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Hi - I wanted to start a thread on just the topic of mainlander's kids in Kauai, and any real-life experiences...
I have a 3 and 6 year old. Considering moving to Kauai for only a couple years...not because of island fever or anything other than its just our plan. So they would be in kindergarten, and 2nd&3rd grade while we are there. We love Kauai and have visited there about 15x. So we know we love vacationing there with children, but wanting more information on living there with children.
So, your experiences with the following??
Were your children treated as SIGNIFICANTLY outcast? I believe this can happen anywhere, but wondering if it is as obscenely so as I have heard in Hawaii...specifically Kauai.
I have heard it's 30%ish native / 30%ish asian / 30%ish caucasian distribution on other islands - how about in Kauai? If locals really are that unfriendly, are there enough other friends for my children to find?
Are the public schools in Kauai truly less quality than mainland public schooling? How much so? In what ways?
Stupid question: Are local surfers truly that nasty to mainlanders, and would there be any reason to think that would affect a 3 and 6 year old - if they're not out surfing??
Are drugs/meth an issue in Kauai? for this age group?
What else related to young children should I consider in regards to Kauai?
Odd question. Wouldn;t all the children be local if they are living on Hawaii? Your percentages are also out of wack because anyone from any pacific region who is not round eyes whites are lumped as "locals" even if they just got off the boat from another country. Even hispanics on Hawaii are often thought of as 'locals" based on looks and not on race or ethnics. You have a arab and even they will be thought of as some "local" because of looks even if they are a tourist. A visitor from Tonga looks at some white mainlander wrong and bet that mainlander will accuse the "locals" of stink eye. Nobody knows who is a local or not unless they know the person so lots of bad things said about locals could be done by nonlocals, but most people are just to dumb to know the difference so they go on and on about locals this or that.
Being that young you really don't have a thing to worry about. If they were older and in middle or high school then that would be a different story. I don't know where you get the 30% Asian number but I see very few of them here.
My son and niece were both semi-'outsiders' in their small, private school in NY. Not sure why, exactly - she's just not a 'follower' and he was more mature than his peers in some ways and less mature in others. She wasn't 'bullied' there, but he was a few times.
She came here and started high school at Island School in '07. She immediately made a very good friend (another 'sort of' outsider, both haole but the friend had lived here for most of her life). She's now a junior and is having a blast, gets along pretty well with everyone, has never been 'bullied' or picked on too much. She's really smart and is doing well in science, Chinese and most of her other subjects. She's in chorus, has been in a couple of plays, is in the Civil Air Patrol (and learning to fly planes), and was the star 'pilot' of the KauaiBots robotics team which rocked at the regional competition. She and her friend have had some teasing about "being gay" which, unfortunately and sadly, seems to be the chief way teens attempt to upset each other these days (at least here). The adults at the school hate it but just can't seem to make any headway with convincing the kids that calling each other "gay" as an insult is NOT OK.
My son came here as a 7th grader in '08. He got picked on a bit his first year by the other boys, again, mostly being called "gay" as an insult. Not that he is gay (at least, not that we know of), apparently they all call each other that as a put down. It must be really annoying (probably a worse word than that) for one of their teachers who is gay, but that's beside the point. As far as I know, my son was never once teased or put down because he's a haole. There are all sorts of kids there - white, black, Asian, mixed (lots of mixed). Race does not seem to be an issue for the kids, and I'm sure it's the same in the elementary grades. He gets along with most of the kids now, but the boys still all pick on each other. He too is doing very well at Island School, getting fantastic grades, swimming competitively, helping with robotics and loves to dive with the school dive club.
At Island School (private, non-religious, pre-K to 12), there are lots of kids who come (and go) from the mainland. There is a little bit of the usual 'new kid in town' stuff, but for kids in elementary grades, I think there would be zero problems. It's going to depend more on the kids, whether they happen to find friends, just as in any new school.
I don't know about the public schools. I see the high school kids at swim competitions and other activities, and they all seem to treat each other civilly, within reasonable bounds for normal, inter-school rivalry.
Public school kids here get fewer instructional hours than most schools on the mainland. They have 'furlough Fridays' when there's no school due to state budget shortfalls. I have heard that test scores are low, but improving. Probably depends a lot on the individual school and teachers. Many people feel it is prudent to send their kids to private school, and there are also a fair number of home-schoolers.
I don't think little kids would get grief from anybody at the beach, but you'll want to teach them to respect the surfers, and stay away from where they'll be coming in on the waves. Kids that small would probably be on a different part of the beach anyway. But as they grow, they'll learn to give way to the surfers and boarders riding in.
Meth? for the 3-6 age group? I sure hope not!!!! If it is, then you'll DEFINITELY want to send them to Island School!
Of all the public schools on Kauai "Kapaa Elementary School" is the worst IMO. My sons went there and I volunteered alot there. The racist crap toward whites isn't as bad as it was but it still is pretty strong in the Kappa Elementary. My youngest is a red head and the boys would start to pick on him so I taught my son the chicken kick to the testes in unison with the head chop. They stayed his friends after that.
Back in the days of Frank Fasi (his wife is Filipino) large numbers of people from the Philippines came over to Kauai (I mean the whole block). As a result, the Filipino population of Kauai is around 67 to 70% of the island currently.
This article is pretty good at pinpointing where Hawaii is in relation to the other states. We aren't the lowest though we're still in the bottom tier with scores averages equal to 9 other states. We're high in the bottom tier. weewhh thankfully. Very good article for you to read.
There safety; you know how to do that. Be close and involved with the school and welcome
PacificFlights - I wasn't trying to offend anyone - wouldn't you know someone would take me for being politically incorrect. I am merely trying to get a few answers for something I am curious about. I think most would be able to deduce what I mean by "locals" through my comments. I apologize if you think I was being offensive and didn't use the correct lingo -- I have taken my numbers and information from other threads on here and I never claimed anything as absolute- hello, THUS my "ISH" after the percentages. Furthermore, I said 30%ish NATIVE -- not local. As for people walking around too dumb to know better - there seem to be an awful lot of them. I think there's something to say about that, and that's why I was asking my "odd" question.
I think King Kaumualii is worse, but that's just me. I would send your kids to Kalaheo or Koloa if you can.
And just out of curiosity, are drugs are a problem for 3-6 year olds anywhere, as your question suggests?
You will find that the population varies depending on where you are. If you move to Kekaha, you will have plenty of Hawaiians and Filipinos. If you were to move to Kalaheo, you would have mostly haoles and portuguese. If you were to move to Lihue, population would be more balanced. Hawaii is a melting pot and pure Hawaiians are few and far between- most Hawaiians are chinese, japanese, filipino and everything else mixed. That's why local is a more common term to use.
they are giving lollipops and candies laced with drugs to children, yes, maybe not to a 3-4 year old, but to 7-8 year olds -- it's not unimaginable.
Any proof? This seems like an urban legend that will never go away. My mom warned me in school that this was happening. That was a long time ago. Not saying you or my mom are liars I've just never seen a police report that this is truley happening.
If you value your children's education either place them in private school or don't move here, no excuses.
PS: I live on Kauai
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