HONOLULU -- A Big Island charter school student filed a lawsuit against the school's principal and secretary Tuesday, claiming she was strip-searched at school.

The American Civil Liberties Union said it took this case after the girl's mother repeatedly complained to the school and school board, but was brushed off.

Principal Steve Hirakami and secretary Andrea Irvine of Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science are at the center of the lawsuit. The unnamed 15-year-old girl claims Hirakami decided she and another girl should be strip-searched after being accused of stealing money from a school van driver.

"They were detained. They were interrogated by the police. Their belongings were looked through and then the principal decided he would have them strip-searched as well," ACLU attorney Brent White said.

The lawsuit names Irvine as the person who conducted the search.

The $30 was never found and the students were sent back to class.

"The girl (has) been traumatized by this. You just have to imagine how a 15-year-old girl would feel about being strip-searched by the school secretary. It's embarrassing, humiliating. She had to leave the school because of this. It's just too uncomfortable for her to be there at the school," White said.

A spokesman said the Department of Education has a clear policy prohibiting strip searches, but he said it's unclear if that policy applies to charter schools, or if the search ever really happened.

"The principal is an employee of its local board, the public charter school, not really hired directly by the DOE. So that does remove that school from the DOE's direct jurisdiction," DOE spokesman Greg Knudsen said.

Although principal Hirakami declined an on-camera interview, he denied the allegations.

The ACLU said the girl now attends a boarding school on Oahu, but was receiving services under the Felix Consent Decree for emotional disabilities.

The lawsuit is asking for monetary compensation but the ACLU said its main purpose is to stop strip searches from happening at schools.