Preschoolers at Kuhio Elementary School waved goodbye yesterday to a 90-year-old monkeypod tree that was a campus icon but was cut down after experts diagnosed it as diseased and at risk of toppling.

"It was a centerpiece of the school and the community," Principal Evelyn Aczon Hao said.

The monkeypod sat in the center of the playground and had presided over assemblies, community fairs and an annual songfest.

The tree had been a part of Kuhio School and the Mo'ili'ili community even before the school was named after Prince Kuhio in 1923. It was about 2 1/2 stories tall, and Hao said seven kindergarteners with their arms outstretched would almost be able to reach all the way around the trunk.

But a week before school let out last month, state officials informed Hao that the tree would have to be cut down for safety reasons.

On graduation day in June, the entire school took a picture under its branches.

Six workers from Paradise Tree Service arrived at Kuhio School about 9:30 a.m. yesterday. Two men climbed to the upper branches and tied ropes around their waists, strapping themselves to two large limbs and removing sections with chainsaws. Other workers below picked up the discarded branches and fed them noisily into a shredder.

Meanwhile, a crowd of about 40 gathered to watch. They included office staff, custodians, neighbors, about 15 preschoolers and former students who played under the tree growing up.

Hao said Kuhio School received several calls from community members throughout the day. "They said, 'What are you doing cutting down that tree?' "

In April, The Outdoor Circle and an arborist sent by the Department of Education concluded that the tree was dying because of damage to the inside of its trunk.

There was immediate concern that the branches or the tree itself might fall and injure students playing under it.

Hao said she was doubtful at first but concerned for the safety of her students.

She was disappointed when shown a cross-section of the trunk yesterday, where she picked out about 2 to 3 inches of visible damage.

"There wasn't too much damage at all," she said, and added, "But I'm not an arborist. I only know what I see and I have to depend on the experts."

"I dreaded this day," Hao said. "But now that it's over, we'll move on."

The school will look for a new tree to provide shade for students at recess. Hao said she hopes to get a mature monkeypod "so we don't have to wait another 90 years."

The school saved round slices of stump to turn into seats for the playground and a section of the trunk, four feet in diameter, with which they will make a sculpture to preserve their memory of the tree.