Commentary from Senator Sakamoto

April 13, 2007

Hope and Change at Ma'ili Elementary School

On April 12, the Honolulu Advertiser published the article, "Ma‘ili Elementary: The cooler, the better," which describes how air conditioning, a new reading program, and other changes helped turn the school around.  Ma‘ili Elementary, which once made the news for being too hot and dirty for learning, can now boast that many of its kindergartners are reading at first-grade level.  Principal Disa Hauge "believes that while air-conditioning provided the impetus and hope, the actual turnaround has been accomplished more through small measure than grandiose designs." 

The dramatic changes at Ma‘ili Elementary School is evidence that our public schools can change.  Hope and optimism are essential ingredients for improving our schools.  There is no one size fits all solution to improving our public schools.  We need to do what works.