Hawaii private schools see 3% drop in enrollment during pandemic

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    HONOLULU (KITV) — Reports of COVID-19 cases in Hawaii continues to take a toll on schools. Enrollment for private schools across the state is down more than three percent this year, according to a preliminary report from Hawaii Association of Independent Schools. It represents more than 100 private schools and its executive director believes many parents chose to keep their children home-schooled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the drop in enrollment, Hanalani School in Mililani reports a 50-percent increase in applications this school year. The institution’s enrollment manager believes it’s because they’re still holding in-person classes and they’re located in Central Oahu, providing access to families that live in that part of town.

Even with a steady flow of students at Hanalani, almost a hundred prospective students have signed-up to attend the first drive-through open house on Saturday.

“We can’t unfortunately bring you into our campus due to COVID so we want to at least show you the outside of our campus and bring the programs to you in the comfort of your vehicle,” Michelle Kaneshiro, Hanalani School, said.

Part of the admission process includes an interview. Because of the pandemic, families have the option to complete that process virtually.

“We understand the vulnerability and a bit of a uncomfortability with some families,” Kaneshiro said.

While Hanalani sees success in recruitment, Philip Bossert, executive director of Hawaii Association of Independent Schools says marketing a campus is difficult through a computer screen.

“It really pulled out the creativity in all of our schools to find out how we’re going to do this while staying safe and keeping faculty, students and parents safe,” Bossert said.

The association helped guide school administrators on how to use social media as an advertising tool but nothing Bossert says can beat in-person tours.

“No matter how good your remote learning, distance learning is, it’s not as good as having a teacher in a room no matter how technologically savvy the parents and the staff are, it’s not going to replace face to face discussion,” he said.

Bossert told KITV4 he believes enrollment for private schools will go up next school year as more parents feel comfortable sending their children to school for face-to-face interactions.

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