Any comments on Ka'u High - good? or bad? (Honolulu: appointed, fit in)

[bornintheusa1966]

We're a mainland family, considering a move to the Ka'u area of the Big Island with our 16 year old. Does anyone have any first hand experience/knowledge of Ka'u High in Pahala? Especially any mainland transplants?

I've read/researched all I can on the net, but first hand experience is what I'm really after. Is this school better or worse than any others? Is ther really any other choice - without moving to a different part of the BI?

My son is a bright (mostly A' and B's), friendly kid, who gets along with pretty much everyone. He intends to go on to a four year college and/or university after high school.

Any thoughts? (all answers appreciated - both good and bad)

Thanks!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

We don't have any direct experience, but we have friends with kids in the Ka'u schools (both elementary and middle) and they are very unhappy. The criteria for being a teacher is very low, and generally teachers have no control in the classrooms. A lot of kids have no support from their parents and therefore no motivation to do well. I'm sure that some kids do get a decent education, but it does require a lot of parental involvement.

[cynmkolohe]

Aloha born,

I don't know of any regluar participants on this forum who have children in the High School in Ka'u.

Have you read the No Child Left Behind reports on mySchool? Go to: Ka'u-- School information and click on the latest School Accountability reports. This will show you levels of proficency by subject area and teacher certification stats.

Hopefully some Ka'u residents can add more information!

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by bornintheusa1966

We're a mainland family, considering a move to the Ka'u area of the Big Island with our 16 year old. Does anyone have any first hand experience/knowledge of Ka'u High in Pahala? Especially any mainland transplants?

I've read/researched all I can on the net, but first hand experience is what I'm really after. Is this school better or worse than any others? Is ther really any other choice - without moving to a different part of the BI?

My son is a bright (mostly A' and B's), friendly kid, who gets along with pretty much everyone. He intends to go on to a four year college and/or university after high school.

Any thoughts? (all answers appreciated - both good and bad)

Thanks!

Hopefully, you've read this series of articles in Honolulu Magazine. Since I was born and raised on the Big Island, I can't provide the perspective of a "mainland transplant" to Ka'u; however, many of my friends and relatives that attended Ka'u High School did not go to a four-year college or university after graduation.

[IntoTheMystic]

I would absolutely avoid sending a child to Ka'u. It will mostly be locals and they are tough enough on each other, never mind a new white kid from the mainland.

It's true that most teachers don't want to teach at Ka'u because of the location, reputation, and isolation. Most teachers will only be there either because they've been placed there (non-tenured) or because they are a local.

[Steve96785]

Aloha,
I see you've already received several standard put-downs of Ka'u High. Most of the comments are generally true of all schools in Hawaii. Depending on where on the mainland you are now, you will find several differences between your current school system and the Hawaii public system. If you are on the east coast, and in a good school system, you will be extremely disappointed with ours. If you are in a rural school in most of the western US you will see a lot of similarity in both the opportunities and challenges we present.

Hawaii, in general, has one of the shortest school days in the US. Our graduation standards no longer include any sort of exit exam, and while our average GPA is fairly high, our average students do not do very well on standardized tests such as the SAT. Teacher pay is low, the costs of living are high, many teachers are working two [or more] jobs just to stay afloat. The predominance of 'pigeon' [the local creole language] is a major hinderance to education, and our students [and most adults] have extremely limited vocabulary. Ka'u is no exception. The student population incudes many 'local' kids, new arrivals from the pacific islands, asia, mexico and lots of kids from the mainland. 20+ years ago, when I was the counselor at one of the feeder schools, I considered it my duty to help our 8th graders find alternate education because at that time Ka'u High was just not a safe place.

Today, I would have to say that the story is very different. I have taught science at a number of schools in the state, most on this island. That includes schools in Hilo, Kea'au, Mt. View as well as Ka'u. I have to say that Ka'u is currently the safest high school with the nicest student population I have encountered. I can not say that our average student scores the highest on standardized tests, or is the brightest I've ever encountered, but they are moving in that direction.

We have a relatively new principal who has a real heart for the students, and who is committed to help them reach for academic excellence. We have partnered with two local universities to help improve the academic options for our students and we are raising our standards well above those the state has in place. Our top students are able to go to 4-year colleges and do well. The fact that most of those top students are children of immigrants from either the mainland or asia tells us more about the parents of our local students and the state's generally low standards than the state administrators really want to hear.

