Kaua'i parents seek alternatives after St. Francis High closes

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser KauaÎi Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Parents of some 90 students who had planned to attend St. Francis High School on Kaua'i this fall are looking for alternatives now that the school has closed.

"Some are looking at home-schooling or online schools. Some have applied with the other schools," said Lopaka Bodnar, principal at St. Francis.

At least some of them hope to help get another Catholic high school opened on the island; the closing leaves Kaua'i as the only county in Hawai'i without one.

The four-year-old high school, on the grounds of the old Immaculate Conception School near the Lihu'e Neighborhood Center, failed to meet enrollment goals sought by its founding school, the St. Francis School in Manoa.

"We got the call last Monday" that the school would close, Bodnar said.

St. Francis was the largest private high school on the island, and one of the cheapest, with tuition of $4,000 annually for grades 9 to 12 and $3,000 for grades 7 and 8.

Some parents have been looking into setting up an independent school at the site of St. Francis, but Bodnar said he did not believe that could be arranged in time for the fall 2001 semester.

"We're looking for someone, maybe a Catholic church on the island, that would sponsor a school, if not this year, then next year," said Carla Matsushima, treasurer of the school parent-teacher group.

She said parents are holding meetings to look into sources of financing as well.

As the mother of a 14-year-old who has spent two years there and was to be a freshman, Matsushima said St. Francis was conveniently located, had small classes and provided security and individual help that turned her boy's performance around.

"My son was in public school from kindergarten, and he never got the support he needed. Now, he loves to go to school. He gets the attention," she said.

And instead of doing poorly, he was getting high marks, she said.

Bodnar said the Manoa school set up an enrollment goal and a deadline. When the Kaua'i school failed to meet the goal on deadline, it was closed.

Matsushima said it was a shock to parents, who were already making plans for a fund-raiser to help cover school costs.

The school was $450,000 in debt, but Matsushima said most of that was generated in the first two years, when enrollment was small.

"We almost broke even last year," she said.