OUR SCHOOLS • MILILANI MIDDLE SCHOOL
Track system should keep crowds down

By Kawehi Haug
Advertiser Staff Writer

MILILANI — Mililani Middle School, Hawai'i's first multi-track school, is taking another step into unfamiliar territory.

Students in the orchestra class practice at Mililani Middle School. The 5-year-old school is facing crowding as another feeder school will add to its booming student body. Principal Roger Kim says that although the staff is stellar, they could use teachers accustomed to the track system. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

"The school is too crowded," Principal Roger Kim said. "This is our solution to growing enrollment — so that the problem is minimized."

The school, which opened in 1998, was built to accommodate 1,350 students. But enrollment has grown to 1,900, and in the near future a fifth elementary school will feed students into Mililani Middle School.

In a multi-track school schedule, students are placed in "tracks" that start and end the school year on different dates. Tracks overlap somewhat. The school is in use nearly every week of the year.

With the three-track system at Mililani Middle, fewer students will be on campus on any given day. "With four tracks, 75 percent of the students are on campus at any given time. With the new system, only 66 percent of the students will be here, so it won't feel overcrowded," Kim said.

Students attend school year-round, with a cycle of 27 school days followed by 13 or 14 weekdays off. Kim believes that the frequent breaks are "good for the staff and students" because it can eliminate burnout.

But even after five years, parents of students can find the multi-track schedule difficult to get used to, Kim said.

"One of our biggest challenges is working with the community because we're not on the same schedule (as other schools)," Kim said. "It's an ongoing battle, but as time goes on and they see that the system works, it might not be such a hard sell."

• What are you most proud of? Mililani Middle School's Fine Arts program, which in addition to art, includes drama and dance classes and a complete music department with a band, orchestra and chorus, is something to be "really proud of," said Kim. "This part of the curriculum can stand up against anybody's."

• Best-kept secret: Though Kim is sure that the secret is out, he says that his staff is the best thing about Mililani Middle School.

"The staff is just incredible — from the vice principals down," he said. "The teachers are extremely dedicated, we have a great custodial staff and the cafeteria staff is the best."

• Everybody at our school knows: Tracy Momohara, the school's head security guard. Known simply as Mister Tracy, he is "really committed to the school and to the students," Kim said. What most students don't know is that Momohara is usually the one who does all the decorating for special school functions and that is "when he really shines," Kim said.

• Our biggest challenge: Working with the community, Kim said. "We can accommodate all the kids in Mililani, but we can't accommodate every family's schedule. We try to accommodate schedule preferences, but it's still difficult for parents when the school's schedule is so different than everyone else's."

• What we need: More teachers who are willing and able to function under the complicated multi-track system.

• Projects: Every other year, the school participates in a student exchange program with students from Gifu Prefecture, Japan. This August, the students of Mililani Middle School will host a group of Japanese students for three days.

• Special events: The school's annual stew dinner is held every December. Students sell tickets and proceeds go to the music department. Music students give a performance, staff members volunteer to do the cooking and cleaning and Momohara decorates.