Settlement over lack of girls’ locker rooms at Hawaii high school includes independent evaluator

HONOLULU (AP) — A 2018 class-action lawsuit over a lack of locker rooms for female athletes at Hawaii’s largest public school has reached a settlement that attorneys say will ensure athletic gender equity at the high school.

The lawsuit alleged disparate treatment including stand-alone locker rooms only for boys and a failure to provide coaches for certain girls’ teams at Campbell High School in a Honolulu suburb.

The Hawaii Department of Education and the Oahu Interscholastic Association will hire an independent evaluator who will make sure girls at the school receive equivalent sports offerings and athletic benefits such as facilities and transportation, according to the settlement terms announced Tuesday by lawyers for the plaintiffs.

The settlement, which was reached earlier this month and received preliminary approval from a judge last week, also includes a seven-year compliance plan for monitoring and evaluating sports gender equity at the school.