JANET W. WYATT / EDUCATOR

Educator used innovation
for learning disabilities

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By Pat Gee
pgee@starbulletin.com

Janet W. Wyatt, one of the first educators in Hawaii to use innovative teaching methods for learning disabilities, died March 13 at her Portlock home. She was 84.

Daughter Janine Brand said her mother's "greatest legacy" was reviving what was called the Honolulu Junior Academy, a small independent school in jeopardy of closing when she took over as principal in 1966. The school later became the Academy of the Pacific.

Wyatt used her "formidable intellect, her creativity and sensitivity" to put the school on the cutting edge of teaching "very bright kids with learning problems" and students who did not have learning disabilities but still needed individualized programs, Brand said.

Daughter Nancy Kupka of Los Angeles said Wyatt was a "risk-taking, risk-seeking individual" who was "fearless and courageous. She wanted to find ways to help kids learn that were not necessarily traditional way.

"If kids could not sit and learn, she had them walking around the classroom or going outside. If they were sensory learners, she would have them learn by doing" instead of studying from a book, Kupka said.

Brand said her mother brought in university teachers and outside experts to the school to develop the curriculum.

Wyatt retired as principal in 1975 and became a watercolorist, establishing an art scholarship for Academy of the Pacific students in 1996.

She was born in Albany, N.Y., and married Dr. C. Arthur Wyatt, a childhood sweetheart, in 1942. They were together for 51 years until his death in 1993. In 1947 they moved to Iowa, where she was a high school teacher and administrator. In 1949 they moved here, where she became an English instructor at the University of Hawaii and volunteered with the Junior League and the Girl Scouts.

Wyatt's best friend and neighbor of 30 years, Gracia Bell, now of Walnut Creek, Calif., worked as a teacher and counselor at the Academy of the Pacific while Wyatt was principal. During the protests of the Vietnam War era, Wyatt still had "the greatest respect for young people and their idealism. She would look at their idealism rather than their breaking the rules or the outrageousness. That was the key to her carrying on well," Bell said.

Jim Ristin, chairman of the Academy of the Pacific board of trustees, said Wyatt would "discover the most current studies on how the brain works. She was responsible for the very small class sizes -- we try to keep them to under 10 students -- and the effort to give every student a custom-made education, tailoring it to the individual as (he) will best learn. We've continued this till today, and that's one of the reasons our school is so unique."

For her "extraordinary gift to us, we will honor her," Ristin said, by naming its art building the Janet Wyatt Art Building at a dedication ceremony Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. The school is at 913 Alewa Drive.

Wyatt is survived by her two other daughters, Patricia Robinson and Christine Nary, son Thomas and eight grandchildren.

Private burial services will be held later. Donations may be made to the Janet and Art Wyatt Scholarship Fund.