ANGER PREVAILS IN ADMISSION DEBATE

School officials showed courage

I commend the Kamehameha Schools' trustees and administrators for their courage in deciding to open the school to those not of native blood.

I understand the feelings that some of the Hawaiian community may have regarding this issue, but now that the decision has been made, the community should move forward to embrace it and enrich the legacy, not divide it.

Eldred Kagawa

One more Hawaiian could have been found

It is incredible that Kamehameha Schools could not find one more Hawaiian child on Maui to attend its school. I am basing my comments on doing admissions for outer island students for five or six years on the Oahu campus. Maui always had more qualified applicants than we were able to admit in any given year. Yes, we read that the Maui campus doubled its size this year. That, however, is not a valid reason to admit a non-Hawaiian.

Fifteen percent of those who are are invited to attend Kamehameha are orphans and indigents, many of whom do not score in the upper ranges of what we deem necessary to attend Kamehameha. Maui could have admitted a Hawaiian student in this range even though the student may not have been an orphan and indigent.

If we are building schools on the outer islands to serve more Hawaiians, it is contrary to say we can't find one Hawaiian student to meet our educational standards. We have students who score below the 60th percentile in reading who succeed due to excellent study skills and other factors that lead to educational success.

While we say we are going to serve as many Hawaiians as we are able, it is grating to see the school admit a non-Hawaiian.

Historically, Hawaiians have been at a disadvantage with all the aloha that was and is inherent in many of our people. Kamehameha's aloha should first go to Hawaiians.

Ruby Lowe
Reading teacher
Kamehameha Middle School
Oahu campus

Admission policy could have been relaxed

Kamehameha Schools' Chief Executive Hamilton McCubbin explained that its Maui school accepted a non-Hawaiian student because it admitted all Hawaiian applicants who met its admission requirements and had one vacant space to fill.

There were 592 spaces available. Did only 591 Hawaiian students apply? If there were more than 592 Hawaiian applicants, why were some denied admission, and why couldn't the school change its policy to admit one more Hawaiian?

I would think that of those who were denied admission, there is one who could benefit greatly from an education at Kamehameha Schools, even though he or she doesn't meet all application requirements.

This is a slap in the face to all those Hawaiians who were denied admission. The system is flawed and this decision opens the gate to more non-Hawaiians attending Kamehameha.

File Keliiaa
Waianae

Kapalama student could have transferred

Couldn't a student boarding at the Kapalama campus on Oahu, but who lives on Maui, have been asked if he or she would prefer to transfer to the Maui campus; and, thus open another slot on Oahu for a student of Hawaiian ancestry?

Was any applicant bypassed? Why don't they raise the "criteria" higher so more Hawaiians don't qualify and they can let more non-Hawaiians in? The "criteria" for admission are purely subjective with students "ranked by a panel."

Is the tax exemption more important than the education of the Hawaiian children?

Warren Aki

Decision-makers should be fired

Kamehameha's admittance of a non-Hawaiian student to the Maui campus is an outrageous waste of Princess Pauahi's legacy.

There are 48,000 Hawaiian children in Hawaii's public schools of whom only 5 percent will attend college. If there were not enough "qualified" children of Hawaiian ancestry on Maui, then the qualifications should be changed until Kamehameha serves every Hawaiian child on Maui.

Pauahi did not mean for this school to be only for the elite Hawaiian; she wanted education for all Hawaiian children. Obviously the administrator of the Maui campus lacks understanding of the great depth of despair Hawaiians feel when they are rejected by Kamehameha, and are subjected to the racist, anti-Hawaiian, substandard education so often found in the public schools.

All Kamehameha employees who agreed to this decision -- from the Maui campus, to Hamilton McCubbin to the Board of Trustees -- should be fired for violating the trust of the Hawaiian people. Pauahi must be turning in her grave.

Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa
Kamehameha Schools Class of 1970

Hawaiians can't afford one lost opportunity

Is there more going on than what's at the surface and in the media? Princess Pauahi's will was clearly intended for Hawaiian keiki. They clearly need and deserve educational opportunities like Kamehameha Schools.

School officials could have changed the qualifications, extended application deadlines, anything! One non-Hawaiian at KS means one lost opportunity for a Hawaiian. Does KS honestly believe there is not a single Hawaiian child left on Maui who is not deserving and capable of an education at their new campus? Come on now!

Even scarier (and more horrendous) is the precedent it sets for the future of KS and other Hawaiian-serving organizations. In many ways, Hawaiians don't have much. Let's not jeopardize what resources and opportunities we do have.

Keola Nakanishi
Kamehameha Schools Class of '92

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