As registrar of Ka'u High and Pahala Elementary, I interact with our staff pretty broadly. Yes, we are considered a 'hard to staff school' but so are all other schools on this side of the island. I don't know of a single teacher now with us who was placed here because they could not get hired at a 'better school, and I'm involved in nearly all of the job interviews. We just recently hired a new PE teacher with a PhD and National Certification. We had four excellent candidates for an opening in our English department. Our Spanish teacher has a PhD and is probably the most highly qualified in his subject in the state. He used to teach at both high school and university levels in California before moving here. We have an opening in our math department and are actively recruiting for someone who will teach calculus. There are a couple of weak spots in the faculty, but we're working to improve those areas.

Now, all of that said, we have a number of mainland transplants and some do very well while others struggle a great deal to fit in. The major factor that I can see is parental involvement and motivation. At 16, we are not going to have much of an impact on your son's personality or maturity. Those are probably pretty well set by now. Depending on his educational background, and that sounds pretty good, we should be able to help move him forward towards his goals. I've generally seen boys of his age find ways to fit in to any new community, whether it was here or in my own high school in New York many, many years ago. It will help immensely if he is involved in sports, but even students who are not have found ways to blend in. There are several summer programs that should provide an opportunity to get to know more of the kids, if you are moving at the end of the current school year.

I will be happy to send you a digital copy of our registration packet for next year so that you can see and select the options your son wants to pursue. It would help if you could fax a current transcript to our school 808-928-2092. I look forward to meeting you and your son and helping him transition into our community.

--Steve Stephenson
Registrar, Ka'u High and Pahala Elementary School

[duncan808]

simple, are you white? then no do not.
go to kealakehe best one there besides HPA but thats a private school
kealakehe remember that and even more so for pahoa even worse dont listen to anyone else who says otherwise. you will end up moving back

[SeppAloha]

Ka'u High or Konawaena High are both good High Schools that serve the Ka'u area. Ka'u High is in Pahala town, a small rural K-12 school. Unlike what some other posts may have said, the teachers are qualified, caring teachers. Since the Ocean View area has been expanding quickly, there are more and more transplants there, and the atmosphere has improved greatly. The whole "only locals allowed, watch your back" attitude will just get you in trouble,and is just not true if you are open to getting to know the local people and local habits. Most folks I know there, are good, honest and hard working people. Konawaena is another option, this high school is in Kealakekua, it is about 600-700 students, and a great teacher body.It has a modern computer lab, great athletic programs, and many extra-curricular activities.
I have subbed and worked at Konawaena, and know several students who live in Ocean View, I am currently working at Kealakehe High, but I am actually hoping to find a position at Ka'u High, as the work environment is so much better.
Pia

[mdand3boys]

Originally Posted by duncan808

simple, are you white? then no do not.
go to kealakehe best one there besides HPA but thats a private school
kealakehe remember that and even more so for pahoa even worse dont listen to anyone else who says otherwise. you will end up moving back

Having two children in the Pahoa School Complex, right now, I will have to disagree. I brought my two kids (6th and 9th) into Pahoa with much trepidation. I wanted them in HAAS but we were too late to get them in as they were full already.

Pahoa has made tremendous progress, especially in the fighting and attitudes that used to go with the school. The video camera system has made a big difference as has the change in attitude in the teachers towards bullying and fighting. So far, my 9th grader has reported one fight - between 2 local kids - and he said it wasn't even much of a fight.

[Sweetbeet]

All I have to add (being a recent transplant to Kauai, at the other end of the state) is that Ka'u has a kick-butt, brand new robotics team, that is here with us competing at the National Championships in Atlanta! An amazing accomplishment for a team of about 6 kids that live about an hour from the nearest Home Depot (if you know anything about robotics you'll understand why that's important). They were "rookie all-star" at the Regional championship in Honolulu, which (along with a lot of hard work and a not-insignificant amount of cash) got them to nationals.

So if your kid is into science/math/engineering, there is that opportunity for him/her. (I know nothing else about the school.)

p.s. - at the end of our first half-day of scoring matches, the Kauaibots are hanging in there - ranked 19th out of 86! Another day and a half of scoring matches. Not sure where Ka'u is, but they are in there trying. And nice kids, too - I stopped by their pit today to say hi.