A Maui mother whose 14-year-old son was attacked and badly beaten in a school classroom with a teacher present is questioning how the public school system supervised the boy blamed for the attack, a youth who has allegedly assaulted other students in the past.

The boy who was attacked may have to undergo eye surgery after suffering a broken nose and broken orbital bone under his left eye, said the mother, who asked that she and her son not be identified to protect her son's privacy.

"I want to make sure something is done; I don't want him doing this to somebody else's child," the mother said of her son's alleged attacker.

Samuel Enoka Kalama Intermediate School Principal John Costales Jr. confirmed that there was an "incident" at the school, and said the school is "working closely with the parents of both students involved as well as with our faculty and staff and the police."

He said state Department of Education policy prevents him from discussing the case any further.

Kalama teacher Donna Montalvo, who has been at the school for 15 years, said she was also injured when she tried to stop the Nov. 28 attack.

"He had this rage that was just uncontrollable. It's ridiculous. I never saw anything that bad," Montalvo said of the attacker.

Montalvo said students from a seventh-grade health class were leaving her room and an eighth-grade home economics class was about to start when the older 15-year-old boy came into her classroom uninvited. Montalvo said she asked the older boy to leave because he didn't belong there, but he ignored her and instead attacked one of her students.

Montalvo tried to intervene, and told other students to summon security. She said she grabbed the attacker's waist from behind, but he threw her off, causing her to fall back and hit her head on a stove. Another student who tried to intervene was also pushed away, she said.

Even after others in the classroom finally managed to pull the boy who was being beaten from the room, his attacker was still "jumping around in a rage," and tried to attack the younger boy again, she said.

"This was the worst incident ever," she said. "I've never seen anything like that. Most of the time you can get the kids to get control and get a grip."

The boy who was beaten was taken to Maui Memorial Hospital in an ambulance. His mother said he hit his head during the attack and was unconscious for a time.

A police report on the incident indicates the older boy was on probation, and was arrested for second-degree assault in connection with the Kalama beating. According to the report, the boy was taken into state custody.

The older boy told authorities he attacked the younger boy because of a "rumor" he had heard, according to correspondence between principal Costales and Maui Complex Superintendent Kenneth Nomura dated Nov. 28.

According to the correspondence, Costales planned to suspend the alleged attacker for 10 days and then process paperwork "to have him expelled or transferred out of our school. ... It is just too dangerous here as he assaulted a student and a teacher."

That plan is being questioned by the victim's mother because she was told the older boy had been transferred among schools before.

"The system failed him somehow," she said. "The DOE, instead of pushing him from school to school, should have found proper placement for him."

"Why would we want to transfer this kid to another school so he can be somebody else's burden? I just don't get that. My point is, he needs to be placed somewhere that can help him. He has issues. I feel bad for him. I'm angry that he hurt my child, but obviously he's not getting the proper guidance or care from his parents," she said.

She also said Costales told her the boy was supposed to be monitored at Kalama in a class where he would be kept away from other students.

Kathy Kawaguchi, assistant superintendent for the DOE's office of curriculum and instructional and student support, said the public school system has a variety of support services including social work intervention or specialized services, and tries to identify troubled students early "so that it doesn't escalate into something more serious."

Those services may include alternative schools or off-campus residential treatment programs. Kawaguchi said those kinds of services are available on Maui.

"When you're looking at the child is a hazard to himself or others, or could put himself or others at risk, at that point they will be looking at providing other options such as providing teachers to the home for instruction, because we still have the obligation to provide an education," she said. "That would be a fairly serious case if we have to do that, because that's not the best way to educate students."

Kawaguchi said there generally are more options at the high school level, but "in some cases there are options for intermediate school students." She said she is certain those types of services are available at the intermediate school level on Maui.

In some cases, Kawaguchi said a student may have problems or get into trouble off campus, but those issues don't spill over into the school setting until later.

Darwin Ching, former chairman of the Board of Education's safety committee, said members of that panel concluded there are flaws in the system the department uses to track violent incidents. Ching said some on-campus incidents apparently go unreported, which can make it more difficult to identify a student with a violent history who changes schools.

"There were situations where incidents happened of assault, but the teacher or principal felt it wasn't something that should have been reported or considered serious," Ching said. "There's a lot of judgment-calling here because the teachers don't want to label and make students criminals when they don't have to, when it's a fine line."

Board of Education member Mary Cochran, who also served on the safety committee, agreed there is under-reporting of violent incidents on school campuses. She said she wants penalties imposed on principals if there is proof they under-report on-campus violence.

"I'm going to be very blunt: If they don't do their job, there ought to be consequences," Cochran said.

Cochran also said she believes principals have limited punishments to 10 days suspension in some violent incidents because longer suspensions may trigger administrative hearings that principals want to avoid.

"It's convenient for them, but it really doesn't help the system any," she said.

Ching was voted off the Board of Education last month, but Cochran said she intends to press for changes in the Chapter 19 disciplinary rules and procedures next year. Those changes may include longer, mandatory suspensions for severe, violent incidents.

"In certain instances like the one at Kalama Intermediate, you're not just going to get away with 10 days or whatever," Cochran said. "One of our proposals we're looking at is up to 90 days suspension."

"It's not as though it is really widespread, but when it does occur, it's really very serious, it does cost the Department of Education money. We're talking about lawsuits, right?" she said.

Another parent who also asked that her name not be used said her eighth-grader son was involved in a fight with the same boy the first week of school. She said her son had not been in trouble before, but both boys were suspended for three days.

"I don't want my son going to school and worrying about what's going to happen to him between classes," she said. "This has got to stop. Our kids have to be able to go to school and know they are safe."

Montalvo, the teacher who tried to stop the attack, took sick leave after the incident and said it will be "spooky to go back. There are a lot of good kids waiting for me to come back who make teaching worthwhile, but there are a few others. ... School should be a privilege. If they don't want to be there, if they cannot cope, they shouldn't be there.

"How safe is your child at school? You have children getting beat up. Parents have to start complaining," Montalvo said.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com and Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.