St. Francis closing down

[Neighbor]

Shame their football team couldn't go after a state title this past season. But at least boys basketball and softball and boys volleyball had some good runs.

Some teams are about to get some really talented players next school year

[unpaid]

7-12 grades gone. Not sure that parents with 1-6 grades keiki keep their kids at St.Francis in enough numbers to keep the elementary school going. Auwe!

[HS Football Fanatic]

Pretty bad; pretty disappointing. I remember when St Francis School was an all-girls school, and it was that way for many decades. Makes you wonder why the school couldn't keep the high school open. I mean, they went co-ed some 15 years ago or so, presumably to increase enrollment. And, they still don't have enough students to make the high school financially viable? I hate to see a high school that's been around for all these decades, close. Remember when Star Of The Sea had an all-girls high school, too? They closed-down about 30 years ago, or something like that. Lutheran High, a co-ed school, closed-down less than 10 years ago, right? Perhaps there are simply too many private high schools on Oahu; there seems to be not enough students to keep them open. Like, which school is next? Oh, and let's not forget Word Of Life Academy, a co-ed high school which closed-down less than 10 years ago, right? Heck, they even had their own vars football team, as did St Francis. I mean, these high-school closures seem to keep coming. This can't be a good thing. It's bad enough when an elementary school closes, like Liliuokalani Elementary. That was a public elementary school that closed about 15 years ago, due to low enrollment. That's one thing. But when a high school closes, that must be gut-wrenching for the alumni. Since high schools have the oldest minors (teens), there's so much more meaning, experiences, and memories for the alumni. High schools have interscholastic sports, too, so there are memories of that. Look at some of the alumni on this site who proudly "wear" their high-school alma mater. When a high school closes, the alumni must feel that part of their lives has been torn-away. Those old feelings of school spirit, unity, and loyalty are lost in the sense that the school is gone. There were even alumni of Liliuokalani Elementary who were upset about that school's closing, even though it was just an elementary school. I recall reading about that in the paper; some of the alumni tried to save the school.

[University Ave]

Sad news. From a football standpoint, this creates some interesting problems for the ILH. Iolani, Damien and PAC 5 are now the only schools that remain outside of the Open Division. Should all 3 teams move to D1 or D2 to classify themselves as a league eligible for a seeded state berth? Do they stay in respective divisions mixed with OIA regular season play and relinquish seeded berths to the state tournament? If that’s the case, Damien should move to D2, Kamehameha should move to D1 just so no team is left in a division alone to get a free berth. Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.

[gopunahou]

This is super unfortunate. This sucks more than Word of Life shutting down almost a decade ago.

Sad news. From a football standpoint, this creates some interesting problems for the ILH. Iolani, Damien and PAC 5 are now the only schools that remain outside of the Open Division. Should all 3 teams move to D1 or D2 to classify themselves as a league eligible for a seeded state berth? Do they stay in respective divisions mixed with OIA regular season play and relinquish seeded berths to the state tournament? If that’s the case, Damien should move to D2, Kamehameha should move to D1 just so no team is left in a division alone to get a free berth. Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.

I think if SFS kids go to P5 schools, P5 should join Iolani and Damien in D1 so there'll be no ILH teams in D2. That's what Paul Honda would suggest if that happened. As for Kamehameha, I doubt they'd move down. You could've said that about us 20 years ago (since we struggled against them and SLS much worse between 1997 and 2004 than they've struggled against us and SLS the past five years).

One of the comments was from a guy that indicated he worked at World of Life. Something tells me that money is behind this. In a perfect world, we'd make narcissists and people with positive opinions of them settles these kinds of matters and pay for everything non-narcissists need.

[HS Football Fanatic]

This is super unfortunate. This sucks more than Word of Life shutting down almost a decade ago.

Sad news. From a football standpoint, this creates some interesting problems for the ILH. Iolani, Damien and PAC 5 are now the only schools that remain outside of the Open Division. Should all 3 teams move to D1 or D2 to classify themselves as a league eligible for a seeded state berth? Do they stay in respective divisions mixed with OIA regular season play and relinquish seeded berths to the state tournament? If that’s the case, Damien should move to D2, Kamehameha should move to D1 just so no team is left in a division alone to get a free berth. Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.

