Kamehameha Schools Admissions Policy

[lurkah]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

Maybe this latest turn of events can be used to the advantage of the kanaka maoli. Maybe this will be the last straw that will unite all of the different factions into one single strong voice, which is the only way the kanaka maoli will ever see justice served to them and their heritage. Since there is no Kamehameha to unite them, let this taking away of another part of their birthright unite them into constructive action. Imua, keiki o ka 'aina!

Too bad this website no can play background music. "Kaulana Na Pua" would be so apropos...

[Miulang]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

Too bad this website no can play background music. "Kaulana Na Pua" would be so apropos...

I get cheeken skin and wa'i maka now!

Miulang

[alohabear]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

You all make good points on your replies and I support KSBE... My only gripe is that I still feel Pauahi's vision was that of a school for ALL Hawaiians . not just the "smart and rich" who do well on a test.... But ALL the keiki! With over 6 billion dollars KSBE can afford to fund the programs for the Hawaiian keiki with special needs as well as the super elite. DOE cares so little about the Hawaiian culture and ALL the Hawaiian keiki who are not allowed in KSBE suffer. Forget about the moneies and programs KSBE gives to our public schools now....admit ALL of the keiki then maybe as a proud race , united by our culture, and one big ohana...we can ALL make things pono! Like Miulang said KSBE is a birthright for the Kanaka maoli, ALL of them.

Aloha

[adrian]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

Does anyone know if the kid was born and raised on the mainland and came here, or born/raised here in a haole family?

And what's up with the kid trying to get into Kam for his last year of school? Where he has been going for the past 11 years?

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

You all make good points on your replies and I support KSBE... My only gripe is that I still feel Pauahi's vision was that of a school for ALL Hawaiians . not just the "smart and rich" who do well on a test.... But ALL the keiki! With over 6 billion dollars KSBE can afford to fund the programs for the Hawaiian keiki with special needs as well as the super elite. DOE cares so little about the Hawaiian culture and ALL the Hawaiian keiki who are not allowed in KSBE suffer. Forget about the moneies and programs KSBE gives to our public schools now....admit ALL of the keiki then maybe as a proud race , united by our culture, and one big ohana...we can ALL make things pono! Like Miulang said KSBE is a birthright for the Kanaka maoli, ALL of them.

Actually, Pauahi specifically wrote that she wanted the schools to help the poor:

I direct my trustees to invest the remainder of my estate in such manner as they may think best, and to expend the annual income in the maintenance of said schools; meaning thereby the salaries of teachers, the repairing buildings and other incidental expenses; and 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; the proportion in which said annual income is to be divided among the various objects above mentioned to be determined solely by my said trustees they to have full discretion.

(From Pauahi's will)

[adrian]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

Here's yet another mainland response to the article I posted on their forums.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

Here's yet another mainland response to the article I posted on their forums.

You might get better quality responses by posting somewhere else. That one is a subforum of a completely technical set of geek forums. What did you expect? Consider the audience.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

You all make good points on your replies and I support KSBE... My only gripe is that I still feel Pauahi's vision was that of a school for ALL Hawaiians . not just the "smart and rich" who do well on a test.... But ALL the keiki! With over 6 billion dollars KSBE can afford to fund the programs for the Hawaiian keiki with special needs as well as the super elite. DOE cares so little about the Hawaiian culture and ALL the Hawaiian keiki who are not allowed in KSBE suffer. Forget about the moneies and programs KSBE gives to our public schools now....admit ALL of the keiki then maybe as a proud race , united by our culture, and one big ohana...we can ALL make things pono! Like Miulang said KSBE is a birthright for the Kanaka maoli, ALL of them.

Aloha

Alohabear, understand one thing, KSBE is asset rich yet cash poor. Their $6-billion is locked up in land assets. And guess who is trying to take those lands away from KSBE? The state government thru forced lease to fee conversions.

If KSBE were to utilize all of it's $6-billion for the education of all Hawaiians, there would be no more money left for future generations of Hawaiians.

And remember just over 90% of the student body at Kamehameha Schools are subsidized thru the trust, the majority being 100% subsidized. So monetarily, KSBE is paying for virtually all of it's student enrollment. It's not for the richest and the smartest...just the smartest that attend the campuses. The rest could care less about educational opportunities and would simply squander their place at Kamehameha with poor grades, as what happened before when admissions was based on a lottery.

