OUR SCHOOLS • LIKELIKE ELEMENTARY
New principal takes on challenges in Palama

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Education Writer

Ellen Imamura admits that when she took over as principal of Likelike Elementary School this past summer, she was a bit unsettled by the school's condition.

Likelike Elementary School kindergartners play on a jungle gym that was installed this year. But the school grounds also include unimproved areas like a dirt field that generates a lot of dust when pupils play there during recess. Classrooms are not air-conditioned. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Imamura has seen enough schools, both as an administrator and a teacher, to appreciate the disparity.

"How come we don't get the same attention?" the first-time principal asks.

"We don't seem to be a priority."

But, like her students, she adapts.

Imamura is talking with a nearby church about a school beautification day, where church volunteers or parents would paint and polish school facilities. They might even try to coax some grass onto the playground.

Her real salvation, though, is her teachers and staff, who seem ready for any obstacle.

Likelike, in the shadow of H-1 in a Palama neighborhood, serves predominantly low-income and immigrant families. More than 80 percent of the school's 489 students qualify for subsidized lunches — a common measure of poverty — and about 130 students are learning English as a second language.

The school, with pupils in kindergarten through Grade 5, has fallen short of state and federal performance standards, and is using federal grant money on a new reading program that Imamura hopes will eventually help to improve reading test scores.

"Sometimes it upsets me when the public looks and the scores are low, and they think it's all because of the teachers," she said. "Our teachers and students are really proud of our school.

"I feel like we have a good team."

What are you most proud of? Her staff. "The teachers are very dedicated and caring," Imamura said. "They are really student-centered. It's not just lip service."

Best-kept secret: Preschool classes, including the Even Start-Ho'olokahi program, in which parents take adult literacy lessons while their children are in Head Start.

Everybody at our school knows: Technical assistant Kevin Okazaki, who also conducts physical education for pupils in kindergarten through Grade 3 and serves as adviser to the student council. "Everybody loves the P.E. teacher," Imamura said.

Our biggest challenge: Meeting the Adequate Yearly Progress standards required under the federal No Child Left Behind law and determined primarily by student scores on standardized tests. "It's not only because I want to have that score. I really want our children to make progress," Imamura said.

What we need: Money for tutors. Imamura does not know whether she will have enough money to provide after-school tutors as the school did last year.

"We're looking for anything where we can give a child one-on-one help," she said.

Special events: Likelike Day. Each January, students and teachers celebrate the birthday of the person whom the school was named after— Princess Miriam K. Likelike. This year, students sang, danced and left flowers at Likelike's grave.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8084.