I love the Hawaii public school system! I know you don't hear this often enough but our experience…read morethrough Makalapa has been great compared to the school system we left in Oregon. If you pass by the school on Salt Lake BLVD in the morning rush hour you might think it is a world of craziness with commuters zipping by, teenage drivers rushing into Radford and general mayhem of getting all those people off Salt Lake BLVD into the school. The reason it works is because you have the principal, assistant principal, teachers and even the stern crossing guards taking their responsibilities very seriously. They are present all around the school, calling the kids by their names, greeting the parents. We go to several events and the teachers and administrators show a servants heart towards the kids and the families as well. The programs and activities available to the kids are great and keep them enthusiastic about going to school. Mrs. Miyamoto's music class is an especially great program that both my kids are involved with. I think the school system sometimes takes an unnecessary beating and the prominence of private schools here seems to overshadow the great things happening at places like Makalapa. There is every opportunity to thrive at this school and I look forward to sending the rest of my kids there in the future.

They were a good advanced school for my children and now at the now schools they are learning above…read morethere own grade and getting really good grades so thanks to this school for all that help

Today is the first day of school, so I thought it would be an appropriate day to review the school…read more My son attended this school last year, and I have just dropped him off for the beginning of his second year. He was nervous about new teachers and classmates (as all kids should be) but happy to go back. This is a big deal because he has never attended any school for two years in a row. We have managed to move every year of his school life (Thank you, Army!) so he was worried that he would not want to go back. I give the school 3 stars because it is just A-OK. The school honestly tries, just not quite hard enough. My biggest concern with the school is not the academics, but the lack of community. As a parent I do not feel particularly welcomed, and as a neighbor I feel absolutely shut out. The best way to improve the school would be to have better involvement with the neighborhoods around it. Open houses, movie nights, gatherings to show off the talents of the children. These things do happen, but are not readily advertised and are not open to the true public. The best way to build a better school is through parental involvement. Bring the parents in and everyone wins.

There's a lot I like about this middle school, but there's a lot to be desired as well. I'll try…read moreto cover all bases in this review. They successfully integrate 7th graders from seven (I think) complex area elementary schools, then feed the 8th graders into Pearl City High School. With only two years at Highlands, students don't have long to make an indelible mark on teachers, the campus, and the culture of the school. The Principal, Amy Martinson, has been there for nearly 10-years and has a firm understanding of who the teachers are, what their strengths are, and where the opportunities lay. This works for Highlands, but can also work against it in typical long-tenured principal scenarios. Ms. Martinson, however, seems to embrace change, ensuring smartboards for most classrooms, iPads for most teachers, aquaponics gardens, and robotics teams. STEM related emphasis will win me over all the time. The campus is in mostly good condition. I'm confident it's an uphill battle when you're dealing with a bunch of 7th and 8th graders (mostly, the boys) who believe they've got newfound freedoms because the parents aren't on the campus as much as elementary school. This is why you'll find periodic graffitti, trash, dirty bathrooms, and messy bulletin boards. That said, the school makes a pretty honorable attempt at cleaning up after the kids. I don't have the good fortune of knowing most of the teachers, unlike my experience at my kids' elementary school. The teachers I do know/did meet seem to be first class. I'm especially fond of my son's science, math, and English teachers (Ms. Lin, Mr. Yamashita, and Ms. Mumau, respectively). They treat my son with respect, but have high expectations for him and grade him accordingly. That's all I can ask for. If anything, either he really is that smart, or they're not giving him enough homework. Somehow, he's always telling me, 'no homework.' Hmmm, suspicious. When something bad happens on campus, the school has been good about sending letters to parents in a timely manner. There have been a few examples, so I won't bore you with the details. However, my son came home last week and told me there were nine (9) fights at school that day (something about 'National Fight Day'), yet we didn't get anything from the school. That concerns me. The great news is my son tells me he never feels intimidated, or bullied on campus. For the most part, he says he really enjoys attending the school, that's a big relief on my part! Situated up on the hills of Pearl City, on Honolaulea Street, it's got lots of traffic surrounding the campus in the morning drop-off hour (7:00am to 8:00am). After that, it's awesome sauce picking kids up. The PTA leaves much to be desired (even though I'm on the board, I'm not impressed), but the School Community Council has great depth and experience in helping the school. This helps the principal in a big way. All-in-all, I'm happy with Pearl Highlands Middle School (but could be happier)!

