Hawaii's World

By A.A. Smyser

Tuesday, April 30, 1996

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Private schools have it better. They can drop troublesome students. Suspension is the most public schools can do.

Washington Intermediate School, in a middle-class district of Honolulu, is in the second year of a new program to promote better discipline. Teachers like it. They would like to see it back next September for a third year, says Principal Marsha Allegre, even though it means one less teacher in a classroom.

Before I explain the broad outlines of the program it should be noted that Washington Intermediate, which has grades 6, 7 and 8, considers itself a "middle school" rather than an intermediate school.

Middle schools follow a model suggested by the Carnegie Foundation of New York in a 1989 publication called "Turning Points." Heavy attention is paid to the fact that students at these grade levels are still very dependent but trying very hard to be independent. They seldom can go for more than two seconds without moving some body part.

Washington Intermediate approaches this in three ways:

• Its 1,000-plus students are divided into teams of about 100 each who will undertake joint activities, including community service, as a way of getting involved in the world around them.

• Each student has a home room and a teacher who is a personal adviser. The teacher ideally advises no more than 20 students.

• Explorations are undertaken both on campus and out in the field.

There Donald Hirose, a counselor, receives the written complaint from the teacher, hears out the student's side of the matter and, most often, asks the student to write a letter of apology to take back to the teacher.

That's it for most students, but some are sent back a second or third time. That's when Hirose uses his special weapon, the telephone. He phones the parents.

If the offense is severe enough, he asks the parents to come in and spend all or part of a day with the student, shadowing him or her in the daily routine.

THIS commonly generates an I'm-glad-it-isn't-me reaction from other students and seems to work. Only about 10 students at the school are considered incorrigible.

Where violence is concerned, the police are informed. If it is serious enough they will come to the campus. Fortunately, they don't have to do it too often.

Tallies show boys are more frequent troublemakers than girls at things like disturbing the class, insubordination and wasting time. Problem peaks are at late morning and late afternoon. The end of a term also seems to boost trouble-making.

Happily, one referral to BLC is all most students seem to need.

"We are helping them to mature," say Allegre and Hirose. A presentation on the Washington Intermediate approach will be made to the Board of Education later this year.