The inaugural season of girls' high school flag football in Hawaii is over, but an incident that took place in March tarnished the entire experience for some participants at Kahuku High and Intermediate School.
As reported by Hawaii News Now, varsity players and a new parent group, Kahuku Movement for Change, say that after the Kahuku football team lost to Castle High School in Kaneohe on March 25, Kahuku’s athletic director Gillian Yamagata ordered the girls to hastily change and hand over their uniforms or the team would be fined for not leaving within 15 minutes.
The inaugural season of girls' high school flag football in Hawaii is over, but an incident that took place in March tarnished the entire experience for some participants at Kahuku High and Intermediate School.
As reported by Hawaii News Now, varsity players and a new parent group, Kahuku Movement for Change, say that after the Kahuku football team lost to Castle High School in Kaneohe on March 25, Kahuku’s athletic director Gillian Yamagata ordered the girls to hastily change and hand over their uniforms or the team would be fined for not leaving within 15 minutes.
In a phone recording released to Hawaii News Now, one player said some team members asked to go to the restroom, but were forced to change in the field’s end zone.
“She [Yamagata] was getting mad at us so we had to change exactly where we were," said the Kahuku flag football player. "And our coaches were there, all the parents were walking by.”Â
“She was rushing us and we were getting really upset,” she added.
“According to the girls, they just took it off," said parent Penny Toilolo, who’s also part of Kahuku Movement for Change. "They had their sports bra and they just threw something on.”Â
Toilolo said the players passed around a jacket and used it to cover themselves as they changed out of their uniforms.
“They gave that jacket to somebody else so they could change," Toilolo said. "Mind you, coaches are on the field, parents are in the crowd and they are in the end zone changing.”
“I felt uncomfortable, so me and and my friend we decided to just change fast,” said Toilolo’s 16-year-old daughter Naheariʻi.
Naheariʻi Toilolo told HNN Yamagata opened the back door of the school bus and ordered players to change on the bus. That's where Naheariʻi changed.
To avoid embarrassment, Penny Toilolo says a male coach and male bus driver got off the bus.
“A lot of girls were confused at the same time. She [Yamagata] wanted the uniforms so they were trying to hide in the seats and stuff and just change real quick and just get it done as fast as possible,” she said, as reported by HNN's Mahealani Richardson.
Last month, HNN's Richardson reported that the flag football changing incident was one reason parents were calling for the termination of Kahuku principal Donna Lindsey.
“There’s definitely an issue with compliance. There’s an issue with negligence. There’s definitely exposure to claims,” civil rights attorney Joseph Rosenbaum told HNN.
Per Richardson's reporting, Hawaii’s largest public school in 2023 settled a landmark Title IX gender equity lawsuit after Campbell High School female athletes said they had to change in teacher’s closets, bathrooms and a nearby Burger King while boys had their own locker room.
Related: Lawsuit: Hawaii Settles Over Girls' Lack of Access to High School Locker Rooms
“It’s hard to really fathom that after all the litigation and these issues having already been addressed allegedly that the girls are having to put up with the same or similar type of issues,” Rosenbaum told HNN.
“After being notified, the principal reported the alleged incident involving female student-athletes to the Department’s Civil Rights Compliance Branch," the Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE) said in a statement. "The school also updated its procedures to ensure clarity and consistency. Moving forward, athletes are given the opportunity to change in a designated locker room or bathroom for away games, and coaches will collect uniforms upon return to campus.”
“The school updated its procedures for away games immediately after being notified of the incident," the HIDOE said upon further questioning by HNN. "The updated procedures were in effect by the next away game."
As for the post-game departure policy, HIDOE stated, “For the safety of student-athletes, the OIA [Oahu Interscholastic Association] requires visiting teams to depart the field within 15 minutes of the end of the game. Failure to do so may result in a fine.”
However, parents say the changing incidents continued after the March 25 game, and players ended up wearing their regular clothes under their uniforms, Richardson reported.
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