State official will meet with parents Parents of students at the recently closed Saint Francis School have formed a board of directors and are determined to open a Catholic high school on Kaua’i by September. Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo has
State official will meet with parents
Parents of students at the recently closed Saint Francis School have formed a board of directors and are determined to open a Catholic high school on Kaua’i by September.
Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo has received numerous letters from students and parents, begging him to give his blessing to a Catholic high school in the only Hawai’i county without one, said Michael Piano, a parent left without a school for his daughters after Saint Francis School abruptly shut its doors last month.
The Lihu’e school, which had operated under the auspices of Saint Francis School on O’ahu, was closed after consecutive years of financial losses and enrollment too low to ensure financial viability, according to the schools’ board of directors.
A proposed new Catholic high school on Kaua’i, which could end up operating out of the old Immaculate Conception School site in Isenberg Tract subdivision, has been tentatively named Kaua’i Catholic Academy or Bishop Walsh Catholic High School, Piano said.
A meeting with parents and the statewide superintendent of Catholic education is set for July 23 at 11 a.m. at the ILWU hall on Hardy Street in Lihu’e, across from Kaua’i War Memorial Convention Hall. Additional information is available from Piano at 822-6988.
Parents and other supporters have formed various committees, including grant-writing and budget. A proposed budget has provisions for scholarships for families in financial need, Plano said.
Around a dozen volunteers have offered to help as teachers, sports coaches and in other school capacities, said Piano. He said the teachers lined up to teach at Saint Francis on Kaua’i this year have committed to teaching at the new school if it can begin classes in September.
Approximately 90 students have confirmed interest in attending the new school.
Plano said an accreditation process begun by Saint Francis last year can be completed for a new school in the 2001-02 school year, according to an accreditation body on the mainland.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
