Amid ongoing efforts from the federal government to reduce protections for transgender students, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi has demanded that a West Maui school rescind its policies restricting transgender kids’ access to bathrooms and sports teams.
Maui Preparatory Academy, which serves some 300 students in preschool through grade 12, plans to enact new policies next school year requiring transgender students to use bathroom facilities and participate on sports teams matching their birth gender. While Maui Prep has one openly transgender student at this time, school leaders crafted the policy with the intent of preventing other transgender children from enrolling in the future, ACLU said in a letter released Wednesday.
“For the school to now unveil a policy that singles out students for discrimination is a deep betrayal of community trust,” the ACLU said in its letter, adding that Maui Prep played an important role in supporting families and students after the Lahaina wildfires in 2023.
Maui Prep’s policy — and the strong pushback it has received from families — comes as President Donald Trump has rolled back protections for transgender people and mandated states prevent transgender students from participating in girls’ sports.
The executive order directly challenges a Hawaiʻi law preventing schools receiving state funds from discriminating against students based on gender identity. Hawaiʻi public schools currently allow transgender students to join sports teams and access bathrooms and other facilities that match their gender identity.
Hawai‘i Department of Education spokesperson Nanea Ching said the DOE has no plans to change its policy for transgender students at this time.
Related: Transgender Students Have Strong Protections In Hawaiʻi. That May Not Last
On the mainland, Maine faced a slew of federal investigations and funding freezesafter pushing back against Trump’s executive order preventing transgender students in sports.
The letter from the ACLU alleges that Maui Prep currently receives state funding and is violating Hawaiʻi law preventing schools from discriminating against transgender students. The letter does not specify how much Maui Prep receives from state agencies, although a public records request from a parent shows that the school has received roughly $20,000 this year from Preschool Open Doors, a state Department of Human Services program providing tuition subsidies to parents enrolling their children in early learning programs.
“Our question is, did they receive state funding?” said Emily Hills, an ACLU attorney. “And the answer is, yes, therefore the law applies.”
In its annual giving reports from 2022 to 2024, Maui Prep listed the DOE as a “lifetime contributor” to the school. In 2023 and 2024, the school received between $350,000 and $499,999 from the department, according to the reports.
Ching said DOE only has records of reimbursing Maui Prep for roughly $44,000 for Covid-related purchases in 2021. Maui Prep was able to receive the money without signing any assurances it would follow state law, she said, adding that DOE doesn’t give cash donations to private schools.
ACLU said Maui Prep also violated a state law prohibiting schools from retaliating against employees pushing back against discriminatory policies. One former teacher said she was fired from the school after she criticized the transgender student policy earlier this year. Maui Prep has said staff members’ opinions would not affect their employment.
“Willful discrimination — and retaliation against people who oppose discrimination — could also open the school up to a claim for punitive damages,” ACLU said in its letter.
Maui Prep Board of Trustees President Tim Hehemann said in an emailed statement that the school plans on responding to the ACLU but did not provide additional details. The school has until April 21 to respond to the letter.
The Hawaiʻi LGBTQ+ Commission has made similar demands of Maui Prep, asking the school to reconsider its policies and return any funds it received from the state. The commission hasn’t received any formal responses from the school so far but plans on continuing to push for answers, said Vice Chair Michael Golojuch Jr.
Golojuch said he’s worried more schools could follow Maui Prep’s lead and enact restrictive policies for transgender students, but he hasn’t heard of any other private schools in Hawaiʻi changing their policies since Trump took office.
“This has to be the hill we die on, because if we let this one go, which school is next?” Golojuch said.
Hills, of the ACLU, said Maui Prep serves as an example of how schools shouldn’t be responding to changes at the federal level.
“For a school to single out one student or just single out a group of students based on their status for discrimination, I think that’s unacceptable,” Hills said. “It doesn’t matter what’s happening at the national level, that’s not something that’s allowed in Hawai‘i.”
Full article found at: https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/04/maui-prep-policies-for-transgender-stu...