Niu Valley Middle School

Unilocal 100 Challenge #8/​100
This review is more for the basketball courts and field.
Great place to practice basketball on the courts. During basketball season during the day there are a lot if KAC teams practicing. Also, when the court gets a little wet it is very slick so definitely be careful.
During the weekend teams play soccer with AYSO. Sometimes there are mud spots on the soccer field and it gets pretty muddy, but the kids have a great time and that’s what counts.
Overall we like this place for our basketball and soccer.

The teachers are pretty nice except the Japanese teacher. She’ll argue with the student until she wins. The previous principal Mr. Mew really cared for you and would support you, if he was still at the school, I would give it 5 stars.

I feel compelled to write a review of this school because it seems that current reviews need updating. Niu Valley Middle School is a very different school now than it was even a few years prior. I mean that in a good way, although this is a school that has always been one of the better public middle schools in Hawaii.
Niu Valley is a full-​fledged International Baccalaureate (IB) school. Personally, it’s a take-​it-​or-​leave it kind of distinction, but what it does bring to the classroom is a different philosophy on curriculum. Students are graded on thinking and are encouraged to take risks and ask many questions. In fact, most of their assignments are labeled «formative» and are not graded. The ones that count are called «summative» and are designed to demonstrate their understanding of what they learned through the formative process. It’s just like college and the philosophy is just like college, except that parents are kept abreast of whether their kids are staying up to date with their formative tasks. Frankly, I like it.
Niu Valley, like many other Hawaii public schools, also has a Parent Community Networking Coordinator (PCNC) that helps bridge the communication between staff and families. Niu Valley’s PCNC is astoundingly good and one immediately gets the impression that she’s married to her job and loves it.
As far as resources, Hawaii’s public schools get a bad rap. The resources are there and available. We came from one of California’s elite public schools and I can tell you that the only reason Hawaii’s public schools don’t excel on paper is because residents keep pulling kids out and sending them to private schools.
Niu Valley Middle School has the formal education process covered. Now all we need is a change of heart among residents and HSTA (the teacher union) and this school could finally demonstrate its strength.

It’s been awhile… I was 13 and it was the beginning of the 2^nd semester of 8^th grade. I was the new kid from «the mainland.» Everyone asked me where I was from and I would usually respond with «Washington,» as in Washington State but to some kids, it was «that big land mass which includes everything from California to New York.» This was the first school I went to where I had to take the public bus to school. I tried to get my mom to drive me whenever possible. This school was definitely a change from all of the other schools I had attended. It consisted of lots of separate buildings with open hallways which means I had to step outside to go from class to class. And there was no AC in the classrooms. What nonsense! There’s a chance I might have been a spoiled kid. This experience probably affected the way I felt about Hawaii in general, so I was glad that my dad announced we would be moving to Thailand after my 8^th grade year. At least it prepared me for the open hallways and cross-​campus treks at my school in Bangkok. The classrooms there, however, did have AC.

A public school with high standards. Who would have thought?
Any regular old middle school with 800 students in 6^th-​8^th grades would normally be an uncontrollable zoo. Niu Valley is not, thanks to its dedicated teachers and Principal Justin Mew. Mr. Mew is not the kind of guy who kowtows to kids and parents; he sets standards and expects people to follow, and they do. I like how they require uniform T-​shirts: cheap and simple.
Thus, Niu Valley is an International Baccalaureate candidate school. Before I enrolled my daughter here, I didn’t know what an IB school was, but all my teacher friends salivated. It’s a very distinguished designation, difficult to obtain.
You might remember having old teachers who just assign busywork and seem to dread each day. Not so here. These teachers are creative and dedicated, no matter if they’re new or if they’ve been here 30 years. They restructured their schedule to try to make up for the Furlough Days.
It’s a far better school than we were in on the mainland. Now my daughter has to– gasp– think! Be responsible! It was an adjustment at first, but she stepped up and is now performing well. I also like the language choices: Japanese or Mandarin Chinese, which on the mainland were only available at certain elite high schools.
The school could use some structural upgrades; the concrete second floor hallway of the building I visited had crumbling concrete and exposed rebar.