Kamehameha Schools Hawaii filed a police report Thursday alleging a former employee stole more than $360,000 from the Keaau campus.
In an email sent to the school community, Po‘o Kula M. Kahealani Nae‘ole Wong, the school’s headmaster, said a “comprehensive internal investigation” led by school attorneys prompted campus officials to go to the police.
She added the communication was sent “with heavy emotions — from disappointment, anger, and sadness. But overriding these is a deep resolve.”
“This individual’s conduct is shameful, inexcusable, and a betrayal,” Nae‘ole-Wong wrote in the email.
“This was someone known to us, whom we educated and entrusted to serve alongside us.
“We are providing our findings to the Hawaii Police Department, cooperating fully with them, and will be supporting appropriate criminal consequences and legal action to completely recover the amounts this individual has taken from us.”
The suspect was not identified in the email.
Nae‘ole-Wong said the school is “collectively committed to and are proceeding to implement steps to better prevent, deter, and detect these incidents, including having independent experts evaluate our policies, practices, training and analytics.”
“I am also working closely with our CEO and executive team to scrutinize our systems, practices, and policies so that we can shore them up and ensure that this will never occur again,” she said.
“Please know that all of us at Kamehameha Schools are committed to upholding the highest standards of fiscal responsibility and ethical practices, to protect the trust of Ke Ali‘i Pauahi, and to fulfill our mission to educate Native Hawaiians. Our focus remains on this.”
In an email to the Tribune-Herald on Thursday afternoon after the newspaper sought additional comment, Kamehameha Schools spokeswoman Crystal Kua said, “We stand by Po‘o Kula’s message to her school community.”