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Historic Mililani Yvonne Toma taught in the old-fashioned wooden building for 12 years and came to love the "coziness of the rooms."
‘Building B’ core
of community
The oldest building in Mililani
was saved by a Kipapa Elementary
teacher and her studentsBy Pat Gee
Star-BulletinIt had lots of windows to let the breezes through and a veranda large enough to hold classes.
For the last six years, Toma and some of her former Kipapa Elementary School students have spearheaded an effort to save their old classroom building from demolition.
Constructed in 1932, "Building B," as they call it, is the oldest building in Mililani, she said.
After getting it placed on the Hawaii Register of Historic Places in 1994, they got the city to earmark $200,000 during the years to restore the building and have it moved to Hawaii's Plantation Village in Waipahu.
But several weeks ago, the bottom fell out of their project.
They had to settle for a photo exhibit at the school and at Mililani Public Library.
Toma said the group realized it would be responsible for the upkeep of the building if restored and moved to the Plantation Village.
Neither the village nor the group had the funds to maintain Building B, and the group had to give up the project, Toma said.
But Councilwoman Rene Mansho, who was instrumental in obtaining most of the money for the project, heard about the restoration plan being dropped.
She stepped in with a new plan -- renovating the building and turning it into a community center on the school campus, Toma said.
Because the funds have already been released for other city projects, "we have to start all over again" in the planning and raising of money, said Toma, now a part-time teacher of special-education teachers.
But instead of expressing disappointment, all she said was, "It's another challenge."
"It's better that the building stay on its original site," where people can appreciate its historical value as a part of the education system during plantation days, she said.
The building was originally part of a U-shaped structure, which served as an office, health room and kitchen.
Today, it is boarded up to keep curious students out of danger.
She taught in the building for 12 years, starting in 1979.
Toma, 57, said the four students who constitute the core of her group were with her for three years, starting as fourth-graders. They are now in college, three of them at the University of Hawaii.
Toma said every year, all her classes put on an original musical production. The parents got involved with rehearsals and building sets. Work on the musicals extended to the weekends and the evenings, creating a close-knit community.
Toma was named the 1980 Central District Teacher of the Year. In 1990, she received the national Milken Educator's Award, one of only three teachers to be chosen that year.