OUR SCHOOLS • KAIMUKI MIDDLE SCHOOL
Teachers aim for excellence beyond standards

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer

KAIMUKI — While classes beyond elementary school are not all warm and fuzzy, the staff at Kaimuki Middle School tries to make sure that heart doesn't get lost amid its standards and expectations.

Kaimuki Middle School principal Frank Fernandes said the school is among the top middle schools in the state in test scores. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

"It keeps us busy, combining competition with caring," he said. "It's always a challenge to remain true to the vision and the value. It's a lot to ask for in a school."

Scattered among the 18 acres on the corner of 18th and Kilauea avenues, are spaces for band, orchestra, art, three computer labs, and a video lab along with the classrooms where students are taught by teams of teachers.

The school, among the Department of Education's oldest, recently received a $1 million upgrade that included fresh paint, new floors and windows.

Kaimuki was among the first Hawai'i schools in the early 1990s to embrace the middle school concept, which features an interdisciplinary team of teachers who work in groups to educate its sixth- through eighth-graders. Teachers in a variety of subjects meet routinely to talk about the progress of particular students, sharing information on a student's academic achievement and well-being.

If test scores are an indication of success, then Kaimuki is hitting the mark, Fernandes said.

The school ranks among the top middle schools in the state because of its test scores, which are far above the state average on the rigorous Hawai'i Content and Performance Standards tests. In 1998, Kaimuki Middle was named a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence and two years later it was ranked among the top 100 schools in the nation by the Association of Secondary School Principals.

"We have wonderful people working with a philosophy of how to organize and operate a school," Fernandes said. "We have good people working with a strong philosophical base."

• What are you most proud of? "Without a doubt, the staff and students here," Fernandes said. "I'm very proud that we've been able to have good people with research-based educational philosophies and lead the state in the sixth- through eighth-grade middle school concept."

• Best-kept secret: "I don't think people realize that we're here," Fernandes said. "And that we're doing a really good job."

• Everybody at our school knows: Paul Naki, who runs the school suspension program and is the school's anti-drug coordinator.

• Our biggest challenge: To continue the level of success the school has had in the past, particularly with the new standards in place for Hawai'i students, Fernandes said. "We get probably 300 new students every year; that gets to be challenging because the turnover is so high. But we have lots of good kids."

• What we need: More money to pay for teachers' preparation time. With the team approach to middle school, teachers need time to meet as a group and to prepare for their time with the students, he said.

• Special events: Each year the school holds a winter dance during the school day. The band and orchestra hold annual performances in the winter and spring, and the school holds two food drives. The school also offers a variety of clubs, including Math Club, Technology Club and Chess Club.

Reach Suzanne Roig at 395-8831 or sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.