Superintendent Recommends Closing Queen Liliuokalani School
Word got out today that Hawaii schools superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi has recommended closing Queen Liliuokalani Elementary School effective June 30, 2011 — less than a year before its 100th anniversary.
The recommendation comes on the heels of concerns that the Board of Education and Department of Education didn’t follow the protocols for school closures. (Read the Civil Beat report here.)
Civil Beat reported in December that the school only uses 16 of its 24 classrooms for teaching and that the closure would affect 102 students and their families. The department estimated it would save about $530,000 by closing the nearly 100-year-old elementary school.
Matayoshi’s report to the Board of Education was leaked to parents at the school before it was supposed to be public. Normally it would be released publicly while being reviewed by the school board’s Committee on Administrative Services. The agenda for next week’s committee meeting has not been posted yet.
Civil Beat received the report from a concerned parent, and you can read it here:
Because the board disregarded the timeline required in school closure protocol, parent Lyle Bullock said, some parents have asked Hawaii State Rep. Barbara Marumoto and House Speaker Calvin Say to draw the situation to the attention of Attorney General David Louie.
