Posted on: Thursday, December 22, 2005
OUR SCHOOLS | WAHIAWA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Serene campus home to humble students
By Will Hoover
Advertiser North Shore Writer
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Richard DeVincent, a custodian at Wahiawa Elementary School for 30 years, planted the Norfolk pines that tower over the picturesque campus. DeVincent says the impeccable grounds are maintained by a custodial staff with a combined 70 years of experience
DEBORAH BOOKER | The Honolulu Advertiser
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SCHOOL FACTS Where: 1402 Glen Ave., Wahiawa Phone: 622-6393 Web address: wes.k12.hi.us Principal: Shelley Ferrara, 11 months at school School motto: Ku Lokahi Ka'Ohana 'O Wahiawa (The Family of Wahiawa Elementary School Stands United) School colors: Blue and white Enrollment: With 427 students, the school, with 38 classrooms and two portables, is not overcrowded, officials say. History: Built in 1948 Testing: Here's how Wahiawa Elementary pupils fared on the most recent standardized tests: Stanford Achievement Test: Listed is the combined percentage of pupils scoring average and above average, compared with the national combined average of 77 percent. Third-grade reading, 83 percent; math, 91 percent. Fifth-grade reading, 68 percent; math, 77 percent. Hawai'i State Assessment: Listed is the combined percentage of pupils meeting or exceeding state standards, and a comparison with the state average. Third-grade reading, 52 percent, compared with state average of 51.8 percent; math, 38 percent, compared with 28.5 percent. Fifth-grade reading, 46 percent, compared with state average of 55.6 percent; math, 25 percent, compared with 25.5 percent.Special programs or classes: Home of the medically fragile for the Central District; Success for All reading program. Computers: Mac lab with 34 computers and mobile lab with 22 additional computers. |
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Entering the Wahiawa Elementary School campus is like walking into a time and place that many thought had faded from Hawai'i's panorama.
Sitting atop a peaceful rural hillside, the 13-acre school boasts a magnificent mountain view and a neatly manicured landscape surrounded by rows of towering Norfolk pines.
In this setting, soothing breezes seem to cast a calming spell. A majority of the neighborhood children still walk to school, though a solitary busload of military students is brought in from a few miles away. Here, the principal speaks fondly of a family-like unity, and she says discipline is never a major problem.
Because the grounds are spotlessly groomed and the buildings were refurbished three years ago, the school appears much as it did when it was built in 1948.
It actually dates to 1899, when the school was located where Wahiawa General Hospital sits today on Lehua Street. That school was closed during World War II, and the current school emerged in the post-war period.
"This is a very serene school," said Principal Shelley Ferrara. "We're lucky. It's a good place to be. A lot of it is the atmosphere. But a lot of it is just the kids. We have humble students. And they try so hard it's amazing."
What are you most proud of? "Our Hawaii State Assessment scores — reading and math," Ferrara said. "Because here in 2005 our scores doubled and tripled. Compared to last year's scores, our third-grade reading went from 25 percent to 52 percent. And our third-grade math went from 14 percent to 38 percent."
Biggest challenge: Raising the scores of the school's disadvantaged students.
"Despite these incredible HSA gains, we still did not meet the AYP, or our 'Adequate Yearly Progress' (under the federal No Child Left Behind Act). We passed the benchmark overall, but our disadvantaged students did not." Ferrara said nearly two-thirds of the student body — 64 percent — are enrolled in the free and reduced-price lunch program, a common measure of poverty.
The emphasis now is on keeping the momentum going while raising the scores of the school's underprivileged students through after-school tutoring and daytime supplemental services.
Best-kept secret: Not many outsiders are aware of the school's picturesque setting and landscape, which features Hawaiian plants. However — and here the principal's voice turns to a whisper — there's also the locally repeated tale that the school grounds are haunted.
"They talk about the Green Lady with the scaly skin and the scary eyes who roams about the back of the school," said Ferrara, who was quick to add that, so far, she has never seen or heard a peep out of the Green Lady, "and our kids have never reported anything."
Everybody at our school knows: Custodian "Uncle Richard" DeVincent, who went to school at Wahiawa Elementary as a kid, and who has been doing maintenance at the school for three decades.
"I planted every one of those Norfolk pines," said DeVincent, pointing to the trees around the campus perimeter that add a sense of aloha Christmas this time of year. DeVincent credits the immaculate appearance of the grounds to nearly 70 years of combined experience he and his custodial staff assistants, Rose Espinda, Alfredo Sison and William Lonoea, have brought to Wahiawa Elementary.
What we need: More parent volunteers and more money to finance the various projects those parents undertake.
Special events: "At the end of the first semester we have Lokahi Fun Day, and at the end of the year we have a Lokahi Luau," Ferrara said. For each event students earn credits that they can use as scrip at both events.
Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
