Children glad to be back

Schools are noisy again after silence of teachers’ strike

KOLOA – It’s nearly unanimous.

Children interviewed at Koloa Elementary School yesterday were ecstatic to be reunited with their teachers, classmates and even cafeteria food, upon returning to classes yesterday for the first time in a month.

“I’m happy. I like school,” said Kawailani Klattenhoff, 7, a second-grade. She wants to learn more, she said.

“Because I like to do work, and read,” said Milynn Felipe, another second-grader, when asked why she was glad to be back after missing 14 days of school because of the statewide teachers’ strike.

“I love school,” said Jasmine Ikeda, 7.

Lena Makizuru, also 7, was happy to be back on campus “because I get to be with my friends.” During the unanticipated spring break caused by the strike, she went crabbing and fishing and caught a puffer fish, she said.

Jordan Jim, a second-grader, said he “missed all my teachers and I missed my friends and I missed my classroom, and classmates and A-plus.”

Franki Lopez spent time at friends’ and relatives’ homes during the strike, but is also happy it’s over. “I really missed school, because it’s great,” he said.

Michael Sylva likes school almost as much as he enjoyed riding motorcycles during the strike. “II have fun in school,” the 7-year-old said.

“I was happy in the theater,” said Lisa Makizuru, 9, who spent strike-time taking in movies and was only “a little bit” happy to be back at school yesterday.

She missed recess the most. “I never played tetherball for a whole month,” she said, and “I like the cafeteria food.”

Lance Cacal, 8, said he “missed the classroom and the playground.”

“My friends” were what Leilani Cabral, 8, missed most about not having school due to the strike.

“It’s just great having the children back,” said Koloa principal Dora Hong as she wiped down tables in the cafeteria. “The school should be filled with children’s voices.”

Hong said the teachers are also glad to be back, as school walls across the island were adorned with welcome-back, mahalo and aloha signs and banners.

“It made us appreciate each other even more,” she said.

Even kids struggling with school are glad to be back, Hong added.

The mood and sentiments were echoed at King Kaumuali’i Elementary School in Hanama’ulu. One teacher said she was so tired of being away from the students that she would have approved just about any settlement offer just to get back to teaching.

Brittney Kane, a first-grader, said she missed her teacher and classmates. She spent lots of time at swimming pools during the break.

Casey DeLima-Conant, 7, said he missed everything about school during the strike, when he stayed home and watched TV or went to the beach. He did some reading and homework during the break, as well, he said.

Donovan Cameron Ray, 6, admitted he’d rather be at home than school, because home is more fun than school, he said.

Aeron Inouye, a first-grader, missed math the most during the break and is happy to be back in school. During the strike, he said, he rode his scooter all over the place, including on the Kaua’i High School picket line, where his mother is a teacher.

“My sister’s really happy” that the strike is over, he said of his sibling, who attends Kaua’i High.

Principal Karen Liu, who visited all the King Kaumuali’i classrooms yesterday morning, observed that learning had resumed right where it left off before the strike.

“The kids are right back at it,” and parents, teachers and students are all happy that school is back in session, she said.

Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).