A class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of students of the Hawaii School for the Deaf and the Blind alleges that school and even Department of Education officials knew about a group of students who "bullied, terrorized, assaulted, robbed, sodomized, raped" younger students at the school, and that the officials looked the other way.

As many as 35 students may have been sexually abused by a group calling itself "the Ringleaders," according to the lawsuit, which lists as plaintiffs the anonymous John Doe, a deaf former student at the school, and his mother, Jane Doe.

Since the beginning of the year, Honolulu police have arrested three juvenile boys who are former or current students of the school on sex assault charges. Police and the Department of Education, which oversees the school, have active investigations.

Police said this week the charges they are aware of relate to incidents that allegedly took place in 2006 and that HPD learned about them earlier this year.

The lawsuit filed in Circuit Court on Wednesday by attorney Michael Green alleges that the Ringleaders were students who boarded at the school.

Named in the lawsuit besides the state Department of Education are longtime Principal Sydney Dickerson and a "counselor," Scott O’Neal. The lawsuit, without naming her, also said then-Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto knew of the situation.

The DOE said Wednesday that Dickerson has been placed on leave and that O’Neal has never been employed as a counselor at the school. The DOE did not elaborate on whether O’Neal had any role at the school.

O’Neal, who is listed as president of a Honolulu-based nonprofit that provides services for the deaf and hard of hearing, could not be reached for comment.

Officials with the DOE and Attorney General’s Office said the case is under investigation and that they had no further comment.

The lawsuit said the Ringleaders admitted to O’Neal and other school officials that they had assaulted or otherwise harmed other students. These admissions came "at various times" as far back as 2007.

Among the allegations was that in 2007, Dickerson was informed that boys were being assaulted and raped by other boys on school grounds and elsewhere.

The lawsuit also alleged that in April 2009, a counselor at the school was told a deaf student had been intimidated into sexual acts with five boys, believed to be Ringleaders.

At one point, a young girl on a school bus was coerced into a sexual act with a member of the Ringleaders, who filmed the incident and showed the video to other students, the lawsuit said.

"The errors and omissions of the state created and resulted in a hostile learning environment …," the lawsuit said.

About 70 students are enrolled at the five-acre campus in Kapahulu, which includes dormitory rooms for some students.

A woman who asked not to be identified told the Star-Advertiser that she told school officials that her daughter, then an elementary school-age student, was sexually assaulted eight years ago. "They just brushed everything under the rug," the woman said.

The woman said her daughter continues to attend the school because it is the only one specifically for deaf children and that she has few options outside of hiring a private tutor.

The situation is a sad one, but "I’m glad it’s come out in the media," she said, adding she’s hoping improvements are now being made.

Another parent, who also requested anonymity, said he has been involved with the school for many years. He said he took his son out of the school "after I noticed some high school students treated my boy as a ‘pretty boy.’"

The man said he was both relieved and sad to learn of the arrests and the lawsuit, noting that the local deaf and hard-of-hearing community is a tight-knit one.