By Megan Tagami, Civil Beat
Published: Sept. 3, 2025
A private school on Maui is facing two lawsuits over a policy it approved last year requiring transgender students to participate on sports teams and use bathrooms that match their birth gender.
The lawsuits, both filed Tuesday, argue that Maui Preparatory Academy violated state anti-discrimination and retaliation laws when it created the policy, which the school introduced last year. At the time, Maui Prep enrolled only one known transgender student but wanted to prevent other transgender kids from attending the school in the future, according to one of the lawsuits.
The policy went into effect when Maui Prep resumed classes in August. Previously, the school allowed its transgender student to use the bathroom of her choice after she transitioned in preschool.
One of the lawsuits, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi on behalf of the transgender student and her parents, argues that Maui Prep violated state laws preventing schools from discriminating against students because of their gender identity and expression. While Maui Prep is a private school, its preschool has received state funding in the form of tuition subsidies that help parents cover the costs of early education programs, the lawsuit said.
The school also received a grant from the state education department to hire educational assistants last year, the lawsuit said.
“The school has marketed itself as an inclusive space, as being rooted in aloha and Hawaiian values,” said ACLU Hawaiʻi Legal Director Wookie Kim. “The lawsuit is claiming that is both an unfair and deceptive thing to do.”
When it comes to high school sports, Maui Prep is following state athletic policies allowing transgender students to participate on the teams matching their gender identity, the lawsuit said. But the school’s policy still applies to transgender students participating in sports that aren’t governed by state or local athletic leagues.
The family of the transgender student is anonymous in the lawsuit and pulled their daughter out of Maui Prep after she finished third grade last spring. She had attended Maui Prep since preschool and hoped to remain at the school until she graduated from high school, according to the lawsuit.
The second lawsuit alleges that Maui Prep retaliated against longtime faculty member Keenan Reader after he questioned the school’s decision to change its protections for transgender students and raised concerns about the policy’s legality. Last spring, Maui Prep did not offer Reader another contract as the director of college counseling for the 2025-26 school year, even though he received high performance reviews, the lawsuit said.
“My initial feeling was shock and then concern,” Reader said about learning of Maui Prep’s new policy for transgender students.
In an emailed statement, Maui Prep denied allegations of discrimination or retaliation and declined to comment on pending litigation.
Hawaiʻi law prevents all schools receiving state funding from discriminating against students based on their gender identity and expression. Over the past several years, public schools have strengthened protections for transgender students, with the state education department adopting rules allowing kids to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.
The Hawaiʻi High School Athletics Association also allows students to participate on the sports team that matches their gender identity, said executive director Chris Chun in an emailed statement. The association governs sports for both public and private schools in the state and estimates that fewer than 10 transgender students participate in high school sports.
But the federal government is aiming to roll back some states’ policies allowing transgender students to participate on the athletic teams of their choice. In February, President Donald Trump issued an executive order barring schools from allowing transgender students to participate in girls’ sports. Schools that don’t comply risk losing federal dollars.
Federal funds make up roughly 11% of the Hawaiʻi Department of Education budget.
But it’s too soon to determine the impact of the executive order on school policies, Kim said. Agencies like the U.S. Department of Education first need to review districts’ athletic policies, he said, and threats to rescind funding for schools that don’t comply with federal orders are still playing out in the courts.
ACLU’s lawsuit seeks to force Maui Prep to rescind its policy and require school administrators to complete a program about supporting transgender students. If the courts rule in the ACLU’s favor, it will send a clear message to other private schools that they must follow Hawai‘i’s anti-discrimination laws as long as they’re receiving state funding, said Emily Hills, one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit.
The lawsuit estimates that roughly 70% of teachers who opposed the school’s new policy for transgender students last year did not receive offers to return this year. The lawsuit did not specify how many teachers were impacted.
Reader, who filed the retaliation lawsuit against Maui Prep and was one of the teachers who did not receive a return offer in the spring, said the school’s decision to introduce a new policy for transgender students came as a surprise last year. When he raised concerns that Maui Prep’s new policy was likely illegal and discriminatory, school administrators didn’t respond to his concerns or take them seriously, according to his lawsuit.
Michael Golojuch Jr., vice chair of the Hawaiʻi State LGBTQ+ Commission, said he’s concerned that more schools will follow Maui Prep’s lead and adopt similar policies around transgender students’ participation in sports and access to restrooms. While he hasn’t heard of other schools changing their policies around transgender kids over the past few months, Golojuch said the two lawsuits make an important statement about the protections Hawaiʻi schools should provide for their students.
“They’re supposed to be there to learn,” Golojuch said. “Not be used as political wedges.”