Educational assistant accused of harassment
A man dismissed by Castle High School allegedly gave out pakalolo and porn
Several students and parents from Castle High School allege that a substitute educational assistant at the school sexually harassed some students and provided drugs, alcohol and pornography to others.
The 33-year-old man was dismissed Wednesday, but Castle Principal Meredith Maeda, said the dismissal had nothing to do with the allegations that he first learned of this week.
"We are looking at some (other) things as well," Maeda said, adding that he could not give further details about those concerns.
A group of students and parents met yesterday with Maeda at the Kaneohe school, and a police officer interviewed each student with a complaint.
Police are investigating the harassment allegations of one student, now classified as a misdemeanor, but the man was not arrested. A Kaneohe police officer said he interviewed about 10 students yesterday.
He characterized what the other students said as hearsay and that nothing occurred to them personally.
Parent Bonnie Goldstein said the assistant allegedly bought her 14-year-old son and other students marijuana and alcohol.
Goldstein said the man also wrote a sexually graphic love letter to a female student, made lewd comments to the girl, followed her around school and touched her inappropriately on campus.
Goldstein also alleges the man would take students up to the mountain, get high with them and touch them inappropriately.
The parents of a male student said they became uncomfortable with the man's relationship with their son last fall and raised their concerns to school officials and also complained to police.
Department of Education spokesman Greg Knudsen confirmed that the parents "brought concerns to the school last fall, and at that time the school looked into it as much as they could, but they still need evidence."
Those allegations were of inappropriate activity off campus, of which police were informed, he said.
"The DOE cannot enact any kind of disciplinary action without cause, and to support cause there needs to be evidence," he said.
Knudsen stressed that the allegations raised yesterday are more extensive than the concerns raised by the student's parents in the fall. He also said yesterday was the first time school officials heard an allegation of inappropriate behavior on campus.
He said criminal allegations need to be handled by police, but the department needs "to look into anything that may have happened on campus."
The employee is a "casual hire" employed on a day-to-day basis, so the school could discontinue employment at any time, Knudsen said.