Schools | Page 29 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

September 1, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hanahauʻoli

George Paul Cooke (grandson of missionaries Amos Starr and Juliette Montague Cooke, son of Charles Montague Cooke and Anna Charlotte (Rice) Cooke) and his wife Sophie Boyd Judd (granddaughter of missionaries Gerrit Parmele Judd and Laura Fish Judd, daughter of Albert Francis Judd and Agnes Hall Judd) started Hanahauʻoli School.

Hanahauʻoli (happy, joyous work) was a dream realized for George and Sophie Cooke in 1918, for their six children and those of many of their friend (it started with 16 children from ages 6 to 11 years old.)

It was a small school, from kindergarten through sixth grade where all the children cooperated as in a large family; it’s in the same location on the corner of Nowewehi (now Nehoa) and Makiki street.

Two small buildings surrounded by a lawn dotted with kiawe trees, a jungle gym and working gardens were the backdrop for shop, art, French and music, in addition to the more ‘traditional’ subjects.

An old bronze hand bell is rung to start and end the day. (The first bell was bought in 1914 by Sophie and her mother in Florence, Italy. The bell was first used to call the Cooke children from their play at Molokai Ranch.)

There long-held traditions (events and ‘rituals,’) most from the earliest days of the school, that help to build a strong social foundation for children who learn what it means to plan and look forward to experiences that have held meaning for generations.

These include, Makahiki, a celebration of thanksgiving; the Holiday Program and tree cutting; the 6th grade odyssey that includes stepping stone making; oratories and Olympics; morning flag; the Head of School handshaking at the end of the day and the slipper toss.

Makahiki started in 1932; the children were studying ancient Hawaiians and making Kapas (that they wore for the first time at Makahiki.) In addition, there were games in the school courtyard.

The first stepping stone day was in 1926; shop teacher, Mrs AA Wilson initially used wood for the frames to make the Stepping Stone, but now they use Styrofoam – students carve their designs, representing their personal “enthusiasms” and memories.

Slipper toss, started in the 1990s, is held on the last day of school every year in the courtyard to wish everyone a good summer. (“In case someone has the same slipper as you and for safety we only throw one slipper.”)

Former Principal Mary Ray Pohl Kahanamoku began Birthday Books (“it’s a way to celebrate a child’s birthday and at the same time to give a book to the Hanahauʻoli Library. A student gets to choose a book, then they make a fancy bookplate and put it in the book.”)

The Childrens’ Fair started as Hanahauʻoli Festival (it began 1920s.) In the beginning, the children did all the work, children made all the crafts they sold at the fairs (the 1933 fair raised $21.80 for the school.) Now there are “rides and games and lots more things, we have crafts that children can make at the fair to take home.”

Tree cutting got started because children at Hanahauʻoli used to get their Christmas trees from the Territorial Nursery in Makiki Valley. Later, they planted a Norfolk pine tree by the courtyard and when it got big enough they cut it down but left part of the trunk so another tree can grow for another Christmas. (They soon began growing more trees for future supply.)

Oratories started in 1963. “They use to tell stories and poems now they only tell Greek myths. … 6th graders get to choose which myth they want to present. They present their myths in the music room and people come in small groups to watch them.”

Graduation started in 1920 at the pavilion (back in 1918, only two students would be graduating.) Graduates got orange and white crepe paper lei they had to make themselves; now they’re made of orange and white ribbon.

Still a small school for 208-children from Junior Kindergarten through 6th grade, children are now in multi-age classes that acknowledge individual growth and developmental readiness.

Small wood frame buildings that opened out to play areas are now state of the art classrooms with 21st century technology built in, yet they still open to outdoor work and play areas that honor Hawai`i climate and complement project-based programs.

The 2.5-acre campus has facilities including classrooms for JK and 6th grade and multiage classrooms with homegroup learning spaces for K/1, 2/3 and 4/5; classrooms for each of 5 specialty areas, a library containing 15,000-volumes, Gym, playing field with climbing structure and outdoor hard court surface area.

Similar to the early days, there is a low faculty-student ratio and the curriculum remains true to the belief that disciplines are not separate and that learning integrates school life with the home and world. And, the traditions, events and ‘rituals’ continue. (Lots of information here is from Hanahauʻoli, including quotes from former students.)