So the richest don't go to Kamehameha as a matter of fact because almost 100% of the student body is 100% subsidized that means they qualified for low income based enrollment...far from being rich. I'm not rich and I pay full tuition for my boys to go there. They got there because they demonstrated the vision of Pauahi thru their grades and attitude, something some Hawaiians properly lack.

As for those who didn't get in, KSBE subsidizes (pay for) Hawaiian studies curricullum to those public schools for those students who didn't get in. KSBE's outreach programs touch those who didn't get in, including those who want to go to college despite not being an alumni.

Don't you get it? KSBE does pay for most Hawaiians' educational needs. The campuses can only take in so many. The rest have to get their trust needs thru outreach programs and scholarships.

The fact is that there are a lot of programs dedicated to the needs of Hawaiians not only thru KSBE but OHA and programs such as Alu Like. Hawaiians know these programs exists but some I'm afraid are just too friggin lazy to take advantage of all the support out there for them.

I'm 100% Japanese and when I see the kinds of support my Hawaiian family gets, I wish somehow I could just inject a drop of Hawaiian blood into my veins just so I too can take advantage of these golden opportunities.

Being a third-generation Japanese American citizen I have no economic or academic support from any agency in America! But for the Hawaiians, man you can apply and get a small business loan thru OHA plus the necessary training and support thru them to start a business. Now if you're a wartime vet and a native Hawaiian, man the VA and OHA plus educational opportunities thru KSBE is all you need to get educated and start a business.

Me I need a fat bank account and good friends at the UH to get ahead.

Hawaiians have many opportunities to get ahead in this world. KSBE is one way and not only thru it's campuses. KSBE does provide for non-alumni to benefit from the trust. KSBE does provide for Hawaiian preschoolers to attend pre schools either at their off site campus at Kapalama or any of their satellite pre schools or subsidized private preschools statewide! AND KSBE provides for public elementary,middle and high schools operated by the DOE the necessary Hawaiian culture teachings that Princess Pauahi wanted in her children.

From Preschool to college and beyond, KSBE does provide for all Hawaiians. All the Hawaiians have to do is to recognize that fact and take advantage of the many programs offered to them. Going to the campuses of KSBE is only one way to benefit from Pauahi's legacy, there are many many more ways out there but most are simply tunnel-visioned to see only the three main campuses as a way to get ahead as a Hawaiian.

If all Hawaiians had formed a chamber of commerce back in the 60's, I think their economic situation would be one of greatness instead of welfare. Strength in numbers. The Japanese, Filipino, Korean and Chinese all knew that and formed their own economic commerce networks. The Japanese Chamber of Commerce is one of Hawaii's most influential and rich institutions in the islands and it's no question who are the powerhouse names in business here in Hawaii.

KSBE offers educational opportunites that can enrich all Hawaiians regardless if their alumni of the campuses or not...my wife is one of them and she graduated from Leileihua High School in Wahiawa. She never went to Kamehameha but thru Pauahi, she got her Masters in Early Childhood Education at Chaminade thru KSBE scholarships. That's how it works!

[Miulang]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

A report from Maui today on the sentiments being expressed on that island.

I was reading the Advertiser forums on this topic...man oh man. If the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had polled kanaka maoli and non kanaka maoli in Hawai'i for their opinion and then based their ruling on what they heard, the ruling would have been in favor of KSBE being able to continue its current admission policies.

In fact, on Maui, the reason that non-Hawaiian boy (whose mother was hanai'd to a Hawaiian family) got admitted to the Maui campus is because there was a slot open that couldn't be filled by a qualified kanaka maoli keiki on Maui. The boy, by the way, is doing well at KSBE.

"...Following protests of the first non-Hawaiian’s admittance to the Maui campus, Kamehameha officials announced in 2002 that they would remove potential barriers in the admissions process. Such barriers included application fees and the cutoff standard during the evaluation of student candidates.

While the school was to continue its search for the “best and brightest” Hawaiian students, it said it would emphasize in its student candidate evaluations the overall potential of each child.

Kamehameha’s former chief executive officer, Hamilton McCubbin, explained in 2002 that the school has accepted non-Hawaiians in the past when applications from Native Hawaiians have been exhausted.

Chamberlain [the current Maui headmaster] said Tuesday that all slots have been filled for this school year and the earliest a new admissions policy would take effect would be for school year 2006-07...."

