December 20, 2001
Contributed by Kekoa Paulsen
"We are looking at fundamentally changing the way Kamehameha Schools delivers educational services to the Hawaiian community," McCubbin said. "The days of building more private schools are no longer a priority. Kamehameha Schools must strive to reach as many children of Hawaiian ancestry as conceivably possible, and we can only do that by collaborating with other education providers who also serve our community." The new initiatives are grounded in the Kamehameha Schools Strategic Plan, completed in September 2000, and are part of Phase II of implementing Kamehameha's Strategic Plan in furtherance of Pauahi's Will. Specifically, the implementation plan directs KS resources to the following priorities over the next five years: - Maintain excellence and reach of current programs; - Extend reach in early childhood education to 1/3 of eligible 0-4 year-olds - approximately 10,000 children; - Extend K-12 reach through new collaborations with the DOE and public entities to 1,000 new students; - Extend career education - target 1,350 new career learning opportunities; - Expand lifelong learning educational options through KS Extension Education - target 4,200 students; - Develop eco-cultural education programs through collaborations - target 8,200 participants; - Establish a comprehensive database of Native Hawaiians to be used to extend reach and support to families; - Develop and reallocate new financial resources to support expanded educational reach; - Collaborate with others to support and perpetuate 'Ike Hawai'i; - To start, approximately $21.5 million is set aside to begin extending our reach. In total, implementation of the strategic plan calls for Kamehameha Schools to serve approximately 41,000 Hawaiian students by 2006. Last year, KS provided educational services and support to more than 16,000 Hawaiian students. Dr. McCubbin held a media conference on December 18 to publicly announce Kamehameha's Strategic Implementation Plan, Phase II initiatives. The conference was attended by representatives from the State Senate, State House of Representatives, State Board of Education, Hawaii State Teacher's Association, United Public Worker's union, Hawaii Government Employee's Association, Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, Good Beginnings Alliance, the Castle Foundation, Kamehameha Schools Faculty Association, Kamehameha Schools Alumni Association, Na Pua A Pauahi and others. The story was covered by all major Hawaii news media.
Kamehameha Schools’ policy is to give preference to applicants of Hawaiian ancestry to the extent permitted by law.
