Public Schools (Kailua, Waimea, Captain Cook: transplants, crime, mortgage)

[sharding737]

I know this has come up before and it seems the overall consensus of BI schools is pretty poor. With that being said can anyone offer any advice on what public schools are better than others and in what area. I am looking at a job in Kona area. We have one child going into 8th and one going into 11th. Not ruling private school out, but we would be limited on what we could afford and if we had to would send both to same one. We are looking at Captain Cook all the way up to Waimea. Job is right by airport so trying not to venture too far away. Thanks for the input! Coming out to the BI this week.

[Grassyknoll]

My child does not go to Kona area schools but I have hired a few people that brought their mainland families over. Their kids went to Konawaena in Captain Cook. Both the parents and their children were impressed with the school and the kids seemed to do well there.

[Nyfinestbxtf]

It’s all relative. The more affluent the area is, the better the school will appear. Is that true? Nope. My wife teaches title one schools, yet she has numerous students who are GAT (gifted and talented). She has tought in a couple states and in a couple areas. For instance, Connecticut has the best public school system in the US (according to them). Kids their just happen to do the best. Is that the result of the school? Does this school just happen to find and hire the best educators from around the nation? They don’t. They are no different from any other qualified educator. Their school is no different from any other public school,
Yet for some reason Connecticut is the best. It’s nonsense.

Hawaii has its issues because Hawaii does not produce teachers and does not pay its teachers in accordance to the cost of living. It’s not a comparable wage to many places. On top of that, the state is in the middle of nowhere and for someone who is looking to start a life and to teach is not very appealing. The problem with Hawaii public schools is basically most likely there is a unqualified babysitter in your kids 10th grade English class and no one cares. Kids don’t care about being there, parents don’t care about their kids being there, and the schools
Don’t care about them being there. So the only teachers who want to be there have a dream in their heads. I won’t lie, my wife will teach up until a certain time until we can find other jobs and she is done. She will only teach for another 8 years tops. Most likely 4 years imo. We have these dreams of moving there, but her teaching long time is not in the cards. A lot will have to do with administration.

Point is, I think you will find many good educators on the BI. The problem is, there will
be some unqualified people attempting to teach a class. Hawaii is not like some states out there. For instance just to be a substitute in Pennsylvania, you need to be a certified teacher. Most states are like that. In Hawaii you and I can teach a class and neither of us would know what in the world we are doing, yet we can teach.

[rya96797]

i think Konawaena is generallygood.

[rya96797]

Originally Posted by Nyfinestbxtf

Hawaii has its issues because Hawaii does not produce teachers and does not pay its teachers in accordance to the cost of living.

You can add to that that hawaii does not pay for teacher performance. The union ardently protects the worse performing teachers who make exactly the same amount as the best performing teachers. So the best teachers must be both internally motivated to help the kids to the best of their ability, despite poor pay and possible lack of support from parents, lack of support from administration, despite having to pay for supplies out of pocket for students, etc. A lot of good teachers get burnt out and give up, changing professions or moving to the mainland where they're compensated better.

For some reason this topic reminded me of this article. TLDR: Single mom struggles to survive as a 7 year elementary public school teacher with master's degree driving uber/lyft on the weekends on only pulling 55k/year before tax.

I even have help from my family — they send money every month if they can. But it shouldn’t be that way. Having a professional degree and being in education, I think that’s almost like a crime to not even be making $60,000 after seven years with a master’s. But I do my best.

https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/05/hi...0-in-mililani/

[sharding737]

Thanks for the replies. I think all teachers across the entire nation are underpaid. We have our own issues with the middle school my daughter currently goes to. She is autistic and we have addressed them numerous times over last 2 years about services. She just wants to learn. She is PADI certified and loves the ocean. This will probably be one of the determining factors if I take the job or not. Just trying to get some insight from folks who have kids in school on the big island. Thanks for the feedback.

[Nyfinestbxtf]

Originally Posted by rya96797

You can add to that that hawaii does not pay for teacher performance. The union ardently protects the worse performing teachers who make exactly the same amount as the best performing teachers. So the best teachers must be both internally motivated to help the kids to the best of their ability, despite poor pay and possible lack of support from parents, lack of support from administration, despite having to pay for supplies out of pocket for students, etc. A lot of good teachers get burnt out and give up, changing professions or moving to the mainland where they're compensated better.

For some reason this topic reminded me of this article. TLDR: Single mom struggles to survive as a 7 year elementary public school teacher with master's degree driving uber/lyft on the weekends on only pulling 55k/year before tax.



https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/05/hi...0-in-mililani/

Great article. If a teacher can’t afford to live in Hawaii, how are they going to be able to stay, especially if
you are a first year entry level teacher. The starting pay is $37,000. I don’t know how any person can afford to live on that salary anywhere, let alone in Hawaii. So yeah, if you can’t attract qualified teachers that’s a recipe for a dysfunctional education system. It’s going to fail. Paradise isn’t enough. People have to be able to afford to live in paradise. If Hawaii wants to fix its education system, they have to give financial incentive for people to move a quarter way around the world on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Like the article says, all you have are people trying to live a pipe dream and leave after a couple years when they can’t handle the cost of living. 10-15 teacher turnover rate per year for a school is insane. There is no consistency for the students.

Unless there is a second income going into the household, I’m not sure how anyone could do it. I think the teacher of the article stated her mortgage is $2100. $2100 on a $55K salary seems nearly impossible.

With the salary my wife would make there and my monthly pension I still wouldn’t want a $2100 mortgage.

If it wasn’t for my pension no way would we ever be able to consider moving to Hawaii.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Nyfinestbxtf

Great article. If a teacher can’t afford to live in Hawaii, how are they going to be able to stay, especially if
you are a first year entry level teacher. The starting pay is $37,000. I don’t know how any person can afford to live on that salary anywhere, let alone in Hawaii. So yeah, if you can’t attract qualified teachers that’s a recipe for a dysfunctional education system. It’s going to fail.

An easier solution is for transplants/dreamers to wait until the kids are 18+ to move.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

OP, there aren't very many of us on this forum who both live on the Big Island and have kids in the school system. You can tell where people live by looking in the light blue area at the top of their post. I bring this up because a lot of responses you get can be anecdotal and not from someone with real first hand knowledge.

I have neighbors whose kids went to Konawaena, and they seemed to like it. If it were me, however, I would wait until the junior in high school graduates. I would imagine that he/she is going to have trouble fitting in with one year left. And you really do need to do lots of research about the 8th grader with autism. I don't know anything about what programs may be available, but Konawaena and Kealakehe are good places to start. You might also post your question on a website called Konaweb since a lot of people who post there live in the Kailua-Kona area.

I agree with White Viper that this may not be such a good time for you to do this move.

[sharding737]

Thanks for the feedback. My wife has actually been in contact with a specific group on Facebook who have children on the spectrum in Big island schools and pros and cons. Definitely a lot to think about. And yes the 16 year old probably just a big of concern. We will have a lot to look at and discuss after our trip out this weekend. Thanks again for replies.