At Kanye West’s Donda Academy, the performer’s Christian Ok-12 college, college students have been subjected to unsafe, unregulated and unsanitary circumstances, two former academics allege in a lawsuit towards West and others filed this week in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom.
Cecilia Hailey and Chekarey Byers, the one two Black feminine academics on the college, have been fired after they voiced issues over the circumstances to directors, in line with the grievance.
The college, named for West’s mom, operated in Simi Valley earlier than transferring to its present location in Chatsworth, in line with California Division of Training information.
The ladies are suing West for retaliation, wrongful termination, discrimination and withheld wages.
West’s legal professional, Gregory Ok. Nelson, declined to touch upon the lawsuit, saying he had not seen it as of Thursday afternoon.
Hailey, in an interview Thursday with The Occasions, stated she was “very, very disturbed” by what she noticed in her time on the college.
“We’re accountable to ensure that we’re giving kids a high quality training, and once you don’t, you might be actually disturbing the lifetime of that youngster,” Hailey stated. “That’s simply not proper.”
In accordance with the grievance, Hailey was employed as an alternative trainer at Donda Academy within the fall, across the time West made a sequence of antisemitic feedback on social media and in televised interviews.
Within the wake of the feedback, West was dropped by his expertise company, CAA, and Adidas ended its partnership with the rapper. The sportswear firm said that it anticipated to lose almost $250 million due to the transfer.
Hailey stated she had seen interviews West had performed previous to her hiring however stated, “I didn’t go into the varsity as a result of it was Kanye West’s college. I went into the varsity as a result of I used to be requested to go, and I bought there and I noticed a necessity.”
Hailey stated college students weren’t uncovered to something antisemitic or politically charged within the curriculum however famous that there have been restrictions positioned on what may very well be coated in school rooms.
“They undoubtedly wished to suppress a whole lot of info in reference to historical past,” Hailey stated. “They didn’t need the youngsters to know actually about African American historical past or Asian American historical past.”
The Holocaust was additionally omitted from Donda Academy curriculum.
On at the very least three events, Hailey stated, she voiced issues to the principal, recognized within the grievance as Moira Love, that the varsity was not complying with well being and security or instructional laws.
Hailey additionally tried to debate her issues with West however “was threatened to not attain out to him.”
Byers additionally complained to Love concerning the the varsity’s circumstances.
Academics on the college weren’t required to have first-aid or mandated child-abuse reporter coaching, and state laws relating to instructional providers and individualized studying plans weren’t being adopted, the grievance says.
The college didn’t have janitorial providers, with West barring the usage of cleansing merchandise with chemical substances, or correct trash cans, in line with the grievance. Academics have been solely allowed to scrub with “acid water and microfiber cloths.”
The college additionally lacked a college nurse and medical provides, and medicines have been saved improperly.
One scholar’s EpiPen to deal with allergic reactions was stowed above a microwave, the plaintiffs allege.
The college additionally allegedly did not implement protocols associated to bullying.
“In a single incident, a scholar assaulted an eighth-grade scholar by slapping her, then tried to assault one other trainer,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote within the grievance.
The coed “went with out self-discipline.”
As for diet, Donda Academy college students have been fed sushi — and solely sushi — each college day and have been made to eat lunch on the ground, as the varsity didn’t have tables, the plaintiffs alleged.
“College students weren’t allowed to deliver any outdoors meals or something apart from water,” attorneys wrote within the grievance.
Though the plaintiffs described the day-to-day operations of the varsity as missing construction, West demanded that sure guidelines be strictly enforced.
He required college students to decorate solely in black, and so they have been restricted to the primary flooring of the constructing as a result of, the grievance alleges, West is afraid of stairs.
College students weren’t allowed to make use of utensils, and neither college students nor workers might put on jewellery, in line with the grievance.
After Hailey and Byers lodged their issues, no motion was taken by college directors. Love allegedly instructed Hailey and Byers they have been “aggressive.” The pair have been additionally shorted as much as $2,700 per paycheck, they allege.
Final month, as the 2 academics arrived for work, they have been met within the car parking zone and instructed that that they had been terminated.
Hailey stated she believes there are others working on the college who’re afraid to talk out concerning the circumstances.
“They’re afraid to talk up as a result of they’re afraid of being fired or ostracized” or dropping out on cash, Hailey stated. “However that isn’t what we get on this enterprise for. We get on this enterprise, if we get into it correctly, to coach youngsters.”
