Moving to Oahu with 2 young teens - neighborhood/schools question (Honolulu: transplants, condos)

[pansygal]

Have two kids in middle school/high school. Will be moving to
Oahu from mainland within a year but am undecided on best place to live on island for schools. I am familiar with Oahu from tourist standpoint, but am not sure where would be best for us to live for good neighborhood and schools (i.e. low crime, good schools, and middle class housing). Am thinking about Kailua, or possibly around Diamond Head. Advice would be appreciated. Thanks for any help you can give.

[hotzcatz]

Kailua, Diamond Head, Hawaii Kai are all good areas for transplants. For good schools, there's always Punahou. T'ain't cheap, though!

[islandgirlej]

Kailua is good but I think even there they will have a hard time (that age and being haole) just be prepared. Best of luck

[Dr. Vox]

I second Punahou. Phenomenal school in all aspects from sports, to extracurricular activites to top of the line academics. This is where President Barack Obama graduated from, so you know its of high quality.

Next would be Iolani School. This is also an excellent school. It isn't quite as well known as Punahou but will offer excellent academics and a good safe enviornment.

Sadly, I have to agree with the above poster, at that age and being haole they are going to expereince some tougher sides to Hawaiian living. That can pretty much be erased, if you go to Punahou or one of the other top tiered schools on the island, but as the above poster has said...."that ain't cheap"( this will cost you on average of about $12,000-$15,000 a year for one of your children to attend). Again, if that price is much too steap and you can't send your kids to a private institution, I would forget abut it all together.
The Big Island of Hawai'i has one of the finest schools for grades K-12 with Hawai'i Prepatory Academy. Its very acdameically rigorous from what I have heard, and is on par with Punahou School. Hawaii Prep is on a much LARGER campus, and has a much more rural feeling to it, which I personally can say is very conducive to a student's learning. The less distrations the better! Hawaii Prep is a boarding school, so if you want you could send them there, but that would cost you to send one child there, about what most peoples household incomes would be for an entire year. Also, Hawai'i Prep Academy keeps them in school on average about 80 days more than standard Hawaiian public schools.

Here are the websites. I personally think Hawai'i Prep has the more beautiful campus, but that's just my personal opinion.

Hawai- Hawai'i Prepatory Academy- Big Island, Hawaii

Punahou School- Punahou School - Oahu, Hawaii

Iolani School- Iolani School- Oahu, Hawaii

Parker School- Big Island, Hawaii - This school is famous for having Olympic Gold Medalist Matt Biondi as the Head Swim Coach.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Pansygal, unless you have extraordinary reasons for moving at this time, I would suggest that you wait for the youngest to be out of school. Moving to a new school, new neighborhood, new friends is hard enough on a teenager, but please very carefully consider what people are telling you about the impacts of moving to Hawaii. If you do a forum search and look at what people have posted regarding schools in Hawaii, you will see that what is being told you here is the truth. The only schools worth sending your kids to are the ones listed above. Don't move here unless you could afford one of those schools. Not only are most of the schools far behind schools on the mainland academically, but there are problems with acceptance of haoles. Add that to the normal teenage angst, and you are just setting yourselves up for problems.

[Yankeemama]

Everything everyone else just said. Seriously. I would do more research on this forum. There is a ton of info. Good luck to you and your family.

[cagary]

You haven't mentioned why you are moving to Hawaii.

Unless you have scored an incredible, high paying job that would allow you to send your kids to a good school, you really should think twice about the move.

If you have only an average paying job lined up (or heaven forbid, no job lined up) and are planning to send you kids to the local public school, (for their sake), don't do it.

[Dr. Vox]

^ There is also Pacific Buddhist Academy. I don't know what your religious background may be, but this would be a great place to have your kids in a very non-threatening enviornment(does it get any kinder, and gentler than a Buddhist enviornment? This is the nation's FIRST Shinto high school. I don't know what your religious background may be, but this is also in Oahu, and is VERY academically rigorous, but at the same time, introspective in their teaching. It sounds like it would be a great place to learn as well.

Pacific Buddhist Academy- ::Pacific Buddhist Academy: A Buddhist High School - Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii

I would definetely add that to your list of schools as well. Don't let the Buddhist term scare you. They are a wonderful group of people, who tend to be some of the most introspective people I have ever met.

I would also want to point out that at $9,000 a year( below what most private schools on Oahu will cost you) there are also a plethora of grants and financial aid available to needy people, that is probably going to be your best bet for a rigorous academic education for your children, in a good , clean and safe enviornment.

[pansygal]

I have read everyone's comments with great interest. What type of discrimination would my haole children likely encounter in a middle class public school, such as in Hawaii Kai? I don't see how it would be any different than in other schools which have mixed races. We will be starting our own business, so we'd be self employed. But we would definitely not be able to afford $30K (total/year) for private school. That is just crazy money.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

I did a forum search and saw that people recommended Hawaii Kai for schools. Then I went on realtor.com and looked up the price of houses there. WOW. Out of 196 listings, 170 were priced over $500,000. Most of the properties listed under $500,000 were townhouses and condos; in fact only one single family home was listed.

Sure hope that new business you are starting makes you a good income!

Hopefully some of the other posters who have shared their experiences with discrimination in the public schools will chime in with their advice. It's a lot different from mainland schools that have mixed races.