Correction (September 30, 2026): An earlier version compared these schools' 2024-25 chronic absence rates with their rates before and during the pandemic, and said Leihoku Elementary had dropped from 72% to 43% while remaining 21 points above its 2018-19 rate. Hawaii changed how it counts chronic absence in 2023-24, from students absent 15 or more days to students absent 18 or more days, so those comparisons mixed two measures. Leihoku's drop from 72% to 43% took place between 2021-22 and 2022-23, on the older measure. The article now compares years within one measure. The earlier headline, which described chronically absent students as not showing up, has been replaced, and unsourced statistics about the community were removed.

In 2024-25, ten schools on Oahu's Waianae Coast had chronic absence rates between 42% and 55%, meaning that share of their students missed 18 or more days of school. The highest was Nanaikapono Elementary, at 55%. The statewide rate was 24%, and every one of the ten was at least 18 points above it.

The Numbers

School	2024-25 Rate
Nanaikapono Elementary	55%
Wai'anae Elementary	52%
Makaha Elementary	50%
Nanakuli Elementary	50%
Kamaile Academy	50%
Nanakuli High & Intermediate	46%
Wai'anae High	46%
Ma'ili Elementary	43%
Leihoku Elementary	43%
Wai'anae Intermediate	42%

At five of the ten, half or more of the students were chronically absent. A charter school in Nanakuli, Ka Waihona o ka Na'auao, was at 39%.

A chronic absence rate counts students who missed a lot of school over the year, not students absent on a given day. At Makaha Elementary, for example, the 50% rate means half its students missed at least 18 days over the year.

On the Newer Measure

Between 2023-24 and 2024-25, both years counting students absent 18 or more days, six of the ten schools improved and four rose. The statewide rate went from 25% to 24%.

On the Older Measure

Before 2023-24, Hawaii counted students absent 15 or more days. On that measure, every one of the ten schools was above the state's 15% in 2018-19, with rates from 22% to 40%. All ten peaked in the pandemic, and all ten improved between 2021-22 and 2022-23.

Leihoku Elementary shows both the rise and the partial retreat. Its rate went from 22% in 2018-19 to 72% in 2021-22, among the highest on the coast, then fell 29 points to 43% in 2022-23. That still left it 21 points above its 2018-19 rate on the same measure. Nanakuli Elementary peaked at 66%.

The older figures cannot be set directly against the 2024-25 table. Rates from 2023-24 on run lower partly because a student has to miss more days to be counted.

Across Student Groups

Averaged across the ten schools, with each school counted once, the 2024-25 chronic absence rate was 52.6% for students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and 52.5% for Native Hawaiian students, against 47.7% for all students. Pacific Islander students averaged 46.9%. These groups overlap, so the figures are separate measures, not parts of a whole.

What the Data Cannot Say

Health care access, housing, and transportation are often cited as reasons students on the Waianae Coast miss school. The state's attendance files do not record any of them, so they cannot say how much each matters, or why six of these schools improved in 2024-25 while four did not.

Attendance figures come from the Hawaii Department of Education's school accountability reports, covering 2018-19 through 2024-25.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.