“Defeated, frustrated, scared.”| Kahala parents of special needs boy take frustrations with DOE to the courts

By Diane Ako

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    HONOLULU (KITV) — Frustration with the state Department of Education has two Kahala parents filing multiple legal actions, just to get their son the special education services he needs.

Keala Rothwell is severely autistic and he’s caught between Kahala Elementary and Liholiho Elementary – all while legal paperwork goes back and forth. His parents describe their desperation in this KITV4 exclusive.

The little boy looks happy, healthy, and loved. At first glance, you wouldn’t know he has severe learning disabilities. Mother Summer Rothwell says, “At six-years-old, he is not fully toilet trained and still in diapers, and he’s entering first grade.”

Summer says Keala spent two-and-a-half years at their home school, Kahala Elementary, but made no progress. “They seemingly didn’t know what to do with him,” she says, ticking off a list of what she terms failures, topped by the “denial of Extended School Year. Keala was given ESY but extremely minimally. For spring break, he might get one day during the break.”

Not only does the lack of learning consistency cause autistic students like Keala to regress, but “it falls on the parents to just not work during those times and figure out something to do with him, in a world that’s not designed for him,” explains Summer, who has another son who is also autistic, though “high-functioning.”

She and husband Corey say they asked repeatedly for services, only to be denied. They finally hired a lawyer.

“He spent two-and-a-half years [at Kahala Elementary] – though a lot of that was COVID time – with little to no progress,” sums Summer.

Eric Seitz is Rothwells’ attorney. “We have a federal law that provides services to children who have disabilities. Unfortunately, the DOE is not sympathetic to those kids and the rights they have,” he says.

They won their lawsuit in September 2022, and the DOE transferred Keala to Liholiho Elementary last school year. He transferred in after fall break, so he started in October 2022.

“It was a completely different experience when we went to Liholiho. We would ask for something, additional support, and they’d add it to his plan. It was easy,” she recalls. “We were met with compassion, understanding, and motivation to help our child.”

The Rothwells and Seitz were surprised when, this spring, the DOE informed them Keala will go back to Kahala Elementary in August. The settlement indicated the boy would be “reevaluated” and since he was thriving, they thought he would get to stay.

“They’ve said nothing other than, ‘You don’t have a right to choose the school. We’re going to choose the school and we’re going to put him back there,'” offers Seitz, who says he hasn’t received an explanation from the DOE.

The Rothwells filed for a Geographic Exemption so Keala could keep attending Liholiho. It was denied. They filed a “due process”, which is essentially an appeal to the denial. That was denied. They have filed a second due process and are waiting for that response.

Summer is confused by the logic. She points out it’s the DOE who chose Liholiho Elementary, and now the DOE pulling him out. Why would it choose to place him at a school for not even a full school year, only to pull him out again and place him back in the original situation, which wasn’t working?

“They knew there wouldn’t be space for him [at Liholiho] but they sent him there anyway. It feels like a retaliation,” she theorizes. “Even the school that can help him, also doesn’t want him and isn’t willing to make space for him.”

Seitz says obfuscation is a common DOE response when challenged.

We asked the DOE for a response and it says, “This case is in active litigation so the Department cannot comment at this time. There are also student privacy considerations.”

In fairness, this reporter posits, “If the DOE says, ‘We’re going to take the practices we fine-tuned at Liholiho, put it in Keala’s Individualized Education Plan, and send him back to Kahala [Elementary] where there’s space for him,’ would that be sufficient?”

Seitz shoots that down immediately. “No. It’s going to be uprooting him from a place he’s become familiar and where he’s responded well. And in the language of the federal law, where he’s fully benefiting from his current education.”

The DOE has said in a legal response, Kahala Elementary “is in full compliance with the fully executed settlement agreement…”

Seitz says he’s ready to draft another lawsuit if the DOE denies the Rothwell’s second due process.

Summer says she feels “defeated, frustrated, and scared for the future. Is this something we’re going to have to deal with every year?” She and Corey are girding themselves – that the answer may be yes.

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