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Hanahauoli-First_Buildings-1921-(hanahauoli)

Hanahauoli-Makahiki-1942-(hanahauoli)

Hanahauoli-Bell-(hanahauoli)

Hanahauoli_Stepping_Stones_Day-1960-(hanahauoli)

Hanahauoli_Fair-1920s-(hanahauoli)

Hanahauoli_Central_Courtyard-(hanahauoli)

Hanahauoli-new_building-2009-(hanahauoli)

Hanahauoli_Slipper_Toss-(hanahauoli)

June 21, 2016 by Peter T Young 7 Comments

English Standard School

‘One of the most potent factoid in this reorganization movement’ was the US Bureau of Education’s 1918 publication, the ‘Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education.’ Drafted by a commission of the National Education Association, it served as a kind of low-key national manifesto of the educational ideas of Dewey, Bode, and Kilpatrick. (Cary; Forbes)

In a democracy, it stated, the purpose of education should be to “develop in each individual the knowledge, interests, ideals, habits, and powers whereby he will find his place and use that place to shape both himself and society toward ever nobler ends.’

The ‘Seven Cardinal Principles’ were: 1. Health; 2. Command of fundamental processes; 3. Worthy home-membership; 4. Vocation; 5. Citizenship, 6. Worthy use of leisure; and 7. Ethical character. (Forbes)

Experience in Hawai‘i and elsewhere seems to indicate that, if they are able to, many parents will go to great lengths to provide their children with what they view as the ‘best’ education.

In the 1820s the missionaries in Hawai‘i sent their children on a six-month trip to New England at an early age because of the lack of Western educational opportunities and their unwillingness to have their children come into contact with Hawaiian children. (Hughes)

Compulsory education had been in effect since 1835 in Hawai’i, and educators in the kingdom and then the territory were proud of their record of universal education. (Hughes)

By 1850, English had become the medium of instruction in the Royal School, and was the language of business, diplomacy and, to a considerable extent, of government itself, but it was not until 1854 that the Hawaiian legislature officially authorized the establishment of a few classes in English for Hawaiians.

Provision was also made for the establishment of special school boards, empowered to set up English ‘select’ schools when suitable quarters had been acquired and a fund of $400 locally subscribed. (LRB)

Starting in approximately 1852 when Hawai‘i was a kingdom, the sugar planters and the Hawaiian government began importing laborers from Asia. In 1879, the importation spread to include Europe.

These laborers came for a limited period of time with the expectation on the part of the employer and the laborer that the workers would return to their country of origin at the end of the contract. For a variety of reasons, growing numbers of these laborers remained in Hawai’i after their initial contract had ended. (Hughes)

At time of annexation, there were 140 public schools, including industrial schools at Lahaina and Hilo, 55 private schools (including one Japanese school.)

As the children of the plantation workers came of school age they were required to attend public school and they rapidly increased the school population. Thus, a 1920 federal survey claimed that only 2-3 percent of the children entering the public schools at age six or seven could speak English. (Hughes)

`Through the 1920s, more than half of the high school students in the Territory attended McKinley High School. Among its 1929 student body of 2,339, nearly one of ten students was (Caucasian) … 43% were of Japanese ancestry and 20% of Chinese parentage. Eleven percent … were Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian and 4 percent were Portuguese’. (Manicas)

In the entire territory there were four high schools: McKinley (the former Honolulu High School;) Hilo, established in 1905; Maui (1913;) and Kauai (1914). The Territory had a proportionally smaller high-school enrollment than any of the forty-eight states, Puerto Rico or the Canal Zone.

In the early 1920s, an experiment had been made by the Central Grammar School of Honolulu in restricting enrollment on the basis of an oral English examination. It was a ‘select school’ for English-speaking children only.

The pressure of the growing Caucasian group and other parents concerned with the problem brought matters to a head. Public meetings were held, and the pros and cons heatedly debated. (LRB)

The prevailing view was that such schools were not proposed for Caucasians alone, or even for children of English-speaking homes, but were for children of all racial groups whose English was such as to justify homogeneity in organization. (LRB)

In 1924, the Department of Public Instruction established the policy of setting aside certain schools where admission was based upon ability to speak and use the English language. The first of these schools was Lincoln, in Honolulu.

When the upper grades of this school became the nucleus of Roosevelt Junior High School, the English standard plan was carried over to that institution. (LRB)

The English Standard system (patterned after the American standard school system) was established in 1924; this required students to pass an oral English entrance exam before being admitted.

