Kamehameha Schools has agreed to pay $80 million to more than 30 plaintiffs who were sexually abused decades ago by a psychiatric consultant who had been working for the school, and also will implement systemic changes to assist other victims and enhance protections against future abuses, lawyers for the plaintiffs confirmed Thursday.

“I think this is a great day, an excellent day,” said Gerald Carrell, one of the 32 plaintiffs who are part of the tentative settlement that is expected to be unveiled as soon as today. “I believe this is the beginning of a very great moment for the school.”

The financial part of the proposed deal, which still has details to be hashed out and needs court approval, is believed to be the largest personal injury settlement in Hawaii history.

As part of the deal, Kamehameha has agreed to maintain an independently run hotline for reporting abuse and other problems and will establish a fund to provide therapy and other assistance to former students who were abused but were not part of the lawsuit, according to plaintiff lawyers Mark Davis and Loretta Sheehan.

The hotline calls will be assessed by an independent expert who will determine what course of action to take, including whether authorities need to be alerted, according to Davis.

Sheehan said the plaintiffs’ lawyers have heard from other victims who weren’t aware of the lawsuit or were not ready to come forward. “There’s more out there,” she said.

The settlement is not only meant to recover money to assist in the healing for the 32 plaintiffs, but to create a “safer and better place to protect future students,” Davis told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The lawsuit was filed in 2016 against the estate of the late Dr. Robert Browne, Kamehameha and St. Francis Medical Center, where Browne worked. Browne, a psychiatrist who treated hundreds of troubled Kamehameha students from the late 1950s to the early 1980s, killed himself in 1991 after being confronted by one of those former students.

The settlement does not include two plaintiffs who are not represented by the Davis law firm.

It also does not include St. Francis.

Davis and Sheehan said that Kamehameha will pay the $80 million and is expected to file litigation against St. Francis to recover some of those funds.

Davis lauded the school’s trustees, calling them heroic, for recognizing the abuses and problems within the institution, reaching the tentative settlement and committing to making changes.

Kamehameha had little to say Thursday evening about the proposed deal.

“We have a tentative settlement agreement, which is still subject to probate court approval, that takes everyone one step closer to the end of mediation and the beginning of the healing we all want to see as a community and ‘ohana,” spokesman Kevin Cockett said in a statement.

Sheehan said many details still need to be ironed out before the agreement is finalized. “There’s lots of hoops to jump through,” she said.

But the basic framework was agreed to a week ago during mediation, the plaintiffs’ lawyers said.

About three-fourths of the plaintiffs signed off on the proposed deal, according to Sheehan.

“The prevailing mood has been one of acceptance that this (abuse) happened to them and that they hid a terrible secret for so long and had their reasons to do so. There’s also acceptance that authorities have ignored the crimes committed against them for so long,” Sheehan said.

Davis acknowledged that not all Browne’s victims will recover. “There are some whose wounds will never heal,” he said.

But the school’s commitment to help the nonlawsuit victims and to make systemic improvements is significant, Davis added. “It’s a step toward reconciliation,” he said.

A key turning point in the case came in 2016 when plaintiff attorneys questioned former Kamehameha school officials.

In a sworn deposition first disclosed by the Star-Advertiser in November, former Kamehameha President Michael Chun admitted that the school didn’t conduct a broad investigation after learning of the allegations starting in 1991, did not report the accusations to law enforcement and did not reach out to Browne’s alleged victims to offer assistance.

Chun said the school’s response was guided by its lawyers. When asked why he took no action to help the alleged victims, Chun replied, “Doing nothing is doing something, right?”

The revelations triggered widespread criticism of Kamehameha, including from alumni. Two weeks later the school issued an unambiguous apology to Browne’s victims.

“Kamehameha Schools is deeply and truly sorry,” Jack Wong, the institution’s chief executive officer, said in a written statement.

Browne treated troubled Kamehameha students at his soundproof office at St. Francis. All the plaintiffs were male, and some struggled with depression, substance abuse and other problems.

News of the settlement was first reported Thursday by Hawaii News Now.

Carrell said he was pleased the trustees committed to making sweeping changes, but said Kamehameha needs to continue to be held accountable to ensure the changes are effective.

“This is just a start,” he said.