Check out the current WOEDA Newsletter. Inside you'll find a recap on the 10th Annual WOEDA Golf Tournament, Board Member Spotlight, Highlights from the Annual WOEDA Meeting, Members Spotlight, a new advertising opportunity, and notices on upcoming events.
Past Newsletters
| 
2011 #2 |
West Oahu: Community Matters with Mike Buck Sunday, February 14, 2010
|
Keone’ula Elementary School
By Principal Eileen Hirota
Keone`ula Elementary School, where performance excellence is everyone’s goal, and where “pretty good” is NEVER good enough!
Our
school sits on 12 acres of land donated by HASEKO Inc. Ewa Beach,
constructed by AC Kobayashi, Inc., and designed by Architects Hawaii.
We are located a block inside of Fort Weaver Road and a
neighbor/partner of Seagull School-Ocean Pointe.
In our third
year of opening as a new school, Keone`ula Elementary is an
architectural delight! The campus appears more like a high school or
college campus rather than an elementary school. Walkways are large
and wide with the appearance of a shopping mall. As with all newly
constructed schools, we are entirely air-conditioned, except for the
cooking kitchen and dining hall. The air conditioning is not simply a
necessity for the hot Ewa Beach weather, but also for noise abatement
for the air traffic interruptions occurring over the school every seven
minutes!
Other facility features of the school are: A break-out
room shared between two classrooms where seven computers and a printer
are housed; an operable wall between these two classrooms, which allow
team teaching to occur; a student services building, which is separate
from the administration building; two art/science labs, which are
unique to an elementary school; a two-story F building, which has a
well-designed, functional court yard; the school’s superior
drop-off/pick-up loop; a large enclosed basketball/volleyball court;
and the entire school, which includes the parking lots that are
designed with sensor lighting.
A special library façade was
designed by Architects Hawaii based on the decisions of the Charette
Process. The front of this building exhibits a pencil, symbolizing the
center of learning for both students and teachers. And the library is
located in the center of the school campus for that same reason. The
library is designed with a high ceiling promoting the ambience of a
spacious, large area for learning and working. The technology lab is
housed in this building also.
|
An unexpected occurrence after only two full years of operation,
Keone`ula Elementary School now houses three portable buildings. The
enrollment continues to grow beyond the design enrollment of 739. The
school presently enrolls approximately 840 students, and continues to
grow. The expected enrollment at the end of this school year, May 2009,
is 900 students. It would not be a surprise to those of us at Keone`ula
Elementary to house ten portables within four to six years!
What
about the operations of the school? Let us count the heads.
Administration consists of a principal and vice principal. The office
is busy with six ladies who are the secretary, clerks, account clerk,
meal tracker clerk, and the school health aide. Our very hard-working
custodial staff numbers five, and our very special cafeteria staff
operates with four and a half staff members. Our key instructional
personnel numbers 60, including preschool and kindergarten through
grade six. Full-time educational assistants who support our special
needs students number seven. Thus, as we count the heads, we have a
great working faculty and staff of approximately 82 people! Hail
Keone`ula Elementary School!
Because the school’s focus is
Performance Excellence for ALL students! To ensure teachers are current
on effective classroom instructional practices, regularly scheduled
teacher study group sessions are conducted during school hours for all
teachers. A Professional Learning Center provides the location for this
training to occur. Our resource personnel, the librarian, technology
coordinator, counselors, the Achieve 3000 center, and Kupuna provide
coverage while the teachers are in training. This training is key to
maintaining current trends in teaching. District and state-sponsored
seminars and workshops and National Conferences also are an important
part of our teacher training efforts.
The Campbell Complex
Schools have been very fortunate to be supported by the Leeward
District Office in the implementation of the Achieve 3000 reading
program and the Imagine Learning language program. Both are on-line
programs. The district office has been generous in their funding
support to our schools. At Keone`ula Elementary School, just as in
several of the complex schools, Achieve 3000 supports students in
grades three through six as a supplement to the reading program.
Students in kindergarten through grade two are supported by the Imagine
Learning program, which assists students who are in the emerging stages
of learning language skills.
An extra curricular class we are so
proud to have is the Keone`ula Drum, Fife and Flag Corps. This group
of fifth and sixth grade students learn to read and play the rhythms of
the drum, the notes of a fife, and the routines of a flag corps. They
practice once a week and “gear up” for school performances. This corps
performed at our new school dedication in May 2007 and received a
rousing ovation for their performance! We are so proud to have this
unique elementary school program at Keone`ula Elementary School!
This
year we are proud to announce the Artist-in-the-School grant awarded to
first grade. The $5,750 award is a Ceramic Art Program where all first
graders will learn how to work with clay, learn techniques appropriate
to that age, and apply proper glazing to their clay pieces. The
teachers are excited about having an artist on campus to work directly
with the students. And, the teachers are excited not only for the
students, but also because they in turn will learn these various
techniques themselves.
Last school year was our first year of
publishing a school yearbook. It was an absolute hit and we plan to
publish another one for this school year. The Life Touch Photo Studio
is the agent who supports this publication with style and pizzaz! As
publications go, there is much work and energy required for the
production of an annual yearbook. For this reason, each grade level
with the assistance of the technology coordinator and the Parent
Community Network Coordinator (PCNC) will join their efforts in
gathering the needed materials for this year’s publication. We all look
forward to the final product.
|
Keone`ula Elementary School
consistently enrolls new students each week. To support the orientation
of these new students, the school has instituted the Ambassador
Program. This program is coordinated by the school counselors and
students in grades five and six. Each new student receives a “passport”
with photos of the various school personnel the student will meet for
the first time: Administrators, librarian, tech coordinator, school
counselors, grade level teachers, etc. The ambassadors are the fifth
and sixth grade students who greet the new students with a lei, then
escort them to meet the people on their passport. Each time the new
student meets someone on the passport, that someone will place a
sticker below the picture. Eventually, the new student’s passport is
filled with stickers. At the end of each month, all new students
enrolled for that month will have lunch together for an informal
chitchat with the counselors, administrators, and all the new students
for that month. This Ambassador Program has been a great icebreaker for
our new enrollees.