Roosevelt was initially composed of grades seven to eleven and housed in temporary quarters in an old, Normal School building that formerly trained teachers for Hawai‘i’s public schools.

In 1937, the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades were permanently removed to the Normal School building, reorganized as an intermediate school, and Roosevelt High remained as a school for tenth and eleventh graders until 1939 when it became a three year high school . (NPS)

At that time, over 80% of children of Japanese descent were in some 175 Japanese language schools. These began instruction after the public school day ended. There were, in addition, 14 Chinese language schools and 10 Korean language schools. These numbered some 40,000 altogether. (Manicas)

After the war, the trend was toward the increase in number of the English standard section, designed to convert eventually all schools to the English standard. (LRB)

From the outset, the plan was that the English standard system would be an interim measure, one designed to last until the majority of children in the public system spoke English as their native language, presumably one generation.

The primary articulated goal was to ensure that the children of English-speaking parents were provided an education in which they were not held back in English and other subjects because of the presence of non-English-speaking children.

In 1941 a citizen’s group conducted a study of the school system and included in its report several comparisons between English standard and district school pupils. In every case the English standard children performed better academically than did the non-English standard children. (Hughes)

In 1949 the legislature passed Act 227, which ordered the Department of public Instruction to: “raise the standards of all public schools to the level of the English Standard system and to provide for the transition from the dual to the single standard system starting in September 1949”. It lasted until the early-1960s in some places.

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Roosevelt High School

April 8, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

‘Pāʻia High School’

“Because of the fact that there is no site available for the proposed high school at Paia, Maui, the building of which was authorized by the last legislature, it was decided at the meeting of the school commissioners yesterday afternoon that the school will have to be located elsewhere on the Valley Isle, although no definite site was named.”

“When built, however, the school will bear the name of the Pāʻia high school in keeping with the order of the legislature.” (Star Bulletin, June 27, 1913)

“It was at first thought that the school would be located at Pāʻia, but there was difficulty in securing a good site there. The Hāmākuapoko location is an ideal one and the people of Maui are lucky in getting such a fine site for their High School.”

“The county will build the school and the structure will be an up-to-date one. The Department of Public Instructions provides three teachers, and it will be up to the people of Maui to pay the salary of a fourth instructor.” (Maui News, July 5, 1913)

“There will be no tuition charged for admission, although this was the first plan. It is expected that the school will open with some thirty-five pupils in September in the upper department and many more in the school as a whole.” (Star-Bulletin, July 14, 1913)

Maui’s first co-educational high school opened in 1913 in a small frame building at Hāmākuapoko, close to bustling Pāʻia town and near the large plantation camps of East Maui. (OMHS) (It was known as Pāʻia High School, Maui High & Grammar School and, more commonly, Maui High School – now, Old Maui High School.)

When Maui High School was founded, the island was a rural community of some 32,000, mostly immigrants working in cane fields and sugar mills. Education was available only through grammar school, though boys could continue into their teen years at Lahainaluna, then a vocational-trade school.

The upper classes hired tutors, or sent their children to Punahou on O‘ahu or to the Mainland for secondary education. But a growing Caucasian middle class wanted their children educated at home. (Engledow)

“The school is answering a long-felt need on Maui. The basis for admission is a good knowledge of English. Heretofore it was impossible for pupils that spoke English at home to get the full attention they needed at various Maui schools, where the students were held back more or less by those who did not know English.”

“This was the condition everywhere in spite of the most earnest efforts of principals and assistants to have the condition otherwise.” (Star-Bulletin, October 6, 1913)

“The special train that the Kahului Railroad Company put on for carrying the pupils to that school is a very great convenience, for now the boys and girls can leave Wailuku as late as 8:30 and still arrive in time for the school work at the usual hour. This train is patronized by the pupils along the line of the railroad. The children near by come by other conveyance.” (Star-Bulletin, October 6, 1913)

Over the years, the campus expanded to 17,000 square feet along with the enrollment. (EPA) Noted Hawaiʻi architect Charles W. Dickey was chosen to design a large and inspiring school building, taking advantage of the site’s climate, landscape and views. In 1921 the concrete, mission-style administration and classroom building was opened.

