Single-gender schools on the wane

The occasion of St. Francis School’s Class of 2012 graduation coming up on Sunday — its final all-girls class — gives one pause. It’s continuing a private-school trend away from single-gender schools (Damien Memorial School won’t be an all-boys school with the next incoming class), and people can reasonably wonder if that’s going to continue.

There are some across the country who lobby for single-gender education in public schools as well, though that seems unlikely to happen here. Hawaii’s charter schools would be the logical place to try such an experiment, but the law seems to preclude that. Look it up in Chapter 302B: Charter schools require, among other things, "a plan for identifying, recruiting, and selecting students that is not exclusive, elitist, or segregationist."

Of course, if someone wants to start a charter for a school with, say, a focus on women’s studies and see who signs up, that could work, right?

Carroll Cox, man of action

Many people can talk a good game about the greater good, but few actually walk the walk.

That’s why it’s often a take-notice moment when environmentalist/ activist Carroll Cox springs into action, uncovering or publicizing some questionable occurrence. The guy seems to have his antennae up 24/7 — and he’s akamai enough to know when, and when not, to sound the alarm.

The latest incident came this weekend, when Cox alerted the media and officials to mounds of plastic foam, concrete and wood washing ashore near Kalaeloa. Turns out the debris is likely from a broken floating dock system.

Realizing that government response comes to a virtual halt over the weekend, credit goes to Cox — as well as state Land Director William Aila — for walking Kalaeloa’s beaches to monitor and collecting the debris for environmental analysis Monday.