Lawmakers in Hawaii have allocated money for 10 public schools to design and build girls' locker rooms in 2020 and 2021. Left off of that list is Campbell High School near Honolulu.
One potential explanation is that Campbell in December filed a Title IX lawsuit against the Department of Education and the Oahu Interscholastic Association, claiming that the state set aside $6 million for track and field improvements, among others, at Campbell, which still lacks a locker room for the girls' softball team. According to the suit, softball players are forced to "lug their athletic gear around all day" and "must resort to changing in teachers' closets, in the bathroom of the nearest Burger King, and even on the practice field."
"When you are sued, and the lawsuit came from Campbell High School, the last thing you want to do is fix it because that is being seen as an admission of guilt," state representative Rida Cabanilla Arakawa told Honolulu's KHON.
Lawmakers in Hawaii have allocated money for 10 public schools to design and build girls' locker rooms in 2020 and 2021. Left off of that list is Campbell High School near Honolulu.
One potential explanation is that Campbell in December filed a Title IX lawsuit against the Department of Education and the Oahu Interscholastic Association, claiming that the state set aside $6 million for track and field improvements, among others, at Campbell, which still lacks a locker room for the girls' softball team. According to the suit, softball players are forced to "lug their athletic gear around all day" and "must resort to changing in teachers' closets, in the bathroom of the nearest Burger King, and even on the practice field."
"When you are sued, and the lawsuit came from Campbell High School, the last thing you want to do is fix it because that is being seen as an admission of guilt," state representative Rida Cabanilla Arakawa told Honolulu's KHON.
Girls' locker room projects approved at the 10 schools range in cost from $250,000 to $8 million.
In a statement, the DOE said it sought more than $42 million to make things title IX compliant. "The monies allocated will help the Department as we continue to make significant strides towards ensuring that all of our students have equitable access to quality academic and athletic opportunities."
Cabanilla Arakawa said the governor released $1.5 million to Campbell for planning and design, and school administrators told her that must come first.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit states the DOE claimed to be closing gaps since 1978 but what followed was "four decades of delay."