Overall this is a great school. The staff are friendly and wonderful and you can tell that they…read morereally care about their students. the programs as well as curriculum here are exceptional! I would recommend this school to any parent who is living in the area and looking for an intermediate school!

This school is so atrocious, people are fighting in the bathroom and people are getting jumped and…read moreattacked because the teachers, even when we tell them they don't do sh*t about it and this specific teacher don't grade assignments on time and doesn't have the patience to quiet down the class peacefully, instead they yell at us saying "shut the f*ck up!!", and is never in her classroom when the next period is already at her classroom door, instead shes at the cafeteria eating her heart out and when its right after lunch she is in her room, door locked and asleep in her chair and leaves the students out there until a councilor comes up and pounds on the door and calls security, she blames the student's on her falling down because she cant clean up her floor when she spills hand sanitizer. To my information she calls boys puppydogs because of their energy, she has obvious favoritism, and she is very sexist towards males for no reason she has the mental compacity of a child and locks her students out her room when they slightly do something wrong. She doesn't even teach but makes her students read a book and watch a video to write Cornell notes, and when the wind is strong and the door blows open when someone opens it cause its stronger than a 300 ton truck coming at you, another teacher in specifics outs you in-front of the whole period shaming you and excluding you from activities because they never finish their work. One of the few male teachers at highlands makes their clubs students do improv. work last minute and gets mad at them when they do it last minute, another teacher had blatant favoritism, saying that an assignment was easy and shaming that they didn't finish it in a time period she thought was enough, she growls at the students time to time as-well. Never sending another child here again !!

We moved from GA two years ago and had some reservations about the public schools here in HI. Yes,…read moreCommon Core is meh, but I want to talk about the staff at this school in particular. I was pleasantly surprised about how attentive, caring, and accommodating the front office staff is; the Spirit of Aloha truly lives in this school! The counselors and administrative staff that we have met are all so loving and supportive of the children that even my husband, who is rarely surprised by anything, was stunned by the awesome level of care and attention that our son received. Even when my son was placed in a not-so-great teacher's class during the 2nd grade (we tried to make it work for 1 quarter), after talking with school administration, I was fortunate enough to be able to move him to another class with a more caring teacher who he and I both loved. The school went through the proper processes but they thankfully did not make it difficult to change classrooms. They were very understanding of my concerns and took the time to listen to what I had to say - how many schools even do that anymore?? I also love how caring the teachers are - for example, my son's teacher called me this morning to tell me that my son had a headache. They were all supposed to go on a field trip, but she let me come and quickly see him and try to give him medicine. While we waited near the office, my son felt queasy and threw up in the trash cans outside near some class rooms. One of teachers heard him get sick and opened her door to make sure he was all right and handed him some napkins, while I ran to his classroom to grab his things. I was floored and so grateful that she graciously took a moment from her class to check on my sick child. I could tell that this teacher truly loved kids. Both of these ladies get an A+ in my book!

Theres a reason for each star taken off... first of all, the track system! Seems like there are so…read moremany breaks! As soon as they got off Thanksgiving break, two weeks later there's another 3wk break... goodness! Although they really don't have a summer, for every 8wks of school you have 3wks of break and then some. The second star was taken off because the amount of fundraising and money it takes to maintain and run this school. I can see that they do take pride in their school and community but it's crazy! From the time school started up to the Xmas break there have already been about 5 fundraisers. Ya, they got a new playground, that did take the first half of the school year to complete (half of it anyways) and sure the school looks in top shape condition, aside the fact that my sons class room a/c was broken for a month or more... As for the good things about this school, education and teachers. My sons teacher, Ms Pascual is Great! So patient, understanding, holds the classroom attention very Well and she is so kind and generous =) I have gone to this school the later part of my elementary years and I enjoyed it. The vice principal and counselor are from Campbell (where I went to high school) and they are also great, so I am glad my son is in this school. I'm sure kapolei has high standards for their students compared to a lot of other elementary schools on the island.

