Former Fern Elementary School secretary Williamina Muranaka is going to jail for a year for stealing nearly $15,000 from the Kalihi school over a 2 1/2-year period.

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins sentenced Muranaka, 44, to five years of probation this morning and imposed the jail term as a condition of probation.

Muranaka will begin serving her jail term after the holidays.

The state had asked Perkins to sentence Muranaka to 10 years in prison because she failed to pay back the money she stole by today’s sentencing.

Muranaka pleaded guilty in May to 13 counts of theft and one for bribery.

The bribery charge is for accepting more than $2,000 worth of gift cards from the vendor who supplied the school with copier supplies for ordering printer/toner cartridges at exorbitant prices.

Muranaka used more than half of the money she stole to pay her rent in state public housing.