COVID-19 Was ‘The Last Straw’ For Hawaii’s Oldest Catholic School…St. Ann School has been a fixture in Kaneohe for more than a century but couldn’t overcome pressure from declining enrollment and growing expenses.
t. Ann School, the oldest Catholic school in Hawaii, persevered through some of the most turbulent chapters of Hawaii’s history, including the 1853 smallpox epidemic and the 1918 flu pandemic. But it couldn’t beat COVID-19.
The Windward Oahu parochial K-8 school, attached to an eponymous church that was founded by Catholic missionaries from the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in 1841, has been a fixture in Kaneohe since before the overthrow and has taught many generations of families.
It also reflected the changing demographics of both the community that lines Kaneohe Bay on the eastern edge of Honolulu, and Catholic schools nationwide.
