KAILUA — Three years ago Kailua High School officials decided to crack down on violent behavior and get its staff more involved in campus safety.

The policy change resulted in 284 student suspensions, said Eldon Kohatsu, with Kailua school security.

"We kept bringing people in and suspending them," Kohatsu said. "I think the big turnaround was the teamwork effort on campus where teachers were getting involved. Our custodians have radios. The more eyes the better for us."

The number of suspensions dropped to 164 last year, 36 less than in 2004-05. But despite the continuing overall drop, major violations were up at the school last year.

The increase, along with concerns raised by the Waimanalo and Kailua communities, have led to Kailua High School's partnering with the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center, participating in a research study in school violence, creating a safety task force and implementing a new course designed to identify cultural differences that could lead to violence.

The intent of the changes is to make the campus safer and give students a better understanding of how to deal with conflicts.

Kili Vierra, a Kailua High senior, said a new course on identifying cultural differences has given him a deeper respect for the multitude of cultures in Hawai'i and a deeper understanding of the aloha spirit. In Hawai'i, Vierra said, people are more tolerant, cracking racial jokes that are pretty much acceptable. The class has given another perspective about the jokes.

"It makes me think twice," he said.

The Asian/Pacific center approached Kailua High in 2002 because it had a large population of Native Hawaiians from both Kailua and Waimanalo. School principal Francine Honda has been a staunch supporter from the start, said Earl Hishinuma, center director of research.

Research on violence prevention for Asians and Pacific islanders is scant and frequently lumps them together, erasing distinct differences among specific ethnic groups. The center's goal is to reduce and prevent youth violence by developing a culturally competent model for the Kailua-Waimanalo community that can be used at other high schools, Hishinuma said.

"We can't expect to have a one-size-fit-all programming," he said. "You're dealing with different cultures, different genders and different economic status so you really have to tailor that to students you end up working with and their families and communities."

The programs implemented by the school came after research at three schools was conducted that studied various sorts of physical and mental violence across racial and gender lines.

The study found that among Hawaiian, Samoan, Filipino and Japanese students surveyed, 38.7 percent said they had engaged in at least one violent incident within the past six months.

Though the study didn't identify which three schools participated, Kailua has since increased the number of teachers and staff patrolling the campus and gotten students to play an active role, Honda said.

"I believe our students need to take leadership and be involved in helping to create and nurture a safe school environment," Honda said.

Students at Kailua have been willing partners forming the Safe Schools Task Force, Honda said, and they've created video skits that give incoming students options on how to deal with potentially volatile situations.

"I'm really excited about the direction we're going with our students," she said.

A downward trend in the number of suspensions indicates success but the school has more to do, Honda said.

Kohatsu said outside programs such as Ke Ola Hou in Waimanalo reinforce the things students learn at school. Ke Ola Hou focuses on developing long-term positive relationships with young people and their families.

Another initiative to address the violence was through the curriculum, said Amber Strong, one of Kailua's ethnic studies teacher.

"One of the avenues they wanted to take was looking at it academically," Strong said. "How can we change people's thinking, their behavior, their social relationships through academics?"

The ethnic studies class took shape after a 2004 Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center survey of Kailua High School students identified five issues that are associated with reported fights: victimization (being beaten up or teased by a peer), substance use, gender stereotyping (sexism), lack of impulse control (acting without thinking) and temperament (irritability).

The issues will be incorporated into the class curriculum next semester, Strong said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.