Two former lecturers at Kanye West’s Donda Academy are suing the varsity, alleging labor violations along with restrictive and strange college guidelines for lecturers and college students.
Amongst different allegations, the lawsuit claims the youngsters had been solely allowed to eat sushi, the varsity had no janitorial providers, and West would not enable the lecturers or college students to put on any jewellery. The lecturers additionally allege the varsity didn’t meet Division of Schooling necessities or observe state rules, and lecturers weren’t required to have Primary Life Assist certification or obligatory reporting coaching.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday by third-grade instructor Cecilia Hailey and fifth-grade instructor Chekarey Byers, who each labored at Donda Academy from January to March 2023. On March 3, 2023, Hailey and Byers had been fired from Donda Academy with out a purpose given to them, based on the lawsuit, which is claiming a violation of the state’s labor code. They consider they had been fired in retaliation for complaining to the varsity’s administration.
Each lecturers say they complained about well being and security violations, together with an absence of disciplinary techniques. They allege within the lawsuit that their complaints weren’t taken severely and that Donda Academy’s principal Moira Love known as two of them “aggressive.”
Hailey and Byers had been the one Black lecturers on the college, based on the lawsuit. “I’m simply bored with the rhetoric being that Black ladies who’re competent are seen as aggressive,” Hailey stated in a press launch.
Donda Academy, in addition to a lawyer for West, didn’t instantly return BuzzFeed Information’ request for remark.
Byers additionally claims within the lawsuit she by no means obtained her first paycheck and that her and Hailey’s paychecks would typically be brief $1,800 to $2,700 per pay interval.
“Kanye West is clearly as dangerous at operating a college as he’s at managing his personal private {and professional} life, enabling an unsafe and unlawful college setting for college students that additionally discriminated towards the plaintiffs based mostly on their race,” the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Ron Zambrano, stated in a press launch. “These egregious violations at Donda Academy are simply one other instance of West’s uncommon conduct, and our purchasers simply received’t stand for it, irrespective of his superstar standing. Kanye wants to understand his genius is in creating music, not in class administration.”
West, who legally modified his identify to Ye in 2021, first opened Donda Academy in 2022 and now serves as its CEO, secretary, and CFO. Donda Academy is an unaccredited non-public Christian college for college students in pre-kindergarten by way of twelfth grade.
The lawsuit additionally alleges plenty of strict and strange guidelines on the academy. No crossword puzzles or coloring sheets had been allowed, the lawsuit claims. There have been allegedly no lessons on the second flooring as a result of West was afraid of stairs. College students weren’t allowed to make use of forks, and all cups and bowls had been required to be grey. No coloration or paintings was allegedly allowed within the school rooms, and college students had been required to put on black head-to-toe West-designed attire. Manufacturers like Nike and Adidas had been prohibited, based on the lawsuit.
West additionally did not enable any chairs within the college, the lawsuit claims, and youngsters needed to sit on foam cushions or stand whereas lecturers needed to stand or use a stool. College students allegedly needed to eat their lunch on the ground as a result of there weren’t any tables, and recess was indoors as a result of college students weren’t allowed to go outdoors.
“I’m extraordinarily unhappy about all of this,” Byers stated in a information launch. “It was such an enormous honor and privilege to work at Donda Academy for Kanye West. I’m an enormous Kanye fan. His first album was the primary I ever bought. I nonetheless take pleasure in his music, and I’ll by no means deny his expertise, however whereas his imaginative and prescient for the varsity sounds nice on paper, it’s simply pure chaos and mutiny. It’s like a psychological hospital being run by the sufferers.”