I think if SFS kids go to P5 schools, P5 should join Iolani and Damien in D1 so there'll be no ILH teams in D2. That's what Paul Honda would suggest if that happened. As for Kamehameha, I doubt they'd move down. You could've said that about us 20 years ago (since we struggled against them and SLS much worse between 1997 and 2004 than they've struggled against us and SLS the past five years).

One of the comments was from a guy that indicated he worked at World of Life. Something tells me that money is behind this. In a perfect world, we'd make narcissists and people with positive opinions of them settles these kinds of matters and pay for everything non-narcissists need.

@gopunahou: I agree that Kamehameha probably won't go down to D1. They haven't been outstanding for years, but they're not so weak that they would feel compelled to move down. As for Punahou, I don't think they were ever bad enough, long enough, to feel compelled to move down. In fact, I'd be surprised if Kamehameha or Punahou ever moved down to D1, assuming that Open continues. As for money, well, private high schools need the money. The only private high school that doesn't have to worry about money is Kamehameha, as they are one of the richest private high schools in the nation. Punahou seems pretty safe financially, as they have hefty alumni endowments. But I think all other private high schools in Hawaii need to worry about money. It's simply so expensive to operate a high school, and tuition barely cuts it. Obviously, in the case of St Francis School, the tuition has not been cutting it.

[University Ave]

The problem with Kamehameha Kapalama is when The campuses of Maui and Big Island opened. Since these campuses opened and began taking outer island talent away from the mother campus, Kapalama has fallen in competition across the board. This will not change, and I feel Kapalama should consider the move to at least compete for a state title. Punahou just had down years, Kapalama’s issues are derived more from a permanent geographic issue IMO.

[cabanalane]

I'm guessing geography and population shift may be the main cause. I used to live in town, so it was "easy" to go to any private school, if one can afford it. Today, many live in Mililani, Ewa, etc. with the drive home about 1:45mins. If you add football practice and such, hard to make that work.

Since this is a football forum, if private schools want to build a strong team, they got the "cheat" like St. Louis. Wait, that's not cheating. Just offer Kalihi or Laie's Best an offer to attend your school. That's how you build a team.

Recall how Punahou offer Mosi Tatupu an offer, then the school "flunk him" back to the 10th grade. He was dragging 3-4 guys across the line for a TD as a 20 year old senior. (Then they create the age rule - cause not fair).

[cabanalane]

Rich Miano also changed the taste of HS football. Recall the district exceptions to attend Kaiser, and how it was based on the "technology" program Kaiser was offering. Say that with a straight face, try? All the 6'3" 260lbs studs want to attend Kaiser.

Where are the Nerds? Technology program, no?

[Neighbor]

Sad news. From a football standpoint, this creates some interesting problems for the ILH. Iolani, Damien and PAC 5 are now the only schools that remain outside of the Open Division. Should all 3 teams move to D1 or D2 to classify themselves as a league eligible for a seeded state berth? Do they stay in respective divisions mixed with OIA regular season play and relinquish seeded berths to the state tournament? If that’s the case, Damien should move to D2, Kamehameha should move to D1 just so no team is left in a division alone to get a free berth. Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.

I think if SFS kids go to P5 schools, P5 should join Iolani and Damien in D1 so there'll be no ILH teams in D2. That's what Paul Honda would suggest if that happened. As for Kamehameha, I doubt they'd move down. You could've said that about us 20 years ago (since we struggled against them and SLS much worse between 1997 and 2004 than they've struggled against us and SLS the past five years).

That's a funny point. SFS players going to a P5 school and then having to play for the coach that screwed you out of a state championship run

[HS Football Fanatic]

The problem with Kamehameha Kapalama is when The campuses of Maui and Big Island opened. Since these campuses opened and began taking outer island talent away from the mother campus, Kapalama has fallen in competition across the board. This will not change, and I feel Kapalama should consider the move to at least compete for a state title. Punahou just had down years, Kapalama’s issues are derived more from a permanent geographic issue IMO.

