Major General William R Shafter Elementary School

Posted: February 7, 2024

Posted: February 7, 2024

Posted: February 7, 2024

Posted: February 7, 2024

Posted: February 7, 2024

Posted: February 7, 2024

Posted: February 7, 2024

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!!

Posted: January 24, 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024

I wish I could give this school less than one star.

I went to pick my boys up from school, and only my first grader got in the car. The teachers and faculty said Mmy kindergartener had been in class, but did not know where he was.

Long story short, my KINDERGARTENER was somehow allowed to walk off campus after school. My car riding FIVE YEAR OLD, was not waiting in the cafeteria with the other car riders.
Only by the grace of God did he make it home in one piece. He walked 1.5 miles UPHILL in the POURING rain.
I am asking everyone to feel the fear we faced. What if it had been your child? What if we hadn't found him??
Thankfully he was able to walk home and get inside.
This is absolutely unacceptable and pure negligence on the part of the school.

No one was ever held responsible, no one faced repercussions or losing their jobs.
This was not an isolated incident.
Not a week later I watched as they had to chase down a bus and retrieve a child who's parent was in the "car rider" lane.

DO NOT SEND YOU LR CHILDREN TO THIS SCHOOL

Posted: January 24, 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024

This school is absolutely irresponsible with your children. They have lost kids who are in carpool not once but 3 times in the past two years! This is a small school on an army base. The principal could care less and does nothing to rectify the problem and make sure your kids are safe
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Oh no

Posted: February 5, 2022

Posted: February 5, 2022

Posted: February 5, 2022

Posted: February 5, 2022

Posted: February 5, 2022

Posted: February 5, 2022

Posted: February 5, 2022

This school is horrible. Since covid the quality of teaching and teachers has gone down hill. My son now has severe fluency delays because of the mask policy that was in place. They made him do speech therapy on zoom at the school with a mask on. The teacher during the school being shut down held baby showers and pot licks for themselves while children were banned from the school grounds. Pulling my children from this toxic environment was the best thing we ever did as parents. Also the amount of homework they will send home is insane, prepare yourself for at least 2 hours a day of that.

Posted: February 5, 2022

Posted: April 12, 2018

Posted: April 12, 2018

Posted: April 12, 2018

Posted: April 12, 2018

April 18th is "Purple Up! For Military Kids” and Shafter Elementary's enrollment is nearly 95% military kids. Yet principal higa will not allow them to wear purple on this day instead of the blue, yellow or black school t- shirts (uniforms). This shows her continued disregard for the community that she works in. This is a day for communities to wear purple to show support and thank military children for their strength and sacrifices. Throughout the month, the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity encourages schools to plan special events to honor military children or incorporate the themes of the month into the classroom. She has planned nothing for her students and stonewalled the PTO's efforts to participate in this national day of recognition.

Posted: July 5, 2017

My child was bullied all year and nothing was done.

Posted: July 5, 2017

I don't even know who's in charge there. There is no communication.

Posted: July 5, 2017

My child tested gifted and talented in our previous district and they had a program. Here the most they do to accommodate her is to have her help her teacher organize her files.

Posted: July 5, 2017

They talk a good game but really nothing is done unless the parent personally gets involved.

Posted: July 5, 2017

Its terrible. I am so tempted to pull my child out and put her in private school. Its scandalous that children in the military are subjected to such a terrible school.

Posted: July 5, 2017

The amount of homework is incredible. My child is a straight A student and it takes hours to do homework.

Posted: July 5, 2017

My child's teacher was pretty good, but with 27 other students, how much can she really meet each child's needs.

Posted: June 10, 2017

Posted: June 10, 2017

There is no accountability within the school structure. The administration will not discipline consistently and blames the teachers for student behavior.

Posted: June 10, 2017

The PTO approved funds at the beginning of this school year for the 6th grade promotion party at Dave & Busters. After receiving the funds & without seeking concurrence from the PTO or the parents of 6th grade students, the principal allowed the students to choose between having a bowling party or Rumors Nightclub w/out parents. This lack of communication not only resulted in the misuse of parent donations but placed parents in the position of denying their student the ability to celebrate with their peers because the location was not age appropriate. It prevented parents from being able to celebrate with their child as would have been possible if the event was held elsewhere or the principal had allowed parents to be chaperones. When initially questioned, the principal said Dave & Busters had a scheduling conflict. However, other schools were able to make reservations at a later time with no trouble. As other parents voiced their displeasure, the principal said continued complaints would result in canceling the year-end events completely. Some of our concerns were the principal forbidding parent participation as chaperones at this outing conducted during school hours. The week before the event, the principal banned student phones at the event to prevent picture taking. This increased the perception of something to hide from the parents. The principal said she did not want students posting on social media during the event but the teachers would take pictures to share. When we asked about pictures from the event, we learned that one of the 6th grade teachers was not only taking pictures but streaming live to her personal Facebook account throughout the event. We are still waiting to see the pictures taken at the event. While we acknowledge that we signed a release for our child’s picture to be taken, this was with the understanding it was for school use such as yearbooks, not a teacher’s personal use especially when students were not allowed to take phones for the exact same reason. We were also assured that the dancing cages (“stripper cages” as some students called them) at this nightclub would be off limits or removed for the event. Our child told us that some of the school staff danced in them to show off in front of the students. A number of other parents informed us that their children witnessed the same behavior.

Posted: May 18, 2017

Seriously the school is laughable, they allow things to happen with little or no reprucussions

Posted: May 18, 2017

They do not respect out of the box thinking. They like pencil and paper.

Posted: May 18, 2017

Leadership is a joke! They cannot keep their answers straight.

