By Leila Fujimori, Star Advertiser
Published: Sept. 3, 2025
Two lawsuits were filed Tuesday in Maui Circuit Court against Maui Preparatory Academy related to its new school policy, which began in the 2025-26 school year, that transgender students would no longer be allowed to use restroom facilities, play on sports teams or room with students of the same gender.
ACLU of Hawaii Foundation and the Dentons law firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of a transgender girl and her parents against the school, which has received payments from the state of Hawaii, and alleges it is, therefore, prohibited from discriminating against students.
The other complaint, filed by Keenan Reader, a founding faculty member, sued the school and the head of school, Miguel Solis, alleging wrongful termination in retaliation for his opposition to the new school policy.
The ACLU complaint says the student is a shy girl, and “the Policy would be publicly humiliating because it would require staff to treat her differently from cisgender female students and force her to ‘come out’ to her classmates and teachers every time she uses the restroom, changes for gym or school performances, or plays sports.”
The girl was 9 years old and in the third grade, the only known transgender student in the preschool to grade 12, at the time the new policy was announced in December.
The complaint alleges Tim Hehemann, the new president of the board of trustees, wanted to implement the new policy in late summer 2024 but did not want it written down, and one goal was to get the transgender girl to leave. Several trustees opposed it and said the school could not do that.
In August or September 2024, after discussion with board members but without informing the community, Hehemann removed gender identity as a protected characteristic in its policy.
On Sept. 3, 2024, Hehemann presented his own gender policy statement to the administration: 1) no alternative pronouns will be acknowledged; 2) all students participating in sports will do so based on their birth gender; 3) during overnight school trips students will be provided accommodations based on biological birth gender; and 4) students must dress in uniform of their birth gender.
The new policy came as a shock to the family, who had relied on the school’s original nondiscrimination policy of “live aloha” and inclusion when the transgender girl was enrolled in preschool and continued to keep her enrolled after learning she was transgender, the complaint says.
Despite her hope to graduate from high school at Maui Prep, the new policy forced her to leave the school. The new policy defies recommendations about how transgender students should be treated in schools, even by its own accrediting organizations, the complaint alleges.
Hehemann “crafted the ‘gender policy statement’ as an alternative to a blanket ban on transgender students,” the complaint says.
Maui Prep is a private nonprofit organization, not religious based, governed by a board of trustees made up of parents and community leaders. The school of about 230 students is in West Maui.
The complaint says the policy violates antidiscrimination law, which prohibits schools that receive state funding from discriminating against students, citing Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 368D-1 “on the basis of sex, including gender identity.”
The plaintiffs say the school enacted a discriminatory policy and silently removed “gender identity and expression” from its nondiscrimination policy, “while simultaneously advertising the school’s commitment to aloha, inclusivity and acceptance of others,” thus engaging in unfair and deceptive business practices.
It seeks compensatory and statutory damages and declaratory and injunctive relief for the school’s violation of state law.
Reader, who has been with the school for 20 years, says in his complaint he has been a respected educator and mentor in the community, serving as Maui Prep’s director of college counseling, and consistently received positive performance reviews throughout his tenure.
He asserts the following claims: 1) violation of the Hawaii Whistleblower’s Protection Act; 2) wrongful termination in violation of public policy; and 3) retaliation in violation of Hawaii’s Fair Employment Practices Act.
He also seeks damages for lost wages, emotional distress and punitive damages as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.
Calls to Solis and Hehemann for comment were not returned.