Beloved Kaimuki school almost made it to 100

With little public fanfare, Queen Liliuokalani Elementary School turned 99 years old yesterday. But what might have ordinarily been a joyous day was instead a heavy one: It was the last birthday for the school, which will be closed after this year due to low enrollment and state budgetary constraints.

Liliuokalani laid the school’s cornerstone at Waialae and Koko Head avenues on April 12, 1912. Yesterday’s occasion was observed with a lei at the school’s mural and cupcakes for students at lunchtime, according to area Rep. Barbara Marumoto.

Parents of the 98-student school rallied to save the campus but the state Board of Education last month made the tough decision to close it. Whether a vowed appeal to the new appointed BOE materializes remains to be seen.

Kudos to all who gave to help people of Japan

If there was a way to give an entire state a pat on the back, then Hawaii certainly deserves one. The outpouring of donations, culminating in Sunday’s Kokua for Japan festival, brought in a stunning $1.6 million.

But what all those generous people want is not praise, but the satisfaction of seeing the money help a nation traumatized by natural disasters and a nuclear-power crisis.

We can only hope that Japan’s national resilience will quickly overcome the paralysis of local government in the devastated northeastern region and spend that money to ease the suffering.