NAVEX > Case Studies > Speaking up for Student Safety at Kamehameha Schools

Speaking up for Student Safety at Kamehameha Schools

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

EthicsPoint® INCIDENT MANAGEMENT
Whistleblower Hotline Intake
Incident Management: EthicsPoint®
Awareness Solutions

Tech Stack

Incident Reporting System
Data Analysis

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Customer Satisfaction
Employee Satisfaction

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Industries

Education

Applicable Functions

Human Resources
Business Operation

Use Cases

Intrusion Detection Systems

Services

System Integration
Training

About The Customer

Kamehameha Schools is one of the 10 largest charitable organizations in the world. It enrolls more than 5,400 K-12 students, employs over 4,000 staff, and supports community-based educational programs for an additional 40,000 learners throughout Hawai’i. The school's mission is to improve the capability and well-being of the Hawaiian people through education. To achieve this, it focuses on preserving the Hawaiian culture and ensuring the largest number of children of native Hawaiian descent are given the necessary opportunities to succeed. The school operates on the principle that there is nothing more important than the safety of its students and strives to provide safe and healthy learning environments in which they can flourish.

The Challenge

Kamehameha Schools, one of the world's largest charitable organizations, faced a significant challenge in ensuring the safety of its students. With a large number of staff and students, the school needed a system to promptly discover and address any issues of misconduct or potential misconduct. The school's CEO, Jack Wong, emphasized the importance of providing safe and healthy learning environments for students to flourish. To foster safety and transparency, Kamehameha decided to expand its compliance helpline to make it easy for all members of the school community, including students, parents, and staff, to report concerning behavior.

The Solution

Kamehameha Schools first implemented the EthicsPoint hotline as an incident reporting tool for staff 10 years ago. In 2014, it expanded the hotline to allow students to report as well. This innovative approach not only ensured compliance on a staff level but also nurtured an environment of safety and respect among its student population. The school utilized the software’s flexibility to capture inappropriate interaction with students as a stand-alone category. Incidents include issues such as singling out a student, forming an inappropriate peer relationship, use of inappropriate language, or physical conduct of a threatening or sexual nature. The data analysis enabled by the system allows the school to spot trends and take corrective action before minor issues become major.

Operational Impact

Kamehameha Schools has made awareness and adoption of its hotline service a priority. All 400 managers at Kamehameha have received scenario-based training.
For the larger school community including students, families and community members, promotion of the hotline is part of school messaging, assemblies, classes and regular dialogue to consistently increase awareness.
The school piloted the program on its Maui campus in 2014 and expanded the Student helpline to its O’ahu and Hawai’i Island campuses and 30 preschools statewide in 2016.
Students are encouraged to share personal concerns, concerns for fellow students, or observations of these issues within their educational environment.

Quantitative Benefit

When asked if comfortable using the reporting service, 96 percent of managers agreed.
The school has seen reports go up year over year, indicating increased awareness.
Specifically for students, reports are being made earlier in the progression of events, enabling the school to handle concerns before they evolve into major issues.