TWENTY-FIVE years ago, as a student at Stevenson Intermediate in Makiki, I devoted my entire sixth period to working the school switchboard. It was one of those primitive plug-in contraptions - a la Lily Tomlin's Ernestine - and I wasn't very adept at it. Pulling the wrong wire could abruptly terminate a conversation in mid-sentence. "Ooops, sorry! Please hold while I reconnect you ..." The future comes calling
at StevensonCommunication at Stevenson has changed for the better. My alma mater is now one of seven schools in the nation (and the only one in Hawaii) with a state-of-the-art ClassLink telephone system, courtesy of GTE Mobilnet and the CTIA Foundation, a national cellular industry organization.
Principal Dennis Manalili, who lobbied hard for the 20-cellular phone network for his 520-pupil student body, looks as jolly as Santa, and his fellow DOE principals are as green as the Grinch. Stevenson is enjoying a charitable windfall - a one-year donation of equipment, software, installation, training and cellular time - estimated at approximately $60,000.
But the boost to Stevenson's self-esteem, safety and efficiency has been priceless.
In fact, as Manalili is proudly describing the virtues of the high-tech set-up - which allows instant dial-up capability between teachers and staff - one of three office cellulars goes off. An eighth-grader, on a hike with his class on the Windward side of the island, has fallen ill and needs to be picked up.
The phones also have been used to stop fights and potential fights, report traffic accidents, dispatch custodial and office personnel to needed areas, as well as for the routine relaying of messages and queries among staffers. Students can call their parents for rides home; one teacher summoned help one day when an angry wasp invaded her classroom.
Furthermore, instructor Jennifer Hatton utilizes ClassLink as a motivational tool. The Michigan transplant uses the wireless handset to keep parents informed of their children's actions, whether positive or negative.
"If they do well, they get to dial moms, dads or aunties immediately to share the good news. Then when I take the receiver, the parents thank me so much for calling. They say it's incredibly nice to get positive feedback for a change," says Hatton.
The instant communication is also more reliable and fosters two-way dialog in the relaying of vital information, such as setting up parent conferences, dispensing missed homework assignments or discussing serious concerns. Gone is the antiquated communique known as the note from the teacher.
"I love it," says Hatton of the shiny black cellular in her hand. "And so do the kids. They walk around and talk on it like they're cool."
TWENTY years ago, companies donated books to the public schools. Ten years ago, they began giving computers. Now, in this age of beepers and faxes, some civic-minded corporations are doling out valuable cellular phone service, which will help Stevenson to access the Internet via laptops, says Manalili. "The sooner these kids learn how to use this equipment, the sooner they can work in industry," he believes.
Today, at my old stomping grounds on Prospect Street, the antiquated switchboard is mercifully gone. In its place is the Astronet, the heart of the new phone system, and Molecules #1 and #2, all under a banner that reads, "GTE Mobilnet Presents ClassLink: It's Amazing What We Can Do Together."
For one thing, nobody gets cut off in mid-sentence.