Hale Kula Elementary School

Posted: March 30, 2026

Posted: March 30, 2026

Posted: March 30, 2026

Posted: March 30, 2026

Posted: March 30, 2026

Posted: March 30, 2026

Posted: March 30, 2026

Posted: March 30, 2026

I adore that my two children, prek and 3rd grade are attending this school. Their teachers have been involved in their progression and facilitate a great learning environment.

Posted: October 29, 2025

Posted: October 29, 2025

Posted: October 29, 2025

Posted: October 29, 2025

Posted: October 29, 2025

Posted: October 29, 2025

Posted: October 29, 2025

Posted: October 29, 2025

Hearing the bad reputation of Hawaii schools are not as good as the Mainland one and that the testing results reflect this. I was weary putting my kids into the school, based on the review. But a lesson learned, not all you read is always true. Here is an updated review of a parent, whose child currently goes to this elementary school. My child has not experience bullying, as a military family we moved a lot and my child went to high rated schools in the mainland, and got bullied. Moving a lot my worries are my child transitioning, this school made the transition easy. My child has art, music, history and science class, where they learn about plants and more. The teachers are passionate about their jobs and I see it as a volunteer. I volunteered at many schools, and never felt this welcome.

Posted: October 24, 2023

Posted: October 24, 2023

Posted: October 24, 2023

Posted: October 24, 2023

Posted: October 24, 2023

Posted: October 24, 2023

Posted: October 24, 2023

Posted: October 24, 2023

Our first year experience at this school was ok! It was also the first year post COVID pandemic, so there were a lot of “moving pieces” for everyone (teachers & students). I felt that the teachers & staff did the best they could given the circumstances. The school itself is older & there is no AC in the classrooms.

Our second year, was unfortunately an awful school year due to my child’s primary teacher. My child has an IEP that requires sped. My child’s teacher was not supportive or empathetic to my child & their needs whatsoever. And if she was, she never demonstrated or had anything kind to say. Everyday the teacher had some sort of complaint about my child. The communication from the teacher was never constructive & she was not helpful to my child’s emotional well being. My child’s sped teacher was the complete opposite though & we really appreciated her help! Others at the school were witness to my child’s teacher’s rude comments & attitude. I will add that the admin (office staff & principals) were always kind to us & willing to help when we discussed our difficult situation!

We’re now at a different school & have an amazing teacher who is aware & empathetic to each child’s individual needs, not just my child’s. My only hope is that the particular teacher we had (and perhaps others) is more aware & kind to each child and their needs.

Posted: May 17, 2021

Posted: May 17, 2021

Posted: May 17, 2021

Posted: May 17, 2021

Posted: May 17, 2021

There are multiple issues at this school starting at administration level. After doing a standardized test on my kid’s, they were two grade levels behind the rest of the country - they had not progressed at all when we moved from Texas two years prior. Part of that is the low standards in curriculum of the school. When trying to progress my kids, my daughter in frustration asked why I didn’t just tell her the answers like her teacher did.

The lack of security is alarming for an elementary school. I went to pick up my six year old daughter one day and she was no where to be found. The teacher said she left. She wasn’t in the office. We walked all over the school and I was in tears. She was visiting another teacher who didn’t even bother to let the office know. When the bell rings, the kids scatter and are allowed to just leave campus. Adults are allowed to walk anywhere on campus when the bell rings without them being verified they belong there.

There is a bullying problem. My son was stabbed with a pencil, bullied daily, and punched in the stomach until he vomited. I was never given a phone call on any of these, even when he ended up in the nurses office. “We don’t know what to do about it” was the response I received. The counselor never checked in on my kids when a family member died despite following up numerous times. “I’ll get to it. I’ve been so busy,” we’re the replies.

There is favoritism and discrimination among the staff with military. If you don’t like military, find a Hawaii DOE school that isn’t on a military installation. Instead it was an us vs. them mentality with students who were locals and those who were military.

During distance learning, they received one hour PER WEEK of face time with their teachers via zoom “so they can see their friends.” Instruction on a program difficult to navigate was either left to the parents or the students to their own devices. When asking for a better solution, the principal said they spent $800 per child on this, so they aren’t changing anything. I unenrolled them the next day. This school needs a major overhaul. Do not let your kids go here.

There are two teachers that I know of that are good teachers. One resigned. The other did her best with what little support she had.

Posted: May 17, 2021

Posted: May 17, 2021

Posted: May 17, 2021

Posted: November 16, 2020

The administration has a complete lack of transparency. They are more interested in being right than doing what is right. They lack integrity. They show favoritism. Instead of including parents and building a strong sense of community, they cultivate an us vs them environment.

Posted: November 16, 2020

The administration uses subjective measures to decide who is given access to in person education (during COVID). If children have stay a parent who is able to be home full time-there is a particular discrimination. It is as though the principal, Ms Arikawa, has some sort of spite for children who have a stay at home parent. She prefers no parental involvement. Parents and their opinions interfere with her agenda.