Posted: May 18, 2017

No support for kids. Local kids are treated like prizes while military are the scum

Posted: May 18, 2017

Posted: May 18, 2017

Children in 6th grade only have spelling packets after the real teacher left.

Posted: May 18, 2017

The school has different rules for different people. The admin cannot get their act together. Our child's teacher was not qualified and the principal did the report cards. This came about after a wonderful teacher was driven out.
Funny one good teacher after another leaves and puppets remain. Shame on admin and their lies.
The school has little to offer kids, over crowded classrooms, eating outside since admin turned cafeteria into to a classroom instead of using the computer lab. (School is 1 to 1 computers.) Pets get what they want while others leave.

Posted: February 23, 2017

Was a constant fight to get a IEP correct for my son. Also when moving they purposely sat on his school records while we are out of state so my son couldn't start school in his new state. I would not suggest putting a special needs kid in this school.

Posted: January 27, 2017

Posted: January 27, 2017

Posted: January 27, 2017

Posted: November 28, 2016

The previous post is correct that the school is only doing well because of the military families. The school's minimal extracurricular activities were reduced without notice at the beginning of the school year due to a lack of interest by the staff. The students for the sole remaining robotics team were selected in secret just 2 weeks into school year instead of holding tryouts for those interested. The school closed their library for the year to create another classroom with only a couple days notice and then closed the cafeteria on a Monday with notice being given the Friday before. The children are forced to eat outside on the ground unless their teachers let the students eat in the classroom with them. While 4 portable classrooms have been sitting unused for over a year. The school said they hope both will be open by August 2017.

Posted: November 28, 2016

Posted: November 28, 2016

Posted: November 28, 2016

Posted: November 28, 2016

Posted: November 28, 2016

50/50 it depends who you get for a teacher

Posted: November 28, 2016

Posted: June 23, 2016

Posted: June 23, 2016

Posted: June 23, 2016

Doesnt support military families even though on a military installation. Residences on shafter were lied to when they said could keep our children in shafter elem.

Posted: June 23, 2016

Parks residences on shafter were given the option to move into brand new housing on tripler. None that applied for the GE to cont. At shafter got approval. Every single one was denied. This school doesnt support military families at all. After more than 2 years at shafter we are required to move schools even though live 10 mins away.

Posted: December 16, 2015

The school administration does not support military families and is out of touch with their needs. What makes this school great are the Military families not the administration. We make great sacrifices for our country and we only expect a little in return for our families. This is not a personal attack on the administration because they had the authority and opportunity to change the situation which is described below. This is an honest thread that needs to be heard and read. Military families were given an opportunity to move into new housing at Tripler village from old cramped housing (10 mins away but not in this schools zone). The Principal would not allow affected students to remain in the school for the remainder of the tour (1.5years on avg) or grant a geographical exception. This impacted only 10 students. This shows how out of touch the administration is with the needs of the military family. They are not concerned with how often children change schools and the toll that takes on them. The concern is with the current over enrollment of the school, 10 students was not asking much and the situation would have leveled out in less than 2 years. The administration did however allow students to remain until the end of the current year but by the time most families move into new homes, that "generous" offer would equate to 1-2 months most. There is no reason why an exception could not have been made to allow the children to remain until they PCS in less than 2 years. The school servicing Tripler village is also crowded and the student to teacher ratio is about the same. There is no team work or logic with the decision making. Be very cautious when asking for something exceptional with this school administration because they are only concerned with their own agenda.

Posted: December 8, 2014

I have to agree with what the others are saying. My son started first grade this year and overall he's had a wonderful experience. Coming from Germany, and having to switch from 4 different schools in under two years can have a negative impact. My son has excelled dramatically in less than 5 months! Thanks to his teachers! Schools academic foundation is a step-up from others. They offer a robotics club and YMCA after school program on their campus. Principal, counselor and the rest of the staff are very involved. From safety to academics there one-step ahead of other surrounding schools. Thanks for taking care of our Military families!

Posted: November 11, 2014

It's a great school. I highly recommend it. From the principal to the staff to the teacherstore everyone very involved. It's like a private school only it's public school. We came from fort riley an a private school st xaviers catholic school. It's not as personable as catholic school was but I've never seen a principal doing traffic control twice daily like here at shafter elementary school.

Posted: November 23, 2012

We have been involved with Shafter for 5 years and I have so much awesome things to say about the staff at the school. The teachers are easily accessible and sincerely care about my kids. I am blessed with the staff and can not say one bad thing about them. They work closely with the kids with a passion rather than "just a job" and it hows. Its as if my kids go to a private school though its a public school. If I had any concerns they were address right away. Im not sure about the person who posted a rating earlier -- but I love this school and I only wish it went to a higher grade than 6th. I will be looking for a private school after my son finishes 6th grade. I am in awe of Shafter and would and do tell everyone how great they are. Thank you to the staff at Shafter who are very personable!

Posted: November 19, 2012

Pick up/drop off is very important because kids are running around everywhere and pushing each other into the street! That is a HUGE concern! The principal avoids all issues and I guess only helps out with the special needs children, which is good because the students are getting beat up being in the same class as special ed kids. They'll be working on classwork and get a book thrown at their head from a "special needs student" because they are in the same classroom as everyone else. My kids used to love school until they came here.

Posted: May 6, 2012

There are more important things to worry about with your kids going to school then whether or not you have to park your car when dropping your kids off (in reference to another parent's comment). I'm grateful for the MPs who stand out in front of the school as I certainly feel my kid is safer for it. The teachers and staff are extremely caring and professional. My son is a first grader with special needs and his teacher couldn't be more incredible! The principle, Ms. Martin, is outstanding, as is the entire office staff!