Kamaile Elementary Incident

Aloha Rep. Shimabukuro,

On behalf of Kamaile School, we want to inform you about the newspaper story regarding Kamaile School in the Star Bulletin today and ally concerns and perceptions that the article created.

Yesterday, February 28, 2008 a student slipped on a muddy area on the Kamaile School campus. An injury in the knee area required an ambulance to be called. A group of students gathered to see the accident. The students were asked to disperse by teachers. A special education student refused to disperse and in the process there was some physical contact between the student with the teacher which is considered a form of assault to the teacher. The teacher was not injured. Glen Kila was attending a principal’s training off campus and was contacted by his staff by phone. Based on Chapter 19 procedures and following DOE procedures because the student is SPED, Glen suspended the student.

The police were contacted by the school and the student was arrested. Apparently the media picked up the Kamaile incident and the report was greatly exaggerated (probably because of timing with what happened at Waianae High yesterday) and inaccurate. The police officer (Michelle Yu) was interviewed by the Star Bulletin reporter . The police officer is furious at the Star Bulletin report and is calling the Star Bulletin and asking for an apology by the Star Bulletin for the inaccurate reporting and exaggeration about Kamaile.

Because the student is a special education student, Glen Kila is in the process of following up and working with the DOE Complex area Superintendent, police and student’s family and the school faculty and students.

Thank you.
Lynn Fallin
Ho’okako’o Corporation

lfalling@hookakoo.org

[Note: Pictured is Kamaile Elementary principal Glen Kila delivering the keynote address at a recent Weinberg Foundation check presentation to Kahikolu Ohana Hale O Wai`anae, a transitional shelter scheduled to open this June.]