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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, July 17, 2002

Kamehameha CEO says admissions policy flawed

 •  Decision transforms alumni into activists
 •  Analysis: Kamehameha trustees torn between duty and law

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

Kamehameha Schools trustees might ease admissions requirements so a larger pool of Native Hawaiian applicants qualify for entrance into its college preparatory campuses.

A meeting to discuss the decision by Kamehameha Schools trustees to admit a non-Hawaiian student to the Maui campus packed the auditorium at the Kapalama campus and bristled with emotion.

Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

It's a move many have called for since the decision to invite a non-Hawaiian student to attend the Maui campus.

Members of the board of trustees said that decision will stand, but told alumni Monday night that the board will review admissions criteria and procedures to recommend improvements in helping parents through the application process and bolstering student recruitment.

"We need to change the thinking that our people are not smart enough to get into the schools," said trustee Robert Kihune.

If more Native Hawaiian students met the basic criteria for admission, alumni and trust officials have said that would lower the chances that spaces would be available for non-Hawaiians to be admitted in the future. Under the current policy, Kamehameha Schools gives Native Hawaiians preference, but can admit other students when the pool of Hawaiian students is exhausted.

The decision to admit a non-Hawaiian student last week has led to emotionally charged debate, as well as a statewide petition drive calling for trustees to revise their admissions policy.

Kamehameha CEO Hamilton McCubbin said this week trustees realize now that the admissions policy, written in 1992, is flawed. He called the admittance of a non-Hawaiian a "glitch" because of past policy.

"The majority of Hawaiians must be served," he said.

Kamehameha Schools, however, had already lowered admissions standards for 13 Native Hawaiian students before offering a spot at the Maui campus school to a non-Hawaiian.

Trustees this week for the first time outlined the admissions and selection process that led to the controversial decision.

To accommodate Native Hawaiian students who would be able to do well under the college-preparatory curriculum, they accepted late applications on Maui, which they usually do not do, and eventually made exceptions for five boys and eight girls who did not meet the minimum criteria.

Last week's announcement marks the first time since the 1960s, when children of Kamehameha faculty were allowed to attend, that a non-Hawaiian has been admitted to any of the campuses on O'ahu, the Big Island or Maui. Trustees have faced a firestorm of criticism from alumni who were left out of the decision-making and from people who say the schools have left too many students behind while educating only the best and brightest.

McCubbin said the Maui campus did not receive enough applications to keep pace with the growth of the campus this year from 272 students to 592 students in the fall semester.

McCubbin said only 15 percent of the eligible Native Hawaiian population applied for spots on campus. While the campus received 64 applications for the 45 available eighth-grade spots, there are more than 420 Native Hawaiian eighth-graders on Maui who could have applied for admission, he said.

"We exhausted all of the eligible kids on that campus at that time," McCubbin said. The school next looked at students who say they are part-Hawaiian but do not have the documents to prove ancestry.

Students who applied to the Kamehameha Schools campus on Maui went through a two-part rating process.

First a committee of four faculty members pre-evaluated students. Students could receive a possible four points each for their grade point average, test scores, teacher recommendations and essay, two points for their interview and one point for extracurricular activities. Students must score at least 11.5 out of 19 to move on the the next phase.

In the second phase, students are given an overall rating by the committee members. The highest score is a 6.

When both scores are added together, students must have at least 15 out of 25 possible points to be offered admission.

Eight of the girls offered admission scored between 13.4 and 14.4, and five of the boys scored between 13.7 and 14.9, according to information released this week by Kamehameha Schools.

McCubbin said the trust went as far as it could — and legally still adhere to the 1992 admissions policy — to admit Native Hawaiian students to the campus.

Admission to Kamehameha Schools is highly competitive and coveted, both for the quality of the education and the low cost of tuition. Statewide for the 2000-01 school year, 4,633 student applied to Kamehameha Schools campuses and 10.9 percent, or 507, were admitted.

Most students accepted have scores between the 70th and 99th percentiles on standardized tests, according to the schools promotional materials.

Parents pay about $1,000 a year for tuition, fees and lunch for elementary students, or about 10 percent of the actual cost, and about $1,400 in tuition and fees for high school students.

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.