EDITORIAL
Kamehameha can use a breath of fresh air

Six months after the abrupt resignation of Kamehameha Schools CEO Hamilton McCubbin, his replacement has been named without much ado.

Dee Jay Mailer, a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and former head of Kaiser Permanente Hawai'i, clearly has the credentials to run the multibillion-dollar trust dedicated to the education of Hawaiian children.

Most recently, Mailer served as CEO of the U.N.-supported Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Geneva, Switzerland. That's an impressive post.

The question locally is, how will she cope with repeated challenges to the school's Hawaiian-preference admission policy that threaten to land before the U.S. Supreme Court if a federal judge and appeals court reject them?

Mailer's administrative record suggests she'll be able to move the estate beyond the series of scandals that culminated in 1999 when five trustees were ousted during a state investigation into alleged mismanagement of the $6 billion trust?

In light of the trust's checkered past, we would urge Mailer to clarify the estate's ethical standards and determine how the school can protect its mission without running afoul of constitutional protections.

It's also imperative that she find ways to bring more Hawaiians, particularly the less affluent ones, under Kamehameha's wing.

That said, we welcome Mailer to the helm of Kamehameha Schools and hope that, with professionalism and a keen sense of direction, she can steer the estate out of rough waters.