Many more classrooms were added to the 24-acre campus, as well as teachers’ cottages, a gymnasium, an agricultural complex, athletic fields and a cafeteria. Students came from surrounding communities, central Maui and Upcountry, often by horseback, via Kahului Railroad trains or buses, or over the well-worn footpaths from neighboring plantation camps. (OMHS)

At its peak, just before World War II, as many as 1,000-students attended Maui High, coming in from throughout central Maui, some even by train. (Napier)

But island demographics changed. Central-Maui landowner, Alexander & Baldwin, formed Kahului Development Co, Ltd (KDCo) (the predecessor of A&B Properties, Inc) to serve as a development arm of the agricultural-based entity.

This timing coincided with the sugar company’s plan to close down some plantation camps. To provide for housing for its sugar workers, as well as meet post-WWII housing demand, KDCo announced a new residential development in Central Maui, in the area we now refer to as Kahului.

“Dream City,” a planned residential community was launched and over the next couple decades 3,500+ fee simple homes were offered for sale in 14-increments of the new development.

Under this 25-year plan, Kahului quickly became one of the first and most successful planned towns west of the Rockies – and the first in Hawai‘i.

As the development proceeded, the plantation camps were closed down, one by one, according to a schedule that gave the workers and the workers unions ten years’ advance notice.

It was announced that the plantation planned to be out of the housing business within ten years of the start of the project, and February 1, 1963, was the date it was all supposed to shut down. It took a little longer than that, but the schedule was implemented pretty much as planned.

Enrollment at Maui High began to steadily decline, as plantation camps closed and families moved to modern subdivisions in central Maui.

In 1972, the present Maui High School campus opened in the Dream City of Kahului. The school is now comprised of twelve major buildings, 36 portable classrooms and several athletic facilities on 75 acres.

At the time, over 60% of the school’s student body traveled from the northeast sector, a predominantly agricultural and rural community. Central Maui students were added to the school’s population at that time. (Maui High)

A notable alum of the Old Maui High was Patsy Takemoto, a Hāmākuapoko Camp student in the class of 1944; we knew her as Patsy Mink.

She became the first Japanese-American woman to be elected to the Territorial House of Representatives, the first Asian-American woman to be elected to the US Congress, a 1972 candidate for US president (running on an anti-war platform) and the author of Title IX legislation, aka The Patsy T Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act. (Wood)

Today, the Friends of Old Maui High School are working with government and private groups to develop a preservation plan, obtain funding and eventually rehabilitate the Dickey-designed building (to become the Patsy Takemoto Mink Center.)

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Old Maui High School_OMHS

Old Maui High School_aerial-OMHS

Old_Maui_High_School-train-OMHS

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Kahului-Dream_City-Master_Plan-(co-maui-hi-us)-1947

Kahului-1950-1977-(co-maui-hi-us)

April 1, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

William Brewster Oleson

On April 1, 1886, Reverend William Brewster Oleson was hired from Hilo Boarding School to become the first principal of the Kamehameha School for Boys.

Oleson was born in Portland, Maine, September 9, 1851, educated at the University of Maine, and graduated from the Theological Seminary at Oberlin, Ohio, in 1877; after a short pastorate at Gambler, Ohio, came to Hawaiʻi.

For eight years he held the principalship of Hilo Boarding School, so long occupied by Father David Belden Lyman, resigning only to accept the pioneer work of organizing the Kamehameha Schools. (HMCS)

“Only a limited number of Students will be received this year, and those desiring to enter the School in the future must apply on the 1st day of September 1887.”

“Each student will occupy a separate room furnished with bed, table, and chair; and a list of items to be furnished by each student will be sent if asked for in advanced to the teacher.”

“Each student will be allowed to carry out 12 hours a week of manual labor. For industrial arts, two hours a day, and five days a week. Military drilling and physical education will be a portion of the curriculum everyday.”

“Arithmetic, English Language, Popular Science (Akeakamai,) Elementary Algebra (Anahonua,) Free-hand and Mechanical Drawing (Kakau me Kaha Kii,) Practical Geometry (Moleanahonua,) Bookkeeping (malama Buke Kalepa,) tailoring (tela humu lole,) printing (pai palapala,), masonry (hamo puna,) and other similar things, and blacksmithing.” (Kuokoa, June 28, 1887)

Oleson brought nine of his most prized pupils with him to Kamehameha Schools to create the school’s inaugural class. By then, Hilo Boarding School was the model for educating students at Hampton Institute in Virginia and Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

On October 3, 1887, Kamehameha Schools for Boys opened for students and holds classes. By October 12, 37 boys over the age of twelve are enrolled; there were 4 teachers. On November 4 1887, opening day ceremonies take place with much pomp and circumstance.

