Donda Academy

Kanye West has reportedly opened a private school. According to a report by Rolling Stone, the school, called Donda Academy, is headquartered in Simi Valley, California and is a tuition-based, Christianity-rooted preparatory school.

The school’s website states that Donda Academy’s mission is to “prepare students to become the next generation of leaders” by way of “an ethic of integrity and care.”

As of now, the school is not yet accredited and Donda Academy’s principal and choir program’s executive director Brianne Campbell has never held a formal educational position.

At Donda Academy, students will engage in “full school worship; core classes of language arts, math and science; lunch and recess; enrichment courses including World Language, Visual Art, Film, Choir and Parkour.” Two anonymous sources told Rolling Stone that families who wish to enroll in Donda Academy must sign a non-disclosure agreement.

West collaborated on the school with producer Malik Yusef, who told Rolling Stone that West plans to open several Donda campuses across the country.

“I want to be emphatic that there’s never been a time that Kanye West did not want to do this,” he said. “I think people don’t understand the gravity of that. This man always wanted to create a school in his mama’s name … Look at what we’re doing with the choir and the fashion in school — I don’t think there’s a venture capitalist or anybody that’s had a vision this clear on what education can look like for you.”

Although not a whole lot is known about the structure or educational format of Donda Academy, Tamar Andrews, a consultant for Donda who reportedly has two decades of experience in the realm of education, says sharing information about the school isn’t a high priority at the moment.

“Honestly, we don’t care if people know about the school,” she said. “The people that want to come to the school are looking for a good Christian school in that area and they know that we’re there … there is also a certain notoriety that comes with being affiliated with Donda. So, I don’t know that we have to advertise, which is a blessing and a curse.”

In a recent episode of Nathan Fielder’s comedy doc The Rehearsal, Fielder and his fake wife have differing thoughts on how to raise their fake child in regards to faith. Fielder is Jewish, but she’s a devout Christian who refuses to bring up their temporary child with Judaism. So Fielder drops the kid off at a Jewish school, only to have his real parents pick him up and take him to his real school, before he returns back to the TV show. Two schools? Seems reasonable only on a twisted reality show like The Rehearsal, but a setup similar to this is what Kanye West is proposing for his kids amid the latest dispute with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, this time about what school their kids should go to.

Kanye West posted on Instagram an “idea” of what he thinks the ideal school setup for his kids would be: To go to the Donda Academy for two days and then spend three days at Sierra Canyon school where Kardashian seems to prefer that they go. For what it’s worth, Sierra Canyon is where LeBron James’ kids attend and where his son Bronny leads the decorated basketball team, but I digress. Because Kanye also proposed an alternative of “3 days at Donda and 2 at Sierra Canyon.” Also adding that this would be “including field trips busing to educational places.”

Kanye has been going on Instagram tirades as of late on the subject. A recent storm of since deleted posts said things like “My kids going to Donda. They not going to Sierra Canyon.” And people feel as if those words were directed at the children’s grandmother, Kris Jenner.

And while the recent “idea” of Kanye’s might make sense to him, one has to imagine what an awkward setup it would be for his children to be shuttled back and forth from one to school to the other on a weekly basis because their parents can’t come to an agreement. He commented on his latest post with “This is co-parenting.” But is Instagram really the place to co-parent? Stay tuned…