Students’ rights come first: Hong Kong’s John Lee on HKIS-LCMS legal dispute

Hong Kong’s leader has called on a top international school and its US-based founding organisation, currently embroiled in a legal dispute, to prioritise quality education and protect the interests of students.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday also urged the operator of the Hong Kong International School (HKIS) to update parents and students of the latest developments regularly.

Last week, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), which helped found HKIS, dropped a bombshell by suing the school’s operator for allegedly breaching an operating agreement. It also threatened to evict the institution from its campuses and set up a new one.

LCMS accused operator Hong Kong International School Association Limited (HKISAL) of turning the not-for-profit institution into a business by charging excessive tuition fees that excluded most members of the public and racking up a strong balance sheet with net assets of HK$2.8 billion (US$359 million).

Weighing in on the saga for the first time on Tuesday, Lee declined to provide detailed comments due to the ongoing legal proceedings but emphasised that education standards and students’ rights must remain unaffected.

“The standard of education cannot be affected, students’ rights cannot be affected,” he said. “These two principles are the most important and have been duly related to the parties concerned.”

Lee said the Education Bureau would closely monitor the incident, adding that parents and students should also be regularly informed of the latest developments.