Oleson was the principal, WS Terry served as superintendent of shops, Mrs F Johnson was a matron, instructor Miss CA Reamer would later become the principal of the preparatory school and Miss LL Dressler also served as an instructor. (KSBE)

At the opening ceremonies, “Prof Alexander on being asked for remarks expressed his regret that Hon C R Bishop who had such an interest in the school was absent on the Coast. The institution of a technical school had often been discussed in Honolulu>”

“He rejoiced that the wishes of the noble lady foundress had been so successfully carried out. Founded upon a rock the institution he hoped would long stand on the rock and that it would keep the memory of its foundress green until generations yet unborn should call her blessed.” (Hawaiian Gazette, November 8, 1887)

A year later the Preparatory Department, for boys 6 to 12 years of age, opened in adjacent facilities. (Organization of the Kamehameha School for Girls was delayed until 1894.)

During a visit to see General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, Hampton’s founder, Oleson picked up the idea of including military training in Kamehameha’s curriculum (1888.) (Rath)

Officers were appointed by Oleson and were responsible for discipline and marching to and from town. Oleson was in charge of drills, but teachers joined in the marches to church or other meetings. In September 1899, the boys wore their uniforms to class and drills.

He was disciplinarian, nurse, mother and father to each boy, and he attended every baseball game.

Oleson wrote the Kamehameha Schools alma mater, “Sons of Hawaiʻi” together with Theodore Richards, who adapted the tune from Yale’s “Wake, Freshman, Wake” and chose the school colors based on Yale school colors (‘Yale Blue’ and white.)

“Into this noble institution he threw the whole of his ability and energy for another eight years, and then returned to the continent for the education of his children.”

There he served as pastor at Worcester, Ware, Holyoke and for other Congregational churches for about fourteen years. He came again to Honolulu in 1908 and was elected Secretary of the Hawaiian Board of Missions, a position he has filled with honor till called to higher service.

Oleson’s executive ability, his clear thinking and good judgment, his firmness and decision, his ability to understand human nature, his optimism, his kindness, all combined to make him an excellent instructor.

His clear, concise statements also, so helpful for an educator were equally effective as a speaker, as a counselor, and as a leader of thought among men with whom he had later to deal. His courteous manners and winsome personality made for him many friends, while his courageous portrayal of the “faith of the fathers” won for him the respect of all. (HMCS)

Oleson was outspoken and politically active, becoming a member of the Reform Party, a founding member and executive officer of the Hawaiian League, and one of the “persons chiefly engaged in drawing up the (Bayonet) constitution.” (Williams)

On December 19, 1907, Reverend William B Oleson delivered a stirring address at an impressive and well-attended Founder’s day ceremony (alumni have raised funds among themselves to defray the expense of the Oleson’s trip from the continent to Hawaii:)

“For twenty years our youth have had a training that has justified itself in the results. Work has been treated as an honorable and necessary thing. Self-mastery in work-shop and class-room has been the constant goal.”

“Constantly widening opportunities have been afforded here for the development of aptitude, and that always in the direction of ability to earn a living. And this training has not been in vain. There are men and women all over these islands today who are living industrious and useful lives for which they gained the incentive and preparation here.” (Oleson; KSBE)

Reverend William Brewster Oleson died on the eastward-bound train at Seligman, Arizona, on March 19, 1915. His health had not been good and he was anticipating a six months’ vacation among the scenes of his youth. (HMCS)

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Rev. William Oleson is the first principal to serve at Kamehameha Schools

Early Teachers at Kamehameha Schools

v2_7B [Dormitory Row]-(KSBE)

Kamehameha School for Boys campus-(KSBE)-before 1900

L2R-Dormitory A, Dormitory B, the Dining-Kitchen-Classroom Building, Dormitory C-ksbe

Bishop Memorial Chapel-(KSBE)-1897

Teacher’s Cottage is visible behind this grove of trees on the Kaʻiwiula campus

Reunion of Kamehameha Schools 1st graduating class-kuokoa-06_16_1916

Kamehameha_School_for_Girls_sewing_class,-(WC)_late_1890s

Kamehameha_School_for_Boys_Print_Shop,-(WC)_1897

Kamehameha Schools Advertisement-HawnGazette-May 31, 1887

March 17, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Two Cummins Schools – Now None

Today, Washington Intermediate and Liholiho Elementary serve their respective communities in Pawaʻa and Kaimuki.

