I am writing to let you know about an important development in Jacob Doe vs. Kamehameha Schools, the lawsuit filed this summer by four anonymous students (and their parents) challenging our admissions policy.

Attorneys for Kamehameha Schools today filed a lawsuit in the Third Circuit Court against individuals known only as John and Jane Doe for the disclosure of material terms of a confidential settlement agreement that resolved the Does’ unsuccessful legal challenge to the schools’ admissions policy. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages.

This afternoon we filed a lawsuit in the Third Circuit Court of the State of Hawai'i against John and Jane Doe for breach of confidentiality in the settlement agreement reached in May 2007 in Doe vs. Kamehameha Schools, the lawsuit challenging our admissions preference policy.

HONOLULU – The Trustees of the Kamehameha Schools have settled Doe vs. Kamehameha Schools, the four-year-old lawsuit challenging the Schools’ admissions preference policy. As a result of the settlement, the plaintiff has withdrawn his petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 9th Circuit Court’s ruling upholding Kamehameha’s 120-year-old policy of offering preference to applicants of Hawaiian ancestry. Terms of the settlement will not be disclosed.

We have reached agreement with “John Doe” to resolve Doe’s lawsuit seeking to overturn our admissions policy. The terms of the settlement are confidential. By settling this case, we protect our right to offer admissions preference to Native Hawaiians. The plaintiff has withdrawn his petition for U.S. Supreme Court appeal of the 9th Circuit Court ruling upholding our preference policy as legally permissible.