Five years after the Covid-19 pandemic started, schools are seeing fewer students who feel unsafe on campus and an increase in the percentage of parents who are satisfied with their children’s school and feel engaged in Hawaiʻi’s public education system. 

That’s according to the results of an annual survey conducted by the Hawaiʻi Department of Education that asks parents, students and teachers questions about the quality of public schools. 

Last school year, 9.1% of middle school students and 7% of high schoolers said they felt unsafe on campus, compared to 10.8% of middle school students and 9.6% of high school students in the 2019-20 school year.

The proportion of older students who felt unsafe at school fell when schools offered remote classes during the pandemic and rose slightly when in-person learning resumed in the 2021-22 academic year.

As schools reopened after the pandemic, some teachers and principals reported more fights and aggression among their students and called for more mental health support on their campuses. 

Roughly 20% of elementary schoolers said they felt unsafe from bullies at school last year, compared to 16% of middle schoolers and nearly 10% of high schoolers.

The education department saw a boost in positive responses from parents, who responded to questions on family engagement and their children’s well-being in the annual survey. In 2025, 84% of parents said they were involved in their children’s learning and had the opportunity to participate in school activities, compared to just 69% of families five years before. 

More than 90% of parents said their children have supportive teachers and friends, compared to 88% of respondents in 2019. 

But the survey typically receives low response rates from parents, possibly skewing the results toward families who are already involved in their children’s schools. Last year, only 23% of families completed the survey, down from 30% in 2019. 

Deborah Bond-Upson, president of Parents for Public Schools Hawaiʻi and interim director of the Hui for Excellence in Education Coalition, said the education department has worked to engage more families since the pandemic, but initiatives vary by school. For example, some campuses regularly share attendance rates and allow parents to track their children’s progress on assignments, while others have limited communication with families. 

The Hawaiʻi Department of Education said the survey results inform school planning, accreditation and improvements.

Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

“Data Dive” is supported in part by the Will J. Reid Foundation.