Makalapa Elementary School

Our children connected with their teachers immediately and our family appreciated the community events and participated in the Amazing Shake and VEX competitions.

My kids have been at Nimitz for 2 years so far and we have had very good experiences. There are a few programs and events that are special through out the year. The fall festival at the school has always been fun and interactive. The holiday program is memorable. Recently they have free after school programs for different interests from art, gardening, Japanese genki etc. That the teachers volunteer to teach. The school counselor is very delightful. I think the nurse gets tired of seeing my accident prone son sometimes but the staff always makes the kids and parents feel welcomed. Seems there is quite a bit of testing for my kids but they do well and I believe they are getting what is needed to grade out well. I like the fact that there is some Hawaiian culture within the education. I feel my kids are friendly with everybody in the whole school. Very grateful for my kids to thrive here.

The school hires inexperience teachers. They only have permits. Even teachers that are teaching sped. With little to no experience. Also the sped teacher dose their best, but with little experience and little to no help. Teaching multiple grades in one classroom.The principal isn't on top of thing. Also never calls you back! I will say the vp Tries her best! They have no funds to make the school better.They really need to improve their sped program!

The school’s website is always terribly outdated. They seldom use technology! The text books, if they have any, are many times old & outdated like 1980’s! Many teachers just wing it with wrk sheets or something they got off the internet like “teachers pay teachers” website! No parent involvement at all for years! Not surprising given- Administration just likes to use the latest educational jargon but not once will you hear “how does it effect student learning” bec they only care about forms & checking boxes regardless of whether it is actually happening or actually being effective! I honestly have never seen a worse educational system as this! The classrooms look like they’re fire hazards! It’s so bad you feel sorry for them but then you realize it’s easy to fix! It’s called learning & understanding the best educational practices, accountability and genuine caring about the students!!