I still say, open the school up to any comers, but only subsidize the education of the kanaka maoli keiki as specified in Pauahi's will. Once the parents of the non-Hawaiian children discover that the true cost of an education at KSBE is around $30,000/year, they might think twice about applying. And non Hawaiian parents have no leg to stand on by trying to sue KBSE for an equal chance at the scholarships. That would be like my grandpa putting me in his will, and a total stranger who never met my grandpa sues his estate for some of my inheritance. No way, Jose. This decision has broader implications than just the admission policies at KSBE. It could affect the right of a person (any person, black, white, yellow, brown, red) to designate his beneficiaries and what he wants to bequeath. This is bad law.

Imua!

Miulang

[pzarquon]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

My only gripe is that I still feel Pauahi's vision was that of a school for ALL Hawaiians . not just the "smart and rich" who do well on a test.... But ALL the keiki!

I think it's time to reorder priorities, though. While you're worried about "{x} Hawaiians but not {y} Hawaiians getting in," clearly the larger looming issue is having the doors forced open to anyone and everyone. If you think the odds of attending Kamehameha were bad under the current Hawaiians-first policy -- whether it favor academic excellence or the economically disadvantaged -- imagine what it'll be like when every parent in Hawaii sends in an application.

If the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had polled kanaka maoli and non kanaka maoli in Hawai'i for their opinion and then based their ruling on what they heard, the ruling would have been in favor of KSBE being able to continue its current admission policies.

Um, except, thank god, or courts are not popularity contests or public polls. There will, hopefully in fact, always be cases where decisions will go against the prevailing public opinion. Their charge is to make the right decision, not the one that'll make everyone happy.

The fact of the matter is, without something like the Akaka Bill in place, there's a very sound, reasonable, legal case to be made challenging KSBE's admissions policy. We know Native Hawaiians are a special class due more to political disenfranchisement than due to race, but until that's codified in law, it's irrelevant, and until KSBE is exempt from U.S. law (which is, of course, quite unlikely), it's stuck.

I still say, open the school up to any comers, but only subsidize the education of the kanaka maoli keiki as specified in Pauahi's will.

I've long held a similar opinion. Having "race-based" admissions might be contrary to federal law, but certainly there are scholarship programs across this country that are completely in the clear to designate their beneficiaries based on ethnicity, economic class, heck, even hair color or favorite flavor of gum. So, if admissions must be open, at least price the education competitively, and meanwhile heavily subsidize Native Hawaiian kids.

The problem with this? There will always be a large community of people who will happily buy their kids' way into Kamehameha, regardless of price. So KSBE will become more a school of the financially elite rather than the motivated, or deserving. Then, further down the line, you'll soon run into issues where there will be calls for ratios -- say, open enrollment student population versus scholarship population -- and you can't very well say KSBE's student body will be 99.9 percent KSBE scholarship recipients (i.e. Native Hawaiians) without running into the same sticky thorns that have snagged 'em now.

It's a mess. No doubt about it. And my reading of the 9th Circuit decision and past calls by the Supreme Court make it seem like its chances of even being heard are nil, and that should it make it onto the calendar, it'll have a slim chance of finding any fans.

Again, without some special political class a la Native Americans set in law, the courts can only go by what's on the books today, and by those books, KSBE is in a very dark and scary area.

[waioli kai]

U$izms afflicting Humanity

Kamehameha Schools is not a " 'Hawaii' ( US recognized) State" supported corporation/group/peoples/people/terrorist/racist/anti-US entity that must pretend to be as righteous as is now professes to be US of the United States in their wars in defense of FDA-approved 'Drugs', in defense of corporUSizm, in defense of Freedom-by-US, in defense of Liberty-for-US, in defense of Just-for-US, and a plethora of other U$izms afflicting Humanity.

Attorneys, estates (Campbell), newspapers (Thurston's Advertiser) who give not a hoot for civil rights, who in fact are in/of the same immoral pool of vested US 'Americans' whose generations expropriated the wealth of the Americas and virtually decimated the native populations of North America, light up in self-righteous condemnation of Kamahameha Schools century old policies of helping to bring back from the virtual equivalent of genocide, from the brink of extinction, the soul of the people of the islands, rescuing their identity, their culture, their respect for the aina.

