Principal Performed Unlawful Strip Search Of High School Girls, Lawsuit Alleges

What can a school board and school leaders do to prevent similar incidents?

Principal Performed Unlawful Strip Search Of High School Girls, Lawsuit Alleges
The students' parents were not informed of the search, a violation of school policy, the complaint said.
Honolulu Civil Beat, July 7, 2023

Three former female students are alleging that the principal of their public charter high school performed illegal strip searches on them after they had been accused of vaping and smoking on a class field trip in September 2019, according to court documents. 

The allegations were originally laid out in complaint filed in 2020 when the students were juniors, and were represented by guardians in the court documents. The three plaintiffs who are no longer minors have now chosen to be publicly identified in an updated filing and to speak publicly about the allegations.

During the incident Kapolei Charter School by Goodwill Hawaii principal Wanda Villareal allegedly asked high school juniors Randell Akau, Chevelle Peter and Anuhea Morales Nelson to lift their shirts during the search which occurred four days after the field trip... 

After the search the students were told to return to class and each called her parents, according to the complaint. “I went into the bathroom and I called my mom crying,” Akau said.

Akau’s mother, Heidi, said the students’ parents had not been informed about the search. Akau was told that her mother had signed a consent form that allowed for her and her personal belongings to be searched, said Akau. “I was under the impression that my parents knew that this was happening.”

The complaint said that not informing the parents of the search violated “school policy and the law.” 

According to the 2019 Kapolei Charter School Student Conduct and Discipline Policy, searches are permissible if there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect a student has violated school disciplinary policy, which includes the possession of “drugs, drug paraphernalia, tobacco.”

Kapolei Charter School by Goodwill Hawaii had its state contract renewed for four more years on July 1. More than half of the 161 students enrolled in the 2021-2022 school year were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander....