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The Academy of the Pacific, a small private school in Alewa Heights, is shutting down due to financial struggles, the school’s board chairman announced Monday.
“Due to declining enrollment and increased financial pressures on families leading to greater need for tuition assistance, the school can no longer financially sustain itself nor continue to offer our students the very best in 21st century education,” Board Chairman Barron Guss said in a statement.
The nondenominational school, which served about 100 students in grades 6 through 12, was established to serve “creative and outside-the-box learners,” according to the school’s website. It charged tuition of $17,700.
While Guss said the board would “explore a variety of future possibilities,” a letter posted on the school’s website says the campus will “indefinitely cease academic operations” effective for the upcoming 2013-14 school year.
Guss, who graduated from the school, said the school “is proud of the role we have played in helping generations of students reach their potential” since its founding in 1961.
Head of School Lou Young said the school is working with the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools to help currently enrolled students find alternative schools.