Posted: November 16, 2020

Posted: November 16, 2020

There are many wonderful teachers at DKIES, unfortunately, they do not have a great administration to work with. They are often stuck between a rock and a hard place. I feel for them.

Posted: November 16, 2020

Posted: November 16, 2020

There is little transparency by the administration at Daniel K Inouye Elementary. Often there are teacher changes, long term subs, and other significant changes without any communication with parents. Administrators are not accessible, hard to reach, unprofessional in written correspondence, combative, and discriminatory. They are aware their community is transient, so instead of dealing with issues, they wait them out and avoid them. Military families are not served well by this school. It is unfortunate the military has used military children as a pawn to satisfy the Hawaiian people and let all of our dollars go to a failing Hawaii DOE instead of taking care of our military children with a DOD school.

Posted: November 16, 2020

Posted: November 16, 2020

The principal at this school (school year 20/21) has very little interest in serving the needs of her students. She is often times unprofessional and refuses to be transparent in her decision making processes.

Posted: November 16, 2020

Posted: November 16, 2020

Posted: November 16, 2020

This is our second year here at Daniel K Inouye and we have been so disappointed. While we have loved our teachers I have never felt so let down by an administration. The other schools that service our community (Wheeler Elementary and Solomon Elementary) have put together well thought out plans to ensure their students are given a fair and equal shot at education while the administration at Daniel K Inouye has foregone advice from HIDOE and put together their own back to school plan that, as it stands now, will not allow half the student body to come back at all this year if the Hawaii Department of Health doesn’t adjust its metrics. I have never felt so strongly that my child’s education doesn’t matter to a school than I have here. I would not recommend this school to anyone moving here and would instead instruct them to move into areas that feed into the other elementary schools.

Posted: November 16, 2020

Posted: November 16, 2020

Posted: November 16, 2020

Posted: June 25, 2019

Posted: June 25, 2019

My daughter was given and IEP literally 4 week before leaving island. From what she was able to experience in that short amount of time was good. Unfortunately I just wish she had more time with the school. They seem to have had a good program for kids who need a little more help.

Posted: June 25, 2019

Posted: June 25, 2019

The school is NOW Daniel k Inouye. My daughter attended kindergarten here and they never had homework. I wish they had just a little homework. The homework they did have was really parent homework.

Posted: June 25, 2019

My daughter and myself absolutely loved her kinder teacher - Mrs. J Lau. Mrs. Lau Communicated very well with all the parents. Keeping us updated with field trips, school events, and more.

Posted: June 25, 2019

Posted: June 25, 2019

We had an amazing experience with Daniel K. Inouye. I wish we didn't have to leave island. The staff and teachers are really friendly and super nice.

Posted: June 27, 2017

The principal here is the most inept and unprofessional person I've ever met. In a conference with her, she spoke around the teacher and myself. She had no idea who my son was, but was very verbal and co signed on everything her staff spoke/wrote on and never asked myself of the teacher ( the people who are with him most) what the situation entailed. She is condescending and attempts to insult the intelligence of anyone who disagrees or knows better than she does. A complete displeasure to experience her.

Posted: June 27, 2017

I haven't had any experiences with bullying, but I can imagine from my experience with the principal, the same laid back, non caring approach would be the same for bullying.

Posted: June 27, 2017

This school develops a child's sense of not caring about education, being lackadaisical and shiftless.

Posted: June 27, 2017

My overall experience with this school is far from impressive. There is no curriculum, they spend more time touring than teaching (more field trips and recreation than class time) and this is not fair to the students. I understand that things are different here, but the way things are on this base as well as this school is detrimental to the the quality of a child's education. As military families we endure lots of changes and inconsistency as expected, but when it comes to education there should be no compromise. We aren't asking for special treatment, we are asking for the same educational opportunities and curricula that 90% of the students that have PCSd here have came from to continue. This school is more concerned with cosmetics than education and that's not fair to the students. Recess twice a day is completely unnecessary as well as half days on Wednesday. What are the students gaining from being out of the classroom this much. Instead of recess twice a day how about art, music, library or foreign language? Instead of the half day and so many field trips, why not find another activity? Or instead of saying you use Common Core actually use it.

Posted: June 27, 2017

There is no approach to homework because they do not assign homework. They prefer the students to work on computer programs (Math Whiz & Kid Biz) instead of having the students apply what is learned.

Posted: June 27, 2017

My son had an excellent 3rd grade teacher who was very concerned with the needs of her students and strived for their success, but due to the lack of proper materials and a true curriculum she was at the mercy of this schools many deficiencies.

Posted: October 27, 2015

I am very dissapoubted in the ways how my son is treated by his teachers.

Posted: October 27, 2015

Their homework is impossible to follow, as in a tic tac toe the teacher finds the one we could not find and grades him on that one.

Posted: October 27, 2015

Their teachers, and we have requested to change them are not building confudence in them but taking their confudence away. Other parents complain too and we are starting a petition against the school. This is unaccapltable, my trust is zero, and I am worried abiut my son being there.

