Koloa newcomers help computerize school

As Koloa Elementary School students started a new semester following the Martin Luther King Day holiday, the school’s technology staff were unpacking nine new Dell computers acquired through a $10,000 gift to the school from Don and Sarah Schmanski.

The couple, new residents of Koloa, were redirected to the school by Kaua’i County Councilman Ron Kouchi, who told them it could use the help to meet its computerization goals.

Don Schmanski explained that as newcomers to the community, he and his wife felt “t was appropriate to make a contribution to the community.”

The Schmanskis, who believe in helping schoolchildren, were on hand Tuesday morning to inspect the new equipment and watch the students’ prowess with computers.

Kouchi, who is working with fellow Councilman Jimmy Tokioka on computerizing Kauai’s schools, explained that the long-range goal is to have all the schools standardized in computer technology. But in the interim, each school is working on its own to keep up with the changes in technology as well as instruct its students in the use of the systems.

Koloa Elementary principal Dora Hong said the nine new computers will be placed in individual classrooms where they will be integrated into the curriculum.

The school hopes to eventually have four computers per classroom, and the Schmanski gift will help the current level of two computers per classroom, she noted.

One of the new computers will replace an aging machine in the school’s main office that has been in use for about 10 years, Hong said.

Don Schmanski said he hopes the couple’s gift will encourage other newcomers to the island to give back to the community.

“When you see the smiles and feel the excitement on the faces of the children, it almost makes you want to go out and do another (service) project,” he said, chuckling.

Staff photographer Dennis Fujimoto can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) and mailto:dfujimoto@pulitzer.net