CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Moanalua Elementary School teachers, students and parents took to the streets yesterday to raise funds to replace out-of-date textbooks. Sixth-graders Chelsie Hata, left, Mazie Coloma and Kiyana Higa held signs in front of Moanalua Intermediate School.
School fund-raiser
in high gearMoanalua Elementary seeks
donations for new textbooks
Teachers, students and parents at Moanalua Elementary School, frustrated with out-of-date textbooks, took their fund-raising campaign to the street yesterday, waving signs in the rain.
"You can't blame public education if the people aren't there to support it and give the teachers the tools to teach," said Lori Shimoda, a member of the Parent Teacher Association, which aims to raise $45,000 to replace 10-year-old math textbooks.
"Everybody's pointing the fingers at someone else these days," she added. "The PTA decided we don't care how we got into this situation, let's just do something about it."
Schools are given funds annually for operations, including textbooks, but Moanalua Principal Ron Hirai said there is not enough to keep up with needs. The money covers basics like construction paper and school supplies, as well as enrichment programs like Moanalua's string orchestra and part-time staff to help students learn to read.
"To purchase new books with those funds will deplete our operational budget," he said. "Textbooks are a big-ticket item. We have books for every student, but not up-to-date ones."
The school has been making do with teacher-made worksheets and other materials to update the old textbooks, he said. Hirai was reluctant to ask for help from the PTA, since he considers textbooks a state responsibility, but PTA President Elton Teshima said parents wanted to help.
Money from the campaign will go into a comprehensive math program that helps students meet new standards that go beyond computational skills and now include problem solving, critical thinking and explaining their reasoning on paper.
The fund-raising campaign is starting with a donation drive throughout the community that will culminate in the "Strides out of Pride" student fun run on May 14, an obstacle course designed by the school's physical education teacher. Shimoda said $6,000 has already been raised, with help from local businesses.
"When you say $45,000, it seems like so much, but when you break it down by student, it seems doable," said Shimoda, whose son, Aaron, is in kindergarten. "With a student body of 714, it works out to $63 per child."
Concern over inadequate textbooks in the public schools prompted the Legislature to approve an extra $2.5 million earmarked specifically for math texts in the coming fiscal year. Last year, a bill to assess students a $20 textbook fee, with low-income students exempted, failed to pass the Legislature.
"I think that the state should provide textbooks -- at least that's the way the system was designed," Shimoda said. "But maybe times change and people have to change, too."
She added: "My father went to Moanalua Elementary in the '20s, back when it was a little schoolhouse. They were all poor families, and he remembers that they had to pay for textbooks."
