HILO, Hawai'i — Waters of Life New Century Public Charter School in Puna is being blocked from operating at some of its sites for the third time in recent years after the county Planning Department issued warning or violation letters to owners of homes where the school has been holding classes without the required county permits.

The school discontinued classes at all three of the houses in Hawaiian Paradise Park at the start of spring break, and since then has found new sites where classes can resume for about 50 students who were being taught at two of the homes, said school Director Katheryn Crayton-Shay.

Waters of Life is still looking for a new location for about 30 more students who were being taught at the third house, Crayton-Shay said.

The three satellite campuses became part of the Waters of Life at the beginning of this year, and teachers and parents of students who went to school there made pleas to the Charter School Review Panel yesterday that the panel not punish or close Waters of Life.

Donna Brillheart, a parent of a kindergarten student at one of the satellites, said the campuses were organized and began operations under the Waters of Life umbrella "out of sheer will" on the part of parents who were deeply dissatisfied with the public schools in Puna.

"I consider Waters of Life to be a lifesaver for me and my family," Brillheart said. "My heart is breaking at the thought that this school would cease to exist."

Kristen O'Guin, who teaches Japanese at two of the satellite Waters of Life campuses, said the school staff thought any land use problems with the sites were being cleared up, and said everyone agrees they want a safe environment for the students.

"Please don't yank the rug out from under the children for the last two months" of the school year, she said.

Fire Inspector Robert Perreira said his department received an anonymous call urging the department to check for fire code violations at the three house sites where classes were being held as well as at the two primary Waters of Life campuses at the 'Ainaloa Longhouse and the Kurtistown Assembly of God Church.

Perreira said he found violations at all of the sites and reported them to the county Planning Department, which reviewed its records and found the owners of the home sites had not applied for the required special permits to operate a school in an agricultural zone.

Crayton-Shay said she was told by an official with the county fire department that the call that triggered the fire inspections actually came from the state Department of Education. She said this is "because they have been after Waters of Life from the beginning."

"We have been watched from the first day that the school was chartered," she said. The school had serious financial problems early on, and "the finances have been sort of used (against us), and the facilities, from the beginning," she said.

Crayton-Shay opposed bringing the operations at the three home sites under the Waters of Life organization, but was overridden by her local school board. Despite that disagreement, she said the zoning restrictions on establishing new school sites in rural Puna are hurting the community by blocking the creation of new educational alternatives.

"I still say Puna is growing faster than the zoning department and the planning department can handle it," she said. "The law is antiquated; it does not serve the needs of the 38,000 people (in Puna)."

The school has about 185 students at its campuses, many of whom are special education students.

In 2006 the school had to give up a facility at the Kea'au Girl Scouts Center after three female students from Kea'au High School entered the Waters of Life campus and were allegedly involved in several assaults on students and teachers. The Girl Scout Center then withdrew its permission for the school to use the campus.

Waters of Life also bought a 28-acre farm near Kurtistown, but neighbors opposed plans to establish a school there, and took the school to court. The school is now trying to obtain a county special use permit that would allow it to hold classes at the site.

The Charter School Review Panel declined to impose any sanctions on Waters of Life yesterday, but voted to set up a formal contested-case-type process that would allow the panel to examine the facilities and other issues of concern at the school.