OUR SCHOOLS • WILCOX ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Hawaiian values live on in the heart of Lihu'e
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Wilcox Elementary School is a nondescript, low-rise concrete block complex in the heart of Lihu'e, but inside the buildings, and occasionally on the grounds, it's a riot of color and life.
Jan TenBruggencate • The Honolulu Advertiser
More than 900 kids from kindergarten to Grade 5 occupy these premises in a kind of organized pandemonium. Their cafetorium walls are murals, and brightly colored flags wave from the ceilings. The flags carry the legends of the nine Hawaiian values the school teaches — ones like laulima or working together, lokahi or unity, aloha or love.
Wilcox Elementary School students in their decorated hats practice for May Day festivities, which includes a patriotic and hula number.
On a recent day, classes were practicing for May Day festivities. One group marched in a square, wearing hats with the colors of the American flag, for a patriotic number that included barn dance steps. Another did hula to a taped Hawaiian chant.
Students from one class carried their classroom chairs with them to one of the two computer labs. Technology teacher Shelley Nadatani said there is one PC lab and one iMac lab. The iMacs came fully loaded with software, but the PCs had only Internet Explorer.
Nadatani said a fund-raiser generated the $5,000 needed for a site license so the PC computers can be outfitted with Microsoft Office, allowing kids a greater range of computer instruction.
A fire earlier this semester has closed the school office while lead and asbestos are removed and the structure is rebuilt, so the administrative staff works in cubicles tucked at the back of the campus. The main school buildings were erected when Wilcox opened in 1957, and others were added in the 1970s for a total of 10 permanent classroom buildings. Eight portables are used for special-education classes and other needs.
• Best-kept secret? The school's alma mater was lost until vice principal John Ochoco and then-PTSA president Hartwell Blake uncovered the original song and reinstated it.
• Everybody at our school knows: Uncle Lansford Pascual, educational assistant and A+ Program leader, who leads a cheer during school assemblies.
• Biggest challenge? "Because we're not a Title 1 school (eligible for special federal money), it's finances. We have to make do with what we get from the state," principal Rachel Watarai said.
• What we need: "Plumbing. A lot of our fountains are not functional and our bathrooms are outdated," she said. "And textbooks. A lot of our texts date to the 1980s."
• Projects? Just got new playground equipment installed. Money for it was raised by the community.
• Special programs: A character education program, in which nine Hawaiian values are emphasized. Each month one of them is studied and reviewed during a character education assembly. The values: aloha (love), ho'oponopono (making things right), 'ike (recognizing and honoring), kokua (helping), kuleana (responsibility), laulima (working together), lokahi (unity, harmony), malama (caring), 'ohana (family). Each month, students are given awards for exemplifying character values.
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| At a glance
• Where: 4319 Hardy St., Lihu'e, across from the public library. • Phone: (808) 274-3150. • Web address: kalama.doe.hawaii.edu/~wilikoki • Principal: Rachel Watarai • School nickname: Wilikoki • School colors: Purple and gold • Mascot: 'Io, the Hawaiian hawk, which is pictured in a mural in the school cafetorium. • Enrollment: 945. Watarai said classroom sizes generally meet state standards. • Teachers: 55 • Test scores: Here's how Wilcox Elementary students fared on the most recent standardized tests. • 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, 78.9 percent; math, 85.4 percent. Fifth-grade reading, 83.4 percent; math, 84.8 percent. • Hawai'i Content and Performance Standards tests: Listed is the combined percentage of students meeting or exceeding state standards, and a comparison with the state average. Third-grade reading, 44.6 percent, compared with the state average of 42.3 percent; math, 26.1 percent, compared with state average of 20.2 percent. Fifth-grade reading: 46.3 percent, compared with state average of 43.4 percent; math, 20.1 percent, compared with state average of 21.8 percent. • History: Built in 1957, serving central Kaua'i. • Special features: A hydroponics program run by retired school custodian Yoshi Nakao, who has every student grow some Romaine lettuce, some of which is taken home and some sold to pay the costs of the program. • Computers: Teachers all have computers, and some classes have more than one. Two computer labs, one running iMacs and one PCs. |