@University Ave: You've raised a very good point. However, even without the campuses on Maui and the Big Island, students on those islands who want to attend Kamehameha Schools would have to board. Some would, but some wouldn't, and those who wouldn't would simply attend another high school located on those islands. So, yes, Kamehameha - Kapalama has lost some talent to the outer-island campuses. But, I don't think they've lost enough to drop down to D1. I think Kamehameha - Kapalama still has enough talent to stay in Open. Just the other season, they beat Punahou for 2nd in ILH Open, for example. So, I would recommend to Kamehameha - Kapalama that they stay in Open. I would hazard to guess that most of the players on Kamehameha - Kapalama's football teams have always been from Oahu, even before the outer-island campuses were founded. Not only that; how many blue-chippers are at the Maui and Big Island campuses anyway?

[HS Football Fanatic]

I'm guessing geography and population shift may be the main cause. I used to live in town, so it was "easy" to go to any private school, if one can afford it. Today, many live in Mililani, Ewa, etc. with the drive home about 1:45mins. If you add football practice and such, hard to make that work.

Since this is a football forum, if private schools want to build a strong team, they got the "cheat" like St. Louis. Wait, that's not cheating. Just offer Kalihi or Laie's Best an offer to attend your school. That's how you build a team.

Recall how Punahou offer Mosi Tatupu an offer, then the school "flunk him" back to the 10th grade. He was dragging 3-4 guys across the line for a TD as a 20 year old senior. (Then they create the age rule - cause not fair).

@cabanalane: You've made some very good points. I was in high school in the mid-'70s, and Tatupu was a '74 Punahou grad. Yes, I recall he was one heck of an RB, very difficult to bring down. But then, look at how old he was. Literally a man playing among boys. I heard that the same thing was happening at St Louis School, before that age rule. Regarding the players who live in rural areas but attend private school, I think what's happening is that a lot of them simply live with a relative who lives in town. Then they don't have to make the long commute.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Rich Miano also changed the taste of HS football. Recall the district exceptions to attend Kaiser, and how it was based on the "technology" program Kaiser was offering. Say that with a straight face, try? All the 6'3" 260lbs studs want to attend Kaiser.

Where are the Nerds? Technology program, no?

@cabanalane: Yeah, I agree there's a lot of bogusity and manipulation going on. The irony is that that well dried-up several years ago. Look at all the problems Kaiser High's football team had two seasons ago. And it wasn't just about parents hassling the coaches. The team simply didn't have the size and the numbers. When you think about how strong Kaiser High's football teams were during the late-'70s, it's kind of sad. I don't know; Miano is a Kaiser alumnus. Maybe he was trying to do anything he could to make his alma mater competitive again, bring it back to its glory days.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Sad news. From a football standpoint, this creates some interesting problems for the ILH. Iolani, Damien and PAC 5 are now the only schools that remain outside of the Open Division. Should all 3 teams move to D1 or D2 to classify themselves as a league eligible for a seeded state berth? Do they stay in respective divisions mixed with OIA regular season play and relinquish seeded berths to the state tournament? If that’s the case, Damien should move to D2, Kamehameha should move to D1 just so no team is left in a division alone to get a free berth. Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.

I think if SFS kids go to P5 schools, P5 should join Iolani and Damien in D1 so there'll be no ILH teams in D2. That's what Paul Honda would suggest if that happened. As for Kamehameha, I doubt they'd move down. You could've said that about us 20 years ago (since we struggled against them and SLS much worse between 1997 and 2004 than they've struggled against us and SLS the past five years).

That's a funny point. SFS players going to a P5 school and then having to play for the coach that screwed you out of a state championship run

@Neighbor: Well, you just gotta roll with the punches. St Francis High is gone; there's nothing that can be done about it. Perhaps some of the St Francis School players will play for an ILH team other than Pac-Five, or perhaps play for an OIA school.

[cabanalane]

I'm old (so I'm not going to be PC), St. Francis was a girl school. And when you are dating a girl from St. Francis, that was special...