I attended the Town Hall in Pearl City to hear Governor Ige and other officials speak about…read morecoronavirus. He explained to us about social distancing and to take precautions in everyday life. For example- keep a sanitizer with you. The auditorium or cafeteria of the school was brightly lit, clean and easy to find. Snacks like bags of cookies and crackers were available to the audience on a back table Governor Ige was able to take a pic with me and I enjoyed the Town Hall mtg experience as I usually don't attend anything political.

My grandchildren catches their private school buses at Pearl Ridge Elementary Schools parking lot…read more The bus arrives any time between 6:00 am and 6:10 am. I think its nice that the school allows these private school buses to use their parking lot so the children have a safe place to wait before heading off to school. It's great that the school is able to utilize the parking lot early in the morning for a worth while cause without disturbing their daily routine. This location is great...... there's lots of parking, it's appears to be a safe area and very accessible to the freeway. Thank you Pearl Ridge Elementary for helping to keep our children safe.

Just want to shout out to the Campbell Sabers football team for a wonderful season . Just coming…read moreup a little short making it the State finals . Congrats to our highly recruited QB Sagapolutele for being the top QB in the state . Making Ewa Beach proud and Saber Nation . Also to coach Darren Johnson for another wonderful season . Cheeewooo

Great staff, but facility is lacking, the P building's a/c doesn't work and is suffocating to say…read morethe least, but the teachers are some of the best. Shout out to Mr.Baker

Halau Ike O Puuloa this is basically the Hawaiian Help/Student Center of Leeward Community College…read more Located right next to the babysitting center place on the right hand side of campus in the DA building. Not to sure about the hours of operation I'm guessing between the realms of 8AM-5 or 6 PM. I came here two years ago, and let me tell you that they have drastically changed! Maybe because of more hawaiian organizations helping or whatever they have gotten a lot of more funding and a lot more students becoming active in their Halau a long with other activities and services that they provide for the Hawaiian people a long with non-native hawaiian students. One thing though you shouldn't be shame. Just go in and ask for help, like everything college is. Your on your own until you open up your mouth to seek what you need and want. They have great services here: The Hawaiian Club called Kahiau. the Faculty Adviser is Tracie Ku'uipo Losch email:tlosch@lcc.hawaii.edu if you need more information on that. Ho'oulu which is a Native Hawaiian Career and Technical Education Program which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education to ALU LIKE Inc. Which helps you further yourself and academic goals while your in school but this one you need to be hawaiian. This one has requirements every semester. Ke Ala 'Ike The Natie Hawaiian Excellence Program which is a program throught your years at LCC. While this one you just need a certain amount of requirements till graduation. & this one you don't need to be hawaiian. All in all I like this place. The people are very kind. They have laptops that you can utilize a long with free printing services as long as you sign in and their own counselors that you can utilize to your advantage as well as the other counselors that they have at LCC to assist you in the journey of fullfilment. LOL

Halau Ike O Puuloa had definitely helped me out financial and academically during my years at…read moreLeeward. The staff take their jobs to a whole new level as they help each student on personal but very professional basis. The councilor (Piikea) is a very good academic advisor and will make sure you are on the right track if you are lost in any way. Go see her if you need to see a GOOD councilor. As a Native Hawaiian, I believe that it is great that a service like this is being offered to not only Hawaiians, but the whole student body at Leeward Community College (the biggest CC with the highest Hawaiian enrollment). The environment is very relaxing, a great place for a lunch break or to study. They also have FREE LAPTOP RENTALS and FREE PRINTING (just dont print a book). If you are ever on campus, check this place out! It will definitely get you on the right path to get your life started!