Posted: October 27, 2015

The worst ever experience I could imagine for an elementary school for my son. Their self-esteam is systematically destroyed by the teachers who are intimidating the kids while taking tests. Homeworks are impossible to follow for even me as an adult and I have a Masters Degree...

Posted: October 16, 2014

The school is outdated but they are working hard to renovate everything. Don't judge a book by it's cover. So far we love our son's Kindergarten teacher. She is very organized and on top of things. We have had no issues. I wish more people would write reviews when they don't have any problems. Seems like people only write reviews when they are unhappy so it's hard to know all of the GOOD things about the school.

Posted: September 10, 2014

This is the worst place I ever seen my entire life. I can't even call this a school. It's more like a daycare. And with all the construction going on DURING SCHOOL HOURS I don't even see how the health department isn't giving them citations for violating the health of these children. When I asked them to stop the construction during school hours after debris flew into my kids eyes from all the construction their response was that they are spending $33 million dollars and need to be finshed by July 2016. So they won't even at least consider stopping for the safety of the children. Parents are complaining about the debris getting into their kids noses and eyes during school hours. I let officials know and they did absolutely NOTHING. We are in the process of finding a new school.

Posted: May 24, 2014

We are a military family and have been very disappointed in Hale Kula. This is by far the worst school my kids have ever attended. The office staff is very rude and the teachers are horrible. I have no faith at all in the administration at this school.

Posted: May 5, 2014

Hale Kula Elementary staff and teachers have all been very friendly and keep me well informed on the happenings in and around the school. My daughter moved here in the 3rd grade and is just now finishing up 5th grade. The school is a bit run down, but is in the process of massive renovations. I wish they had an online system for the lunch accounts, but that is my only real complaint about Hale Kula. Overall, I am impressed and will miss the school next year as my daughter transitions to middle school.

Posted: April 28, 2014

There are a few good teachers and substitutes, but the office staff is extremely rude and always comes up with an excuse on why something cannot be done instead of figuring out a way to work on it. It's quite upsetting. Whether it's a safety issue or an academic issue, the staff, including the principal, come up with excuses or pass the buck to someone else. I cannot wait to get my kids out of this place!

Posted: October 23, 2013

I'm not very fond of this school. The office staff have got to be some of the most gossipy staff... ever! My son has been going to this school for a couple of yeas now, and I've never been impressed by the way they run this school. Dire need of new staff that are non judgemental and unbias. FOR SURE! It should be a place of learning and it should be about the children.

Posted: April 29, 2013

There are 1 or 2 great teachers at this school but that is it. My child is in 3rd grade here and is teacher has the thickest jersey accent and which is coupled with her poor grammar skills and general misunderstand of the English language. I can barely understand her. She also dresses incredibly inappropriately - more like club attire rather than professional wear. She texts during the day and doesn't seem to care about the kids - just her social life. Maybe it is just this one teacher. I pray for a better teacher next year who can catch my child up on everything not taught in her class (ahem...just about everything).

Posted: February 10, 2013

I LOVE HALE KULA,THE OFFICE STAFF ARE CARING,UNDERSTANDING,AND VERY VERY KIND.OUR SON HAS ATTENDED SINE HE WAS IN 2ND GRADE AND NOW IS 4TH.HE LOVES GOING TO SCHOOL EVERYDAY AND EVERY TEACHER HAS BEEN WONDERFUL ON HELPING HIM WITH ANY STRUGGLES.THE AFTER SCHOOL TUTORING IN REALLY AWSOME AND HAS HELPED HIM ALOT. THANKS HALE KULA FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR OUR SON!

Posted: February 10, 2013

I don't really care for Hale Kula. The teachers and office staff seem like they don't really care about the students or their education. Since this is the school most children go to when PCSing in, the classrooms are always overcrowded with sometimes 30 or more children in a class! The children get out of school every Wednesday early, and there are always reasons for them to ask for money (fund raiser, shirts, expensive field trips, etc.)

Posted: January 4, 2013

I would agree with most reviews of this school. It is outdated, over crowded, lacks security, and the bathrooms are nasty, so much that my son refuses to use the bathroom at school, and I know of several other kids who are the same way. Curriculum is not standard across the board, one teacher does one thing, while another does something entirely different. Overall not impressed with this school, and we are looking to move soon, to get our kids in a better school!

Posted: August 13, 2012

Im not happy with school at all!! Today I went sign my son out early from school. As I was waiting for him in the office to be walk down by an adult seeing how its 3 teachers in the classroom one should have escorted him down to the office. Instend of a little kid that look like he is no more than 5. Yrs old!! And my son is older than him!! I feel like they are lacking safely issuses here when it comes to the safely of your child they should have cameras here and guards watching at all times!! Anybody can walk upon that campus at any time and take a child in no one will know not know it!! No cameras no suvliance system at all!! And prinplce is not doing a good job at all keep our kids safe at all!! Thats why i drive back up to check up on my son!! And they dont keep the bathrooms clean at all for theses kids! Our kids deserve a better school than this!! Our soldiers do alot for our country and they cant give our kids a better school this is not ok!! This post needs to do better than this!! They are lacking atthis school and post!! Parents please stay in the states!!