CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Mariko Raney, an Ala Wai Elementary School student, tried out a new classroom sound system yesterday as her teacher, Joven Asuncion, listened in. Both saw the unveiling of the school's new classroom sound systems that enable them to hear over the din of nearby construction.
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Can you hear me now?
Ala Wai Elementary's teachers and students appreciate their new public address systems
FIFTH-GRADE teacher Mae Kuba is soft-spoken to begin with, and there is a construction generator humming nearby outside her classroom, but she is having no problem getting through to her students.
Hers is one of 21 classrooms at Ala Wai Elementary School equipped with new public address systems funded by donations from private businesses.
They were installed to help teachers be heard over the din of repair work on the city sewer main that ruptured in March, work so loud when the school year started that students could not hear their teachers.
"It was so distracting for the students, and it was beginning to strain the teachers' voices," Kuba said.
In July, thunderous pile-driving work forced the school to rotate several classes located nearest the construction into the library.
"When they were pile-driving it was really hard to concentrate," said fifth-grader Sean Balayan. "It made it hard to learn."
But local businesses involved in the Beachwalk Wastewater Emergency Bypass Project responded to a plea for help from the Moiliili school, donating $18,500.
The noise has abated somewhat but is still there. Now, though, teachers wear microphone headsets that beam their voices out through a wall-mounted speaker.
During a visit to the school yesterday, Mayor Mufi Hannemann told students the city "doesn't have a lot of money" and needs more such private help as his administration focuses on necessary infrastructure improvements.
Principal Charlotte Unni said the sound systems will remain an asset long after construction is expected to end in December.
A miked-up teacher tends to keep a student's focus better, reducing problems with those who have attention issues. Teachers also are seeing improvements in getting through to the school's many non-native English-speakers -- about 20 percent of the school's 260 total students. Teachers find they are repeating themselves less often.
"I think all schools should have them," Unni said.
The businesses that pitched in include Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co., Healy Tibbits Builders, Bank of Hawaii, First Hawaiian Bank Foundation, Hawaii Hotel and Lodging Association, Servco Pacific, M & E Pacific, Hilton Hawaiian Village and Hoakea Communications.