Hawaiian-Only School Policy Struck Down
Warren Lutz
The Recorder
08-04-2005

In a case of first impression, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a private Hawaiian school's policy of accepting only native Hawaiian students amounts to racial discrimination and breaks federal law.

Ninth Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, writing for a 2-1 majority, said he disagreed with a U.S. district judge that the Kamehameha Schools' policy "constituted a valid, race-conscious remedial affirmative action program." Senior Judge Robert Beezer concurred.

The ruling was a victory for Eric Grant of Sacramento's Sweeney & Grant, who represented a high school student who was denied admission to Kamehameha Schools ....

Grant said he got the case through a mutual friend who knew Hawaiian litigator and co-counsel John Goemans.

"For a school to survive this long and very brazenly and openly say 'no non-Hawaiians need apply' very much intrigued me," he said.

So attorney Grant was/is so "very much intrigued" he sets out on a mission to enhance civil rights ? Of course not !

[Miulang]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

For the legal counsel, I think it was more about the potential to make some big money (both lawyers took the case up on contingency) than it was to make a point. Now if they had defended the case pro bono and not asked for compensation, then I would say it was ethical. Now KSBE not only has to admit the boy into the school but it also has to compensate his attorneys, too.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

Haha! The lawyer representing the student tried to negotiate a settlement with KSBE but they turned him down. Good for KSBE for sticking to its guns. And once the school files an en banc petition, the student's admission will be delayed for as long as it takes for another hearing, and in this case, it may take until after the student graduates.

"...Eric Grant, a Sacramento lawyer who represents the youth, offered to negotiate an agreement that would allow the high school senior to attend Kamehameha classes when they start this month.

But the school's trustees firmly believe in its admissions policy and yesterday rejected the offer, said Ann Botticelli, Kamehameha's vice president of community relations and communications.

Instead, the school will file the request for what's known as an "en banc" hearing that would automatically stay the enforcement of this week's decision for what could be months or more than a year, she said.

That would essentially mean that the school would not have to accept the student until possibly after his senior year is completed because the court process could take that long or longer...."

That's a good one...use the legal tools of the Western world against him, just as he uses his tools against you...justice may prevail after all!

Imua! Apparently the decision of the 9th District Circuit Court of Appeals really is rallying the kanaka maoli to gather as a single voice. THIS is how they will preserve their birthright. "Don't just get mad. Get even and prosper!"

The decision also has some private same sex schools in Hawai'i worried that their admission policies might also be challenged.

Some Hawaiian activists, in the heat of the moment, have called for wreaking havoc on the tourist industry in retribution. I pray that they don't mess with that, because it might lead to some serious consequences which will set their cause back even further. However, I think the kanaka maoli should concentrate their energies on doing as much as they can to fight for the Hawaiian-first admission policies at KSBE.

Miulang

[alohabear]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

And remember just over 90% of the student body at Kamehameha Schools are subsidized thru the trust, the majority being 100% subsidized. So monetarily, KSBE is paying for virtually all of it's student enrollment. It's not for the richest and the smartest...just the smartest that attend the campuses. The rest could care less about educational opportunities and would simply squander their place at Kamehameha with poor grades, as what happened before when admissions was based on a lottery.

I see your point craig... but you have to admit in to the statement that they only take the smartest. The majority of students in our public schools today with special needs are part-hawaiian living on fixed incomes. So is KSBE training the smartest to lead these peons or to look down on them? I like you am 100% japanese( 4TH gerneration) . What if they had a school for only smart japanese? You and I might be there ...but many may not and anykind of discrimination is wrong. I know KSBE can not take ALL ...but have a lottery open without a test give ALL( the hawaiians) a Chance.

[waioli kai]

anti-Hawaii lawyering

Thanks Miulang for the clarifying the issue further. Perhaps you already know that Bush's nominee to Supreme Court John G. Roberts, Jr. argued the OHA elections case on behalf of the State of Hawaii at the Supreme Court against the same attorney now arguing against Kamehameha Schools admission policy.

Do you know of any info regarding Campbell Estate's role in supporting opposition to Kamehameha School's admission policies, supporting opposition to most all that gives preference to enabling those of Hawaiian lineage? Working (ie, whoring lawyers) to kill the last remaining "goose that lays golden eggs" for the people of Hawaii lineage benefiting all of Hawaii, is a despicable occupation most benefiting immoral and amoral attorneys who promote disenfranchisement of Hawaiians.