Hawaiʻi violates equal-access law, ACLU says

The state violates a federal law that mandates equal access to education for homeless students by making them switch schools when they move and not letting them enroll in new schools without documentation, according to lawyers suing the school system.

Lawyers for Equal Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi yesterday went to court seeking an order that would immediately stop the state from enforcing laws and policies they claim make it hard for transient students to find stability in their schooling.

The move comes as part of a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of three homeless families who have to commute for hours or were denied geographic exceptions to keep their children in the same school each time they move.

Olive Kaleuati, whose children had to switch schools when her family moved from one shelter to another a few miles away, said she is a plaintiff in the suit to prevent other children from going through the same situation.

“Homelessness is something where our children suffer,” she said at a news conference yesterday. “Just not being able to go to the school where your friends are and the teachers you already got to know through the years (makes it hard to) feel confident as a child and go to school each day and have the education you want.”