Having new facilities and committed personnel
is an important part of the success of Keone`ula Elementary School.
Just as important is the involvement of our Keone`ula parents and thus,
a home-school partnership, which strengthens the school’s efforts at
performance excellence. Parents may be involved in different ways,
participating in different events and activities. We just enjoyed our
first Coffee Hour and plan to have other Coffee Hours in the following
months. Upcoming activities and events where the PCNC is asking for
participation is the Fall Picture-Taking, the fall school-wide book
fair, the annual Costume Parade, and Winter Fest, to name a few. Future
parent workshops on mathematics, Hawaii State Assessment, and writing
are in the planning stages. A type of Curriculum Fair is also in the
planning stage. Parents also volunteer as chaperones on respective
grade level field trips, and those who are comfortable working in the
classroom have also volunteered for that. Our school will continue our
efforts at active parent involvement.
This is a great
opportunity to also thank the different organizations, which have
donated many school supplies for our students in need. They have
donated composition books, pencils, crayons, glue, binders, folder
paper, graph paper, sticky notes, pencil boxes, backpacks, pocketed
folders, erasers, scissors, manila folders, and more. Students in need
have been provided with these supplies thanks to the generosity of the
following organizations: Pastor Jerry Kraesig and the Rainbow Church,
Curves-Ewa Beach, and Realtors for Crayons. A huge mahalo for your
generosity and your thoughtfulness!
Finally, and definitely not
the least important, is our partnerships with Seagull School-Ocean
Pointe and HASEKO Inc-Ewa Beach. We have developed a schedule where the
children at Seagull School are able to visit our school library, listen
to stories, and peruse through appropriate books. This allows the
children to experience the beginnings of a formal school setting.
Keone`ula Elementary has also been invited to numerous parent evening
activities planned by the Seagull School. Our partnership with
HASEKO-Ewa Beach has become a strong and enduring one. They have been
supportive from the initial new school Charette Planning Process to the
present day. They presented Keone`ula Elementary with a $25,000 check
to help us get started as a new school. This fund was key to allowing
our teachers to attend a national conference held on the outer island
and to acquire small equipment for the office and cafeteria. These
partnerships are truly appreciated and definitely invaluable in
providing different perspectives to school operations.
Enjoy!
|
Hoakalei: Hawaii's First Ernie Els Designed Golf Course
By Danielle Douglass
O‘ahu’s only resort-based, private, international country club and the island’s first private club to be built in more than 30 years opened on January 12th at Hoakalei, Hawai‘i's new Marina Resort Community. Hoakalei Country Club is home to Hawai‘i’s first Ernie Els-designed golf course, offering members an unprecedented golf experience.
Overlooking O‘ahu's stunning southwestern coastline, the 18-hole championship course spans 248 acres of open vistas, providing picturesque ocean views on many holes. The par-72 course stretches 7,400 yards, combining immaculate greens with numerous white sand bunkers and other hazards. Water plays an important role on the course, with strategically placed natural and man-made lakes and lagoons coming into play on 12 holes.
|
 |
| Haseko President Toru Nagayama and Ernie Els untie maile during traditional Hawaiian blessing. Council Chair Todd Apo and Mayor Hannemann also pictured. |
|
“I anticipate hole #7 will become one of the course’s signature holes,” said Els, who took a hands-on approach in designing the course. “The fairways are split by a natural spring that has been on the property for years, and not only is it beautiful, it will be very challenging for players seeking to try out different strategies, making for a new experience each time they play this hole.”
The layout also offers fours sets of tees to accommodate golfers of all skill levels. In addition, the course is grassed with Seadwarf® Seashore Paspalum turf—another first for O‘ahu, which requires 50 percent less water than other warm-season grasses and can tolerate high levels of sodium chloride and periodic flooding.
One of the most successful golfers in the history of the game, Els has won more than 60 professional tournaments around the world, including two US Opens and a record seven World Matchplay titles. A former world number one-ranked player, he has occupied a spot in the world’s top-10 for more than 740 consecutive weeks, a record. The golf course at Hoakalei is his first in Hawai‘i, and only his second in the United States.
In addition to the Els-designed golf course, Hoakalei County Club will feature a temporary clubhouse located between holes #9 and #10. Plans for a permanent two-story facility offering spectacular views of both the golf course and marina are in development. Hoakalei Country Club is part of Haseko’s new master-planned community of Hoakalei, which when complete, will feature a full-service marina, hotel, resort spa, resort residences, exclusive beach, and canoe club and vibrant waterfront commercial district.
Limited membership opportunities are still available at Hoakalei Country Club. For more information, call Tulinh Luciano-DeSmith, director of sales and marketing, at 388-4049 or contact via email at tulinh.luciano-desmith@clubcorp.com.
Hoakalei Country Club is a development of Haseko, developer of Hawai‘i's most prized hotel, commercial, and residential projects, including the Hoakalei Marina Resort community. For more information, visit www.hoakaleicountryclub.com.
|
|