But they weren’t known as such (at least by conflicting claims of the City and Territory.) Depending on who you talked to, each was known as Cummins School, named after John Adams Kuakini Cummins.

Cummins, born March 17, 1835 in Honolulu, was a namesake of Hawaii Island Governor John Adams Kuakini (1789–1844 – Queen Ka‘ahumanu’s brother,) who had taken the name of John Quincy Adams when Americans were settling on the Islands in the 1820s.

In the 1840s, Cummins’ father (Thomas Jefferson Cummins (1802–1885)) first developed a cattle ranch and horse ranch on the windward side. By the 1880s, facing diminishing, John began to grow sugar cane in place of cattle. That plantation was known as the Waimanalo Sugar Company.

On June 17, 1890, Cummins became Minister of Foreign Affairs in King Kalākaua’s cabinet. When Kalākaua died and Queen Liliʻuokalani came to the throne in early 1891, she replaced all the ministers.

Cummins resigned February 25, 1891. He was replaced by Samuel Parker who was another part-Hawaiian. (There is a photo of both Cummins and Parker serving as kāhili bearers for Keʻelikōlani (Princess Ruth.))

Cummins supported the constitutional monarchy; after the overthrow in early 1893, Liliʻuokalani asked Cummins to travel to the continent to lobby for its restoration. Cummins died March 21, 1913. His great-grandson was Mayor Neal Blaisdell.

OK, back to the schools … here’s how the confusion, and correction, came about:

Both schools were built the same year, 1926.

Back then, the Territorial Department of Public Instruction (now the DOE) provided the instruction in schools and the City, through the Board of Supervisors (now the County Council,) owned the school properties and buildings.

The Department named the Pawaʻa school first – consistent with their policy, they called it Washington Intermediate (it was the first Intermediate school on O‘ahu.)

However, the Board of Supervisors wanted the school to be called Cummins Intermediate. (The Pawaʻa school is built on land that was formerly owned by Cummins and the City wanted to recognize that.)

Actually, before Cummins owned it, Anthony D Allen (a former slave from the continent) had his home there (including about a dozen other houses.) Several references note his property as a “resort;” “… it is a favourite resort of the more respectable of the seamen who visit Honoruru. …” (Reverend Charles Stewart) It may have been Waikiki’s first hotel.

Allen entertained often and made his property available for special occasions. “King (Kauikeaouli – Kamehameha III) had a Grand Dinner at AD Allen’s. The company came up at sunset. Music played very late.” (Reynolds – Scruggs, HJH)

Missionaries Hiram and Sybil Bingham (my great-great-great grandparents) also visited. Sybil noted in her diary, “He set upon the table decanters and glasses with wine and brandy to refresh us”. They ended dinner “with wine and melons”.

OK, back to the new schools … as a compromise to the naming issue, the Department kept the Washington name for the Pawaʻa school and named the new elementary school in Kaimuki, Cummins School.

That didn’t go over very well with the City and County and they refused to recognize the name – and they continued to call the Pawaʻa school Cummins Junior High School, while the Territory called that school Washington Intermediate.

The Kaimuki school was referred to by the City and County as Liholiho School, and the Territorial Department of Public Instruction called it Cummins School.

To further add to the confusion, the PTA for the Kaimuki school was known as the ‘Liholiho Parent Teacher Association of Cummins School.’

Effectively, there were two Cummins Schools, depending on who you talked to. The issue was resolved (somewhat) in 1935.

“Ending a longstanding uncertainty, the public school at Maunaloa and 9th avenues, Kaimuki, which has been variously known as Cummins School and Liholiho School since its establishment several years ago, will henceforth be known as Liholiho School.”

For some, the Pawaʻa school on King Street continued to be called Cummins Junior High School, and the name appeared over its door, although the education department clung to its policy of naming Intermediate schools after American Presidents or members of the Hawaiian Royal family, and called it Washington.

Reconstruction of the buildings at Pawaʻa seemed to settle the matter and the school is now referred to as Washington Middle School; and, Liholiho Elementary continues to operate in Kaimuki.

Neither, now, is referred to as Cummins. (Lots of information here is from Star Bulletin, June 3, 1935.)

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