity through the art, music and dance enrichment program.

"They go together," said Hao. "We like to see our kids succeed in all areas. We feel bringing out a child's creative side is equally important as academics."

• What are you most proud of? Hao is most proud of the school's spirit emulating Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole's motto: "Strive for the highest." Hao also praised the "tremendous hard work and involvement" of the faculty, staff, parents and neighboring community.

• Best-kept secret: Underneath the library's monkeypod tree is a giant dragon sculpture.

• Everybody at our school knows: Betty Matsudo. "Miss Betty" has been a volunteer at the school since 1989. She is the breakfast cashier and the head adult supervisor of children during lunch and recess. Matsudo knows every student's name, grade level and homeroom, said Hao. Matsudo also helps coordinate the school's musubi-making brigade, works as a clerk in the office and sweeps the playground. "Miss Betty approaches each task with a can-do attitude and high standards," Hao said.

• Our biggest challenge: Continuing to serve and meet the needs of Mo'ili'ili's changing population.

• What we need: A third kindergarten teacher, continued community support and more donations from local businesses to offset the limited money received from the Department of Education.

• Projects: Enhancing the science curriculum through involvement with the Hawaii Nature Center. In addition, the Mo'ili'ili Community Center's oral history project helps students learn about the neighboring community's heritage.