The best Oahu Elementary Schools are?

[Balad1]

There are no DOD schools in Hawaii, all schools are run by the Hawaii Department of Education.

I would think you would be better off with the kids going to the schools on base, as a whole they are better.

As someone else recommended military housing here is pretty nice. Much is brand new and privately managed. Navy Ford Island has some real nice communities on it.

PS: I guess you are aware that Hickamm and Pearl are now a joint base.

[divaskid]

I was born and raise here and went to public school and yes the schools here do pretty much suck to say the least. The best you will get is average, but most are below.
Having said that the early age group isn't so bad for public school. They'll pretty much learn all the basics like everywhere else. I think the grades after elementary is where the education pretty much stops. If you feel that your child isn't getting enough from the school you decide on, you can always do extra curiculum after school. There are many programs for this. I know many parents who do this so that their kids can keep up with mainland standards, so that when they go back they don't have to be held back a grade or two.

As far as racism, you won't escape that. Its just a fact of life here, especially in school when kids are as usual, cruel and mean. If its not being white, it'll just be something else....thats just the way kids are. But here, the haole teasing is an issue.
I can say though that I lived through it myself and as long as you give your child a good perspective on why these kids are doing it and keep their self esteem up, they will make it through it a better and stronger person. If anything it'll make them more compationate towards others. As much as I wanted to die as a child, I don't think I would go back and change it.

As far as where to live, I also would reccomend Kailua as a place to live. I lived there most of my life and love it there. Even though its mostly white there, you wont' escape the issue of racism in the schools, but it will be probably be the least place you'll experience it Other then if you stay on base of course. I would recommend Aikahi Elementary if you decide on Kailua. I hear that this one and Kaelepulu are good schools in the area.

Good luck!

[Waianaegirl]

My 2 cents is that I grew up on Oahu, and we were in private schools the whole time. Still dealt with racisim. We had mostly white teachers, but our principal was Hawaiian, and he was awesome.
The kids were burtal (yes, even in Kindergarten) and you know that comes from their parents. We have Samoan, White and Japanese friends, even Portugese, but Hawaiians were hard to befriend.
My uncle was stationed to HIckam AFB, and his kids were half asian, and they had absolutely no trouble at all. Maybe because of their looks, or maybe because of a lot of military, who knows, but all that being said, I do miss Hawaii a lot.
You may leave Hawaii, but Hawaii never leaves you.
Just be supportive of your kids **IF** there is an issue with race. Not all whites have issues with it. We did. Some of our friends had none what soever.
The only reason why we do not live there now is because I do have kids, and I don't want them to have to deal with it. Plus the cost of living is high. We lived pretty darn poor over there, and don't want my kids to have to deal with that either. Once they leave the nest, I want to go back, though!!

[Parent_Oahu]

Public elementary schools on Oahu are some of the worst in the U.S. Unfortunately, access to private schools on Oahu is difficult if you lack connections. Admissions to Oahu’s private schools tend to be extremely competitive, and frustrating.

The Montessori Community School is relatively inexpensive and admissions is not competitive, but the facilities are appalling (dilapidated houses in a parking lot), teachers tend to be younger, and the administration is, well, disorganized at best and at times a bit snooty.

Good luck to families w/ young children who are new to Oahu.

[claybridges]

I wanted to correct something I've seen in the Oahu forums. As of this posting (2012), the Hickham AFB info page states:

There are no DoD schools in Hawaii.

That's from a dod.mil address, so I'm guessing it's authoritative. It appears there are extremely-near-post schools, and while it would be unsurprising for these to be exceptional in many ways, they are part of the HI DOE, per the DoD sources I've seen.

FWIW, the post I'm replying to in this thread is from 2007, so things may have been different then.

[LMMKAT]

Originally Posted by claybridges

I wanted to correct something I've seen in the Oahu forums. As of this posting (2012), the Hickham AFB info page states:

That's from a dod.mil address, so I'm guessing it's authoritative. It appears there are extremely-near-post schools, and while it would be unsurprising for these to be exceptional in many ways, they are part of the HI DOE, per the DoD sources I've seen.

FWIW, the post I'm replying to in this thread is from 2007, so things may have been different then.

This is correct. There are even schools on the military bases (Ft. Shafter Elem, Hickam, etc) but they are run by Hawaii DOE, not DoD. It's just that they are conviently located for military folks living on those bases.