KHON2 NEWS
Reported by: Manolo Morales
Email: mmorales@khon2.com

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Saint Francis High School in Manoa started the school year Tuesday, and it was unlike any other day in its 85 year history.

The catholic school is now co-ed.

One thing that will never be the same at Saint Francis is the first day’s school assembly. The rally involving hula hoops is now equal opportunity. With 17 boys and 65 girls in the freshman class, and still all girls for the higher grades, girls still rule. But the boys aren’t complaining.

St. Francis actually started letting boys in as sixth graders three years ago. But this is the first time that the high school is co-ed. One immediate effect is that enrollment has gone up. Everyone is aware that things will be different, so teachers have been preparing for the changes.

“We’ve done all kinds of workshops and things with them, how boys learn, and worked with them and tried to help them to understand and what we find is in the co-ed classrooms they mellow each other,” said School Principal, Sister Joan of Arc Souza.

The girls aren’t complaining either. In fact they seem to like the idea of having boys on campus as much as the boys do.

“Overall it’s been better having boys here. It’s just more diverse it’s like a public school, you have more experiences when they’re here,” said freshman, Kayla Morrow.

“I like the boys here personally because I’m athletic too and we just talk about sports,” said freshman, Kalei Mau.

With boys, the school can also try out for Pac Five’s football team.

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Leaders within the community are rallying to support high school athletics, in the face of a 36 percent budget cut for public school athletic programs.

1.2 million dollars. That’s the total amount of budget cuts facing Hawaii’s public school athletic programs for the upcoming year.

That’s also the amount the Hawaii High School Athletic Association is hoping to offset, through fundraising.

And the HHSAA has taken significant steps towards doing so, according to an announcement Tuesday by HHSAA Executive Director Keith Amemiya.

Amemiya says four large donations were made by private companies to assist with the financial shortcomings, totaling $400 thousand.

The Clarence T.C. Ching foundation donated $200 thousand, First Hawaiian Bank, a long time supporter of Hawaii athletics, put up 100 grand, while Bank of Hawaii and the Gift Foundation each added $50 thousand.

These funds will help in the effort to avoid the possible elimination of particular sports.

Amemiya admits there is still much work to be done.

Normally, the bottom line is about money.

In this case, though, the ultimate bottom line is Hawaii’s youth. Four local institutions stepped up and made a difference yesterday. The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation ($200,000), First Hawaiian Bank ($100,000), Bank of Hawaii ($50,000) and The GIFT Foundation ($50,000) became lead donors to public school athletic departments, giving a total of $400,000 to help salvage budgets statewide.

Jack Tsui, chairman of the Ching Foundation, hopes this is just the start.

“We hope this serves as a catalyst. It’s such an opportunity in tough times for real leaders to step up to the fire,” he said. “(Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive director) Keith (Amemiya) stepped up and I challenged him to come up with more donors. These young men and women are the future of our country.”

It was a welcome shift to good news for athletic directors, who learned recently that their budgets would be slashed by 50 percent for the coming school year. Combined with cuts announced in December, athletic budgets statewide faced a $1.2 million deficit.

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