A 12-year-old Nanakuli seventh grader who requires one-on-one adult supervision at school walked off her campus unattended on Aug. 11, and her family says they only learned about it because a relative happened to spot her crying along Nanakuli Avenue. Chloe Kahiamoe was found walking in the road rather than on a sidewalk, according to her mother, after a relative driving through the area to pick up food recognized her and stopped.
Chloe’s individualized education program requires that an adult supervise her one-on-one at all times while she is at school, according to Hawaii News Now. Her parents said they were not notified by the school before their relative found her wandering near the road. “She was crying. She’s distraught and everything,” her father, Alika Kahiamoe-Terukina, said, recounting what the relative told him. Her mother, Nani Kahiamoe-Terukina, said, “Anything could have happened to her.”
Family and School Give Conflicting Accounts
The family met with school staff the day after the incident, and the station's report describes two different versions of what happened. According to school officials as relayed to Kahiamoe-Terukina, Chloe had become upset in class, was taken outside by her teacher, and went into a bathroom — at which point the teacher said he was waiting outside when she slipped past him and left campus.
Chloe’s parents dispute that account entirely. Kahiamoe-Terukina said her daughter’s own version of events did not involve a bathroom at all, leaving the family with two conflicting narratives and no resolution on which is accurate. The family says Chloe now has a new teacher following the incident.
Parents Say Warnings Went Unheeded
Alika Kahiamoe-Terukina, Chloe’s father, said he met with her teacher before the school year even began to go over her specific behaviors and triggers. He said he warned the teacher numerous times afterward to keep a close watch on her, making the August incident feel to the family like a preventable failure rather than a one-off accident.
The family has since received an incident investigation report from the school, but it only contains estimated times rather than hard data. “It’s just a timeline, estimated times,” Alika Kahiamoe-Terukina said, per the same account, explaining they are still waiting on surveillance footage and specific camera timestamps that would show when Chloe left campus. As of the report's publication, school officials had not provided that footage or those timestamps.
State Senator Calls It a Pattern
State Sen. Samantha DeCorte, who represents Ko Olina, Nanakuli, Maili, Waianae, Makaha and Makua, told the outlet she spoke directly with Chloe’s family and that the case raises broader concerns about student safety. She questioned what the teacher was doing in the moments Chloe was supposed to be receiving one-on-one care, and said this was not the first time a parent in her district had come to her with similar worries.
Chloe’s parents say they want accountability and a clear explanation of what happened that day. They also want to know why they were not notified sooner and whether the school’s supervision policies were actually followed. Hawaii News Now reported it contacted both the school and the Hawaii State Department of Education for comment and, as of publication Oct. 4, was still awaiting a response.
Campus Safety Push Already Underway
The incident comes as Nanakuli High & Intermediate School has joined a Honolulu Police Department pilot program placing three retired Honolulu police officers on campus, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The city is funding the pilot, which costs more than $1 million, and officials describe it as focused on mentorship, relationship-building and prevention rather than traditional policing. Nanakuli's inclusion came about six months after the program launched at Kaimuki, Kapolei and Waianae high schools.
Early results at those three campuses have been framed as encouraging: Kaimuki reported an 8% drop in student behavior incidents in spring 2026 compared with the year before, Kapolei saw a 20% reduction in misconduct violations, and Waianae's incident counts fell 25% between fall 2025 and spring 2026. The Star-Advertiser notes the initiative remains in its pilot phase and will continue to be evaluated as it expands to more schools. Separately, testimony submitted to Hawaii lawmakers on HB1997 states that students are entitled to a free appropriate public education that includes supports tied to health, safety, mobility, communication and functional needs, according to filings with the Hawaii State Legislature.
For now, the Kahiamoe-Terukina family says they are left waiting — for footage, for timestamps, and for someone at the school or the state Department of Education to explain how their daughter ended up alone on a roadside more than a block from the campus where she was supposed to be under constant watch.
