Red Hill Elementary School

My niece just started here and so far her parents and our village of supporters did not leave our first PTA with great enthusiasm. Very disappointed with one of the PTA committee members derogatory remarks towards military families. Her mom shut that comment down when the member continued speaking shady over military families and their kids. I personally did not appreciate it but hoping for better outcome for this school semester.

Personally, I feel that this school is great. There are many events hosted so students can connect with the faculty and parents. The staff are nice and know how to enforce safety within the school. My child has only been here for one year and I am enjoying my time here in Hawaii. The teachers keep in touch with the parents via Class Dojo and are quick to respond to an issue. My son hasn't been complaining and he too thinks the school is fun, safe and an indeed favorable school to attend. However, I would like it if the pick-up process would be less hectic because it can take up to 15 minutes just to locate your child. However, situations like these are rare, and I feel like overall, Shafter Elementary is a decent school to attend for military families!!

The school’s website is always terribly outdated.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 The text books, if they have any, are many times old & outdated like 1980’s! Many teachers just wing it with wrk sheets or something they got off the internet like “teachers pay teachers” website!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!!

If you’re a parent or guardian looking for a school, this one particular school is not for your child. I will be listing one flaw (or more) of each grade to tell you why this is not the right school. Preschool does not have any flaws. It has great teachers there who really give a head-start in parenting because they teach how to brush your teeth, how to use the bathroom, etc.Kindergarten is the same as Preschool; it has a great teacher who enforces good behavior through a sort of reward system.Now this is where it starts to deteriorate.The 1st grade teacher doesn’t have full control of the class, so the students take advantage of that. I have seen one always punching or aggressively hugging the 6th graders. The 2nd grade has a similar problem with 1st grade, having them break the dress code and typical rules stated in our handbook.The 3rd grade teacher used to be pretty mean. However, I believe that they has turned over a new leaf and now very seldom is mean to the current 3rd graders.4th grade has no flaws in my opinion. The teacher puts the fun in learning by engaging the students to learn with relatable topics. They are always available to speak to students about anything personal. They are currently one of my favorite teachers.Now here is 5th grade. The 5th grade teacher is truly unreliable. From what I have observed, she has took control of some teachers and the way they teach their students. Her methods of teaching are very dumb and can affect the student’s mental health. I am a victim of her acts. She’d make me cry because I felt so embarrassed. She made me think that I was stupid, dumb, and not worth it for this world. She makes me put on this mask that prevents me from being my true self when she was around. Sometimes, I would just fake being sick in order to avoid her class. What really annoyed me was how she treated her students. I saw how she treated this one particular student badly. She’d treat them as if they were their grades. Favoritism. That was what she did. She also feels embarrassed that students that graduated from her grade weren’t doing so well in the next grade. Though, whenever she says that, I always think this: “Why are you embarrassed? You never taught us about anything. You always rant on about your children becoming successful! You know, we should feel embarrassed that we even had you as a teacher! You always say that ‘I care about your future’ but you do you care about mental health? NO!” (TBC)