State OKs settlement over abuse of students

Deaf and blind kids were assaulted and raped while staff let it happen, says a suit

By Nanea Kalani

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Feb 05, 2013

~~<p>The state has agreed to make two dozen improvements to school safety at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind as part of a $5 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit that alleged years of sexual abuse of students at the Kapahulu campus.</p>
<p>The lawsuit, filed in 2011 by Honolulu attorney Michael Green, alleged that a group of students "bullied, terrorized, assaulted, robbed, sodomized (and) raped" younger students at the school. It also claimed that school employees and state Department of Education officials knew of the assaults but looked the other way for years.</p>
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The state has agreed to make two dozen improvements to school safety at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind as part of a $5 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit that alleged years of sexual abuse of students at the Kapahulu campus.

The lawsuit, filed in 2011 by Honolulu attorney Michael Green, alleged that a group of students "bullied, terrorized, assaulted, robbed, sodomized (and) raped" younger students at the school. It also claimed that school employees and state Department of Education officials knew of the assaults but looked the other way for years. Login for more...