Kamehameha Schools

Kamehameha Schools, formerly called Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, is a private co-educational college preparatory institution in Honolulu, Hawai'i serving over 5,500 students in grades pre-school through twelfth. Kamehameha Schools was established in 1887 under the terms of the last will and testament of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a direct descendant of Kamehameha the Great and last Princess of the House of Kamehameha. Bishop's will established a trust currently called the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, the largest private landowner in the State of Hawai'i. Income from the trust is used to operate the schools. Admissions preference is given to students of native Hawaiian descent. A 1999 reorganization plan broke up Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate into two separate entities.

Campuses

Kamehameha Schools operates three campuses. The main campus is located on Kapālama Heights, overlooking downtown Honolulu and Honolulu Harbor. It serves 3,200 students including 550 boarding students from the neighbor islands. There are two satellite campuses on the islands of Hawai'i and Maui. The satellite campuses serve a combined student body of 1,230. In addition to the three campuses, Kamehameha Schools operates thirty-two pre-schools throughout Hawai'i. The pre-schools serve over 1,000 students statewide.

Kamehameha Schools is administered by the five-member Board of Trustees of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate. The 1999 reorganization prompted the creation of a plan that would limit micromanagement by the Board of Trustees. In response to that need, day-to-day operations are currently managed by an appointed Chief Executive Officer who is invested with autonomy over educational matters.

Early history

In 1883, Bernice Pauahi Bishop directed that the remainder of her estate be held in trust "to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools...one for boys and one girls, to be known as and called the Kamehameha Schools." She directed her five trustees to invest her estate at their discretion and use the annual income to operate the schools, and also:

...to devote a portion of each years income to the support and education of orphans, and others in indigent circumstances, giving the preference to Hawaiians of pure or part aboriginal blood...

She also directed:

• that replacement trustees be appointed by the Hawaii Supreme Court, and that they be Protestants, and
• that all teachers be Protestant, without regard to denomination. [1] (http://www.ksbe.edu/endowment/bpbishop/will/allwill.html)

After Mrs. Bishop's death in 1884, her husband Charles Reed Bishop started work in carrying out her will. The original Kamehameha School for Boys was established in 1887 on the site of the current Bishop Museum. The girls' school was established in 1894 on a nearby campus. By 1955 the schools moved to their current 600 acre (2.4 km²) headquarters in Kapalama Heights.

Reorganization

Hawai'i State Attorney General Margery Bronster attempted to oust Bishop Estate trustees for abuse of power. The Hawai'i State Senate, closely alligned with the trustees, fired Bronster.

Before 1997, the KSBE trustees were appointed by the Hawaii State Supreme Court. Many of the Bishop Estate trustees that were appointed in recent history were also former government leaders. Commissions paid to the trustees in 1997 were about $800,000 to $900,000 annually.

At the same time, there were allegations by some at Kamehameha Schools that the trustees were micromanaging the schools. Duties among the trustees were divided so that each trustee would be a "lead trustee" overseeing a particular part of the estate's operations. In particular, trustee Lokelani Lindsey, lead trustee for educational affairs, was blamed for low morale among students and faculty.

On August 9, 1997, UH Board of Regents Chair Gladys Brandt, retired judge Walter Heen, Msgr. Charles Kekumano, federal judge Samuel King, and UH professor Randall Roth released a report titled "Broken Trust," which, among other things, called on the State Attorney General's office to fully investigate the management of KSBE. The report alleged, among other things, that:

• the method of selecting trustees (appointment by the Hawaii Supreme Court) was flawed,
• the trustees did not fully understand their fiduciary responsibilities, and
• the trustees were not held accountable for their actions. [2] (http://starbulletin.com/specials/bishop/story2.html)

On August 12, 1997, Governor Ben Cayetano directed Attorney General Margery Bronster to perform a preliminary investigation into the allegations against KSBE. In her report on September 10, 1997, she found that "the rights of the beneficiaries may be at substantial risk," and that there were "credible allegations that the intent of Bernice Pauahi Bishop is not being implemented." [3] (http://starbulletin.com/97/09/10/news/story1.html)

This investigation continued through 1998, and reached its climax when Bronster sought the permanent removal of Lindsey and fellow trustees Richard Wong and Henry Peters. On May 6, 1999, after a six-month trial, Lindsey was permanently removed as trustee (Lindsey later appealed her removal). A day later, trustees Wong, Peters, and Gerard Jervis were also temporarily removed. The fifth trustee, Oswald Stender, voluntarily resigned. An interim board was appointed by the Probate Court to run the estate in the meantime.

The investigation also proved to be costly for Attorney General Bronster, whose renomination to her post was defeated by the State Senate on April 28, 1999 by a vote of 14-11.

Jervis resigned permanently on August 20, 1999. The trials for permanent removal of the remaining three trustees were set on December 13, 1999. Wong offered his permanent resignation on December 3, 1999; Peters did the same on December 13; and Lindsey voluntarily resigned on December 17.

Admissions policy

In accordance with the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the Kamehameha Schools gives preference in admissions to applicants of Native Hawaiian descent "to the extent permitted by law." Special consideration is also given to orphans and "indigent" applicants. [4] (http://www.ksbe.edu/services/admissions/mainpage.html)

The admissions policy of Kamehameha Schools has been a subject of controversy in recent years. In 2002 Kamehameha Schools admitted a non-Hawaiian student to its Maui campus for the first time in 40 years. The student was admitted after all qualified Hawaiian applicants were admitted. This decision sparked protest from the Hawaiian community and Kamehameha alumni.

Kamehameha Schools was a defendant in two lawsuits in 2003 in regard to its admissions policy. In June 2003, an unidentified non-Hawaiian student sued Kamehameha Schools in federal court claiming that its preference in admitting Hawaiian students violated federal anti-discrimination law. In November, Hawaii District Judge Alan Kay dismissed the lawsuit, finding that Kamehameha Schools serves a "legitimate, remedial purpose by improving native Hawaiians' socioeconomic and educational disadvantages." [5] (http://starbulletin.com/2003/11/18/news/story1.html) The case is currently on appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The second lawsuit was filed in August 2003 by Brayden Mohica-Cummings, a seventh-grade applicant who was admitted to the Kapalama Heights campus after his mother, who was adopted by a Hawaiian family, said her son was Hawaiian. But the offer was rescinded after Santos was unable to document her son's Hawaiian ancestry. [6] (http://starbulletin.com/2003/11/29/news/story3.html) Because the admission offer was rescinded a week before the school year was scheduled to start, Federal Judge David Ezra issued a temporary restraining order requiring Kamehameha to admit Mohica-Cummings pending a final decision on the case. The case was settled out-of-court in November 2003, when Kamehameha Schools agreed to let Mohica-Cummings attend until he graduates in exchange for dropping the lawsuit. [7] (http://starbulletin.com/2003/11/29/news/story3.html)

External links

• Kamehameha Schools official web site (http://www.ksbe.edu)
• Honolulu Star-Bulletin Bishop Estate archive (http://starbulletin.com/specials/bishop1997.html)