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September 29, 2008
In October 2007, Lawyers for Equal Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and the law firm of Alston, Hunt, Floyd & Ing, with technical assistance from NLCHP, filed a class action lawsuit, Kaleuati v. Tonda, on behalf of all homeless children in Hawaii seeking to ensure access to education. Following class certification and a temporary injunction in February 2008, the state entered into serious settlement discussions, resulting in a settlement signed in August 2008.

Notable features of the settlement include:

• $185,000 in attorneys fees
• Dedicated personnel in each school district and at each school to help homeless parents and train all school personnel who have contact with youth on identifying homeless youth
• Requirement to inquire of all parents withdrawing or transferring children if the withdrawal is due to loss of permanent housing due to economic hardship
• Community outreach including annual advertising in mainstream newspapers and multi-lingual brochures
• Development of automatic prompting in computer programs to inquire as to homeless status
• A dedicated bus making stops at frequently used homeless congregation areas
• Compensatory education where the school fails to transport a homeless child
  NLCHP has included links to the court documents on its new wiki-website, officially launching later this month, as a resource to other lawyers seeking to protect the rights of homeless students. 

NLCHP has included links to the court documents in the Education Litigation Documents section of the wiki.

See additional coverage of the outcomes here.