Original Research by School Decision on Matafao Elementary School
Matafao Elementary School, known as the Marlins, sits on a hillside in the village of Fagaalu on the eastern shore of Pago Pago Harbor, in central Tutuila Island. It is a public school serving kindergarten through eighth grade, part of the American Samoa Department of Education, and it is not a charter school. The campus is woven into the village fabric rather than set apart on its own grounds, with residential areas, small businesses, and civic institutions all within walking proximity.
Fagaalu is a compact village centered along Fagaalu Stream and the bayfront. Its dominant institution is the Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center, the only hospital in American Samoa, which sits on a filled marshland complex to the north of the village center. Matafao Elementary is positioned on the hillside below Le Fale Pule Lodge, and Fagaalu Park anchors the waterfront with picnic tables, a white-sand beach, a boat ramp, and areas for cricket, soccer, and football. Fagaalu Bay itself is a declared Marine Protected Area and is publicly reported as one of the better snorkeling spots on the island, with coral heads, reef formations, turtles, and reef sharks. Fagaalu Falls, accessible via a hike past the hospital, offers swimming pools along the trail. No public library or formal public transit system serving the village was identified in publicly reported sources.
The village's economic life revolves around the hospital, a quarry operation that supplies construction material, and various small retail and service businesses. Publicly reported information did not reveal major new housing developments or a clear recent growth trajectory for Fagaalu. Historical development includes the hospital complex built on filled marshland in the early nineteen sixties and a boat ramp constructed at Fagaalu Park after a tsunami damaged former public ramps. A collaborative watershed management and conservation plan, developed by the village with federal partners, addresses impaired water quality in Fagaalu Stream and Bay. Most of the village sits at elevations well above potential tsunami zones, set back from the ocean on slopes.
What we could not find is substantial. Enrollment data, including total enrollment, grade-level breakdowns, and free-or-reduced-price-lunch counts, was not available in the provided data. Demographic information by race or ethnicity was missing, as were figures for students with individualized education programs and English learners. State assessment results were not available, so we cannot characterize academic performance from the data provided. No programs, course access, staffing, discipline, attendance, or Title I information was provided. No comparison fact-set positioning this school among its neighbors was available. Housing values and rents were not included in the data. Because the school serves kindergarten through eighth grade and does not include high school grades, a graduation rate does not apply here. A district brief for the American Samoa Department of Education was not provided, so we have no parent-relevant change or strategic-priority information to relay.
A parent or resident reading this should know that Matafao Elementary is a village-embedded K-through-eight school in a community defined by its hospital, its protected bay, and its hillside residential character. The academic, enrollment, and program picture, though, is one the provided data does not fill in, so a family would want to contact the school or the American Samoa Department of Education directly for details on class size, test results, support services, and available programs before drawing conclusions.
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