Hilo charter school files lawsuit against school board, Ethics Commission

HILO—Connections Public Charter School and one of its employees filed two separate complaints in the Hilo Circuit Court on Thursday, August 25. The complaint alleges that the school’s independence and right to hire their own attorneys was unlawfully challenged.

The first complaint accused the governing body for charter schools and its chairman, Carl Takamura, of intentionally violating the Sunshine Law and threatening to take away the school’s charter.

The alleged threats followed allegations from a former school employee that Connections improperly used school resources and had unlawfully awarded a food service bid contract to benefit another employee.

The school and the accused employee linked to the food service business hired Ted Hong, a Hilo attorney, only after the State Attorney General’s Office advised them to do so. According to the complaint, the panel and its chairman unlawfully forced the school to fire its attorney.

The second complaint was filed against the Hawaii State Ethics Commission and its executive director, Les Kondo. That complaint asks the court to stop an ongoing ethics investigation against the school and its employee. According to the complaint, Charter School employees fall outside the jurisdiction of the Ethics Commission. Additionally, the the complaint alleges that the school passed an independent audit and clearly documented that no ethics violation occurred.

In both complaints, the school and employees state that the Ethics Commission and chairman of the review panel conspired behind closed doors and developed a plan to force the School and employee to fire their attorney.

“This investigation and the Review Panel’s actions are a prime example of bureaucrats that still refuse to recognize and treat Charter Schools as independent and how hard charter schools have to fight just to protect their basic rights,” Hong said in a statement.