Verbatim: Closing Kamiloiki, Queen Liliuokalani schools comes at what cost to our keiki?

January 12, 2011 06:27 PM

The following are separate testimonies by Karen Tsukiyama on two east Oahu schools facing closure, Kamiloiki Elementary School and Queen Liliuokalani Elementary School.

In Support of keeping Kamiloiki Elementary School open

My name is Karen Tsukiyama, and I am a grandparent of a Kamiloiki School kindergartener.

Having always been a staunch supporter of public education, I was excited to have my grandson enrolled at Kamiloiki School. It is not only right in his neighborhood, but it has been a tradition in his maternal grandparents’ family to attend Kamiloiki School for many years.

My grandson, Ian, has had three cousins successfully complete all of their elementary schooling at Kamiloiki, and currently attends this school with three other first cousins. One cannot describe, in this society today, how reassuring it is to be able to have three sisters have their children attend one school together, as a family and how wonderfully family events can evolve around one school.

During the short period that school has been in session this year, I’ve had the opportunity to be at Kamiloiki School for several events, and have always found the school to be a warm, welcoming, nurturing, as well as stimulating, learning environment.

One can understand the Department of Education’s concern regarding budget, but at what cost? The disruption and negative impact on the Kamiloiki School students would not be worth any cost savings. How can dollars and cents match up with what is priceless in a child’s learning environment?

Back in the late ‘80s, I was a teacher at a school that closed. Back then, it seems, the school/community had more notice [than the current situation] from the Department about the possibility of a school closure. I believe it was around 97 percent of the school/community agreeing on the closing of the school, after discussions, meetings, and hearings, and I went to that school knowing that it was going to close in two years, sufficient time for the school staff, parents, and students to acclimate themselves, and prepare to celebrate the school’s consolidation with another school. That was Anuenue Elementary School.

This scenario, for consolidation, is too abrupt and in our opinions, not warranted. Leave the Hawaii Kai schools alone, to thrive successfully for our children. Keep Kamiloiki Elementary School open.

Thank you.

Karen Tsukiyama

In support of maintaining Queen Liliuokalani School in honor of the Queen.

My name is Karen Tsukiyama, a former principal of Queen Lydia Liliuokalani School.

I am in support of maintaining Queen Lydia Liliuokalani School as a school in honor of our last reigning monarch, as this school has the unique distinction of having been personally dedicated by Queen Liliuokalani herself, nearly a hundred years ago.

The campus, in the Kaimuki neighborhood, still has the original cornerstone of the school’s administrative building on their basketball court. A mosaic mural of the Queen, made of individual tiles by either a student, staff, or parent, beautiful Hawaiian quilt panels framed in koa, designed and handmade by each grade level and school/community groups, two Hawaiian gardens, and the school sign, adorn the school campus in honor of Queen Liliuokalani. Even the school logo is that of a Hawaiian quilt design made up of the purple crown flowers, the favorite flower of the Queen.

The motto of the school is to create a creative, caring, and supportive community in which learning blossoms, and the mission of the school is to guide and nurture students to be caring, healthy in body, mind, and spirit, successful in living and learning, and to have strong inner character, while recognizing each student as a unique individual. In other words, even today, Queen Liliuokalani remains a great model and mentor to which the school strives to develop each student in becoming an outstanding, honorable, educated person.

I believe that Queen Lydia Liliuokalani School should be kept forever, as a place of community and a place of learning, to benefit children and their families, perpetuating this Queen’s legacy. In fact, I believe that DOE could even use this opportunity to build a research school on its own and create a concept of a school in a neighborhood community, like Kaimuki, where education thrives from early childhood (perhaps even prenatal), through elementary, onto adulthood, into the kupuna years, with families and communities all learning together on the same campus.

Whatever it takes, let’s keep Queen Lydia Liliuokalani School alive on that campus.

Thank you.

Karen Tsukiyama

Video: Queen Liliuokalani Elementary School supporters share testimony

Verbatim: History and tradition argues strongly against closing Liliuokalani School

DOE to decide on Queen Liliuokalani School closure following public hearing

A concerned community rallies to perpetuate Queen Liliuokalani’s legacy in Kaimuki