COURTESY OF RENEE KALEO
Ewa Beach Elementary School student Keith Sinoben, scissors in hand, went after teacher Ryan Peters yesterday, guided by Hair Hut stylist Tina Moracco ...
Ewa Beach staff
get close shave
in reading eventThe elementary students
blow away their goal
of reading 45,345 books
Ewa Beach Elementary School teacher Ryan Peters rubbed the top of his newly shaved head and grinned.
"This is a small price to pay to get the kids to read," he said yesterday. "I'm really proud of them. It's amazing what they've done."
Peters is one of "The Magnificent Seven" -- seven men on the school's staff who volunteered to have their heads shaved if students met their goal of reading a total of 45,345 books this school year.
The school's 628 students blasted far beyond that number, devouring 72,782 books altogether. Yesterday, the whole school celebrated on a grassy lawn as the seven succumbed to shaving by professional stylists, to the beat of live music from the Thick Tubes.
"We really wanted to see these guys get their heads shaved," said sixth-grader Nani Tuiolemotu, who read 42 books and was one of several students who got to snip the first locks of hair. "It made everyone want to read."
The book campaign is part of the America's Choice school-reform program, launched at Ewa Beach in 1998. But the school has never reached its goal before, getting less than halfway last year. Students use logs to keep track of the books they read, and the youngest are allowed to count books that are read to them as well.
COURTESY OF ANNA AGOSTO
... Soon after, Peters gamely showed his new shorn look.
Along with Peters, a special education teacher, others bowing their heads to the razor were custodian Abraham Cabanban, accounting clerk David Katayama, counselor Jay Nakasone and teachers Brian Merrill, Jeffrey Schaefer and Brian Weida. Most had dyed their hair to add to the drama, and the students roared at the sight.
"Mr. Peters looks like a clown," said a delighted Amber Seguin, 9, as stylist Tina Moracco shaved the top of Peters' head, leaving a thick ruff around his ears.
The shave-a-thon is just part of the school's literacy campaign, which has students giving book talks, reading to each other, writing, emulating different authors, and getting parents involved. Literacy coordinator Diana Yamamura said it used to be "like pulling teeth" to get students to write, but no longer.
"The image people have of children in this area is that they cannot succeed," Principal Eileen Hirota said. "Today they have shown everyone, including themselves, that they can."
