OUR SCHOOLS • WILSON ELEMENTARY
Parents help pay for more Kahala teachers
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
Wilson Elementary School strives to make every minute students are on campus a teaching moment.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
At 7:30 a.m each day before school, about 100 students gather and do 30 minutes of extra calisthenics. At about the same time, the school librarian opens her doors and lets children in to play chess or checkers, read, or find a quiet spot to do unfinished homework. At Christmastime, the cafeteria staff provides vats of gingerbread dough and special icing for gingerbread houses.
Physical education teacher Shawn Coleman, a former sheriff's deputy, supervises pupils during a morning fitness class at Wilson Elementary School. The campus, which opened in 1961, is on Kilauea Avenue mauka of Kahala Mall.
Such extras show what's most important at Wilson — the students.
"We all seem to be working together on the education of the whole child," said Linda Ishii, school librarian. "That's different than what I've seen at other schools."
Here, discretionary money and an active parent group called the Friends of Wilson School pay for a full-time physical education teacher, a music teacher and a technology teacher. Students are offered band and orchestra and have P.E. for 45 minutes each week.
The school has its struggles. There's always a need for more money, and space is at a premium on the small campus, which the school shares with Honolulu District employees of the state Department of Education.
Though the school has three portable buildings, some teachers don't have classrooms and must conduct classes outside the cafeteria. One teacher used the tiny Junior Police Officers room where stop signs and helmets are stored.
But the focus remains on the students, said Ishii. And there's always something going on at this campus mauka of Kahala Mall.
This week, fund-raising is taking center stage. The school wants to send fourth-graders to the Big Island to see the volcano. Baskets and goodies are in the library for a silent auction.
Next month there's a craft fair, the proceeds of which will help pay for a sixth-grade camping trip.
Visiting artists come throughout the year teaching their particular talent.
"We all work together to raise money for these kind of things," Ishii said.
Shawn Coleman, phys ed teacher and a former sheriff's deputy, noted that the faculty is close-knit.
"We do a lot together and for each other, even outside of school," said Coleman.
• What are you most proud of? That "we have a kid-centered school," said Ishii.
• Best-kept secret: "It's our cafeteria," said kindergarten teacher Sandra Higuchi. "We have a wonderful staff in the cafeteria. They get involved with all our school projects and give us choices at lunch. We have buffets every day for the faculty and the students."
• Everyone at our school knows: Coleman, the P.E. teacher, who "even gets kids to eat their veggies at lunch," said Higuchi. He's also the teacher who gets the most applause during assemblies, according to Higuchi.
• Our biggest challenge: "Not enough money," Ishii said. "Everyone thinks because we're in East Honolulu that we're wealthier, but we're not. Funding is a constant battle."
• What we need: More open space. More classrooms. "We have some teachers using part of the cafeteria for classrooms," Ishii said.
• Special projects and events: The school is involved in the Junior Police Officer program and has an intramural basketball team, a morning fitness program, science fair and fine arts festival along with Jump Rope for Heart, MS Readathon, Nike Fun Run, and Campbell Soup Label fund-raisers and either May Day or Field Day celebrations each year. The sixth grade goes on two camping trips and fourth-graders travel to the Big Island every year as part of their Hawaiiana lessons.
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
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• Where: 4945 Kilauea Ave., Honolulu • Phone: 733-4740 • Principal: Richard Kiyonaga, about one year • School colors: Blue and white • Enrollment: 580 students • History: The school is named after former Mayor John Henry Wilson, who was mayor for nearly 17 years. Wilson lived in a home where the school now stands; across the street was the Wilsonite Brick Co. The school opened in 1961 with an enrollment of 660. A decade later, when enrollment dropped, a portion of campus space was given to the district office. • Special programs or classes: The school's full-time phys ed teacher takes each class for 45-minute periods every week. Students can take band or orchestra in the fifth and sixth grade. The school also has a music teacher and technology teacher. Every morning, students in the third through sixth grade can participate in a special fitness training session before school. Children in kindergarten through second grade undergo age-appropriate aerobic exercise conducted via closed-circuit television for 10 minutes every morning. • Computers: About 110 total, two to three in each classroom, a 30-unit computer lab and 12 in the school's library.
At a glance
