Sex Assault Case Raises Questions About DOE's Protection of Students

A Waipahu high school student said school officials ignored repeated pleas for help and even told her not to call the police when she complained about being sexually assaulted by a coach.

Her father didn't get any help from the Hawaii Department of Education either. The episode has concerned parents and a Waipahu lawmaker saying they've lost faith in the department's ability to protect their children.

"For a department that talks so much about accountability, I don't see any accountability," said state Sen. Clarence Nishihara, who represents Waipahu, Pearl City and Crestview. He is also a former vice principal. "For a department that says they care about the kids, they really don't show any evidence of that. Protecting each other is fine, but you need to hold each other accountable."

The department is currently conducting a review of the actions taken by Waipahu High School officials, a spokeswoman told Civil Beat.

The 17-year-old Waipahu High School student, a senior, told a vice principal in October that 37-year-old track and field coach Erik Y. Tamura of Wahiawa had sexually assaulted her on at least three occasions. Vice Principal Corinne Fujieda told the principal, but school officials never called the police and instead conducted an in-house investigation that they said found the track coach innocent of the allegations. He was never suspended, only asked to "apologize" to his accuser.

But the student's father made even less progress with the Department of Education itself. He felt Principal Keith Hayashi and Athletic Director Stacy Nii were just trying to protect Tamura and the school's reputation. So he tried for months to get officials at every level of the department to reopen the investigation. But every person he called passed him on to someone else.

"It's like a fort," he said of the department. "It just folded up on me."

"From the beginning, I felt like she didn't have a chance. I felt the principal and vice principals already had drawn their conclusion about why she reported (Tamura). They were trying to keep everybody quiet, so I started going above them. I went to Child Protective Services, then the Sexual Abuse Treatment Center and (Honolulu Police Department) was my last resort."

Civil Beat granted the student and her father anonymity in order to protect the identity of the victim.

In December, the student's father resorted to contacting a Florida-based organization that helps connect victims of sexual harassment with attorneys. The attorney advised him to call the police. He filed a report on Dec. 16 and on Feb. 8 Tamura had his initial court appearance on three charges of third-degree sexual assault.

Despite his court appearance, it was only in response to media inquiries that Waipahu High School officials put Tamura on paid leave.

Parents at the school did not receive a letter about the investigation from the school until Feb. 9 — after local news outlets broke the story.

Barbara Ugalde, who has a son on the track team at the school, said she is angry over what she feels is a lack of protection for the students, and the lack of communication from the school.

"I'm very supportive of the public education system, but this threw me for a loop, and I've never been more disappointed in a group of people in my life," she said. "I don't trust them. They took our trust, as parents, and just flushed it down the toilet. The school system has failed every parent who has had a child at Waipahu High School since Tamura started working there."

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