Ma'ili Elementary: The cooler, the better
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer
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Ma'ili Elementary School — the feisty country school on the Wai'anae Coast that once made news for being too hot and dirty for good learning — reached a watershed moment five years ago when air-conditioning was finally installed in classrooms.
The event was hailed as a new beginning for the school — although administrators knew they had their hands full. Teacher turnover was high, scholastic achievement was low, and student discipline had become a problem.
And while it still has its headaches, as do all schools, Ma'ili Elementary today seems to be a testimony to the notion that much can be accomplished by simply offering a more comfortable study environment.
Learning has improved in some impressive ways — many kindergartners are reading at first-grade level, for instance. Discipline problems have been replaced by classrooms filled with smiling, attentive faces. And the annual teacher turnover rate, which once was 25 percent, now stands at about 4 percent.
Principal Disa Hauge — a lifelong Wai'anae Coast resident who is unable to conceal her obvious pleasure at watching students and teachers work together in harmony — believes that while air-conditioning provided the impetus and hope, the actual turnaround has been accomplished more through small measure than grandiose designs.
"When I started here, the incidences of fighting in the morning were constant," Hauge said as she greeted a parade of second- and third-graders who just completed their morning chants and pledge of allegiance and were filing off to class. "And now the level of violence is at an absolute minimum, normal level for any public school."
Hauge said while she and her staff were addressing the behavioral issues, they realized the students were having "a significant and serious problem" with reading. After researching that problem and instituting a more effective reading program, she said they were amazed to notice the fights decreased dramatically.
They concluded that because the students became more successful in the classroom, their desire to fight outside dissipated. Because the learning atmosphere at the school improved, teachers were more motivated and more inclined to stay there.
So it's the little steps that lead to big changes, she said. It takes awhile, but the results can be remarkable.
Together, the staff and the students have turned the school around, she said.
"The state HSA test is problematical for our students precisely because of the language issue. They can read it, but they have some difficulty with comprehension. We are addressing that issue."
Hauge believes the state's plan to build a low-income housing component into its planned transitional homeless shelter adjacent to St. John's Road will ease some of that pressure — provided it's built in such a way as to establish a sense of community among residents. While affordable rentals are important, she says establishing roots in one location is vital to educational well being of the area's students.
Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
