A lawsuit filed confidentially against Punahou School last week was unsealed Monday, revealing that the former teacher and coach accused of sexual misconduct with a student in the late 1970s is Christopher McLaren.
Kelley Lum Oshiro, a 1978 Punahou graduate, filed the lawsuit Friday in Circuit Court against Punahou School and McLaren, who was an elementary school teacher and boys baseball coach at the time of the alleged sexual abuse, starting in 1976. Lum Oshiro alleges that McLaren pushed her into performing sex acts as a minor, which she did because she believed they were in love.
Punahou confirmed Monday that McLaren’s wife, Monica Mamiya McLaren, has relinquished her position on Punahou School’s board of trustees. The 1977 Punahou graduate, who taught elementary school students at the school from 1983 to 2015, was named to the board of trustees in October 2018.
“Punahou can confirm that Monica McLaren voluntarily stepped down from the board to remove any question about the integrity of the school’s process to investigate these claims,” the school said in an emailed response to a question from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
The newspaper made calls to a phone number associated with Christopher McLaren’s address seeking his input for the story, but there was no answer or voice mail. A direct message to his Facebook account did not elicit a response.
The lawsuit makes claims of sexual abuse, assault and battery, infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence and recklessness and failure to protect, among other counts. It seeks a jury trial and damages, including punitive damages.
Lum Oshiro, who attended Punahou from kindergarten, was a 16-year-old sophomore when she became student manager of the boys baseball team that McLaren, then 27, helped coach, according to the suit. She also played for the girls softball team with McLaren as an assistant coach starting in her junior year.
The lawsuit contends that McLaren singled her out for special attention and invited her to his home, where they became sexually intimate. It alleges that McLaren made her perform sex acts on two occasions and that on another night, after giving her alcoholic beverages, they had intercourse. The suit said she was a virgin and that it was a painful experience.
Nonetheless, she felt she was in love with him and felt crushed when he told her the next day that “what we did was wrong” and “it can never happen again,” the suit said. The lawsuit also claims that they also had sex on the night of her graduation.
The legal complaint said Lum Oshiro was devastated that McLaren had rejected her after having sex, and the experience led her to deep depression and a suicide attempt during her senior year.
The lawsuit is being handled by the Law Offices of Vladimir P. Devens, which also represents several other younger alumnae, including Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and her sister Mahina Macfarlane Souza, who recently sued over alleged sex abuse by former assistant basketball coach Dwayne Yuen in the mid-2000s. Another suit, filed by Shawna-Lei Kuehu against Punahou and Yuen, is being handled by attorneys Crystal Glendon and Kelli K. Lee Ponce.
The flurry of lawsuits last week alleging sexual abuse came just before Friday’s deadline to file such suits under a window opened by the Legislature for survivors of such childhood trauma. Lawmakers said children who are sexually abused often carry those secrets into adulthood.
In an emailed letter to the Punahou community on Sunday, the school acknowledged new allegations had surfaced, on top of the reports involving Yuen.
“We are deeply saddened by this situation and remain committed to standing by survivors of sexual abuse,” said the letter, signed by school President Michael Latham, Board Chairman Mark Fukunaga and Board Vice Chairwoman Constance Lau. “It is with heavy hearts that we now inform you of several new developments.”
“Two other developments are unrelated to Mr. Yuen and involve allegations of sexual abuse against a former faculty member and a former faculty member and baseball coach, each occurring in the 1970s,” they wrote. “We have reported these cases to the police and opened investigations.”
“While the state’s statute of limitations expired Friday, April 24, prompting the filing of a number of legal claims against several institutions, more individuals may come forward and we will continue to listen, learn and take appropriate action,” the letter said. “As we now proceed to reckon with the past and our responsibilities, we pledge our respect and support for these courageous members of our Punahou ‘ohana.”
Punahou now has multiple channels for any member of the school community to report abuse or suspected abuse in a manner that is safe and confidential, and all faculty, staff and coaches receive mandatory training on sexual misconduct and how to prevent abuse, the letter said.
Star-Advertiser staff writer Dave Reardon contributed to this report.