Most students of Kanye West’s Donda Academy are rumored to be children of the rich and famous. Since its existence, the institution has fit into the definition of “clandestine.” Secrecy strategies and NDAs have caged public details about its operations. Lawsuits, however, always divulge the unspeakable. As we know, the school’s future, from here on out, is shaky due to a legal war. The school’s former teachers spearhead this fight: Cecilia Hailey and Chekarey Byers.
Donda Academy Creates Concern
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It is not easy to wage war against a celebrity. Often, people mistake your actions as attempts to cancel them. Conspicuously, Hailey and Byers are willing to brave it; plus, they come across as passionate ‘right-thing-oriented’ women. Though overly soaked in absurd sentiment, Kanye’s angle might not be hopelessly condemnable. His root incentives are genuine, but are his approaches? He created the academy for a range of pupils, from pre-kindergarten until the twelfth grade. This “academy” he launched was one of overflowing curiosity. Insider reported that between January 2022 and November 2022, 19,155 emails about Donda Academy bombarded LAPD records.
The school is no stranger to harsh (or blunt?) criticism, starting from its “unaccredited” qualifier. Ye, who we once knew as Kanye, established this highly-subjective institution in 2022. Seldom do we see a school whose dress code is black. Not even an extremely conservative academy would call for that stark genericness. Though boasting of a 10:1 ratio of students to teachers, it doesn’t have Ye’s kids as regular enrollees.
Additionally, Donda Academy’s curriculum was effortfully unique. It encapsulated Christianity, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and “Enrichment Courses.” There was reportedly also Visual Arts, Film, Choir, and Parkour. We would instinctively envision paradise, but hold on. We first need to hear from the mother and daughter who recently filed a lawsuit against Ye’s matriarch-commemorating phenomenon.
Donda Academy Sued
The two have had a lot of disturbing details to share. The first tier of their allegations centered around their exclusion from the academy. The second comprised uncanny breaches of health, safety, and learning regulations. In the lawsuits, plaintiffs stated they were the only teachers who were Black women. They also stated that they had experienced pay cutbacks based on racial identity and outspokenness. Hailey complained that she was hardly ever silent about her unfavorable take on the school’s policies. Allegedly, she was even “threatened not to reach out to him,” with “him” being Ye West, the founder himself. It finally escalated into a surprise termination one morning at the parking lot.
The Los Angeles Times particularly recounted Hailey’s firm belief that she and her mother were never alone in this. Hailey hypothesized that the others were too scared to lose money, privileges, or jobs. She concluded by crediting her passion for kids and education as her motivation for speaking up. Getting into a breakdown of some of these breaches is crucial; hence, we investigate further. “They definitely wanted to suppress a lot of information in reference to history,” Hailey lamented. The curriculum also reportedly omitted the Holocaust and many other atrocities against marginalized groups.
Donda Academy: More Allegations
It would appear that the Donda Academy curriculum was perhaps the least of all concerns. The pragmatic school conditions were seemingly too unsettling for Hailey and Byers to turn a blind eye to. Teachers were more or less free to stroll in with neither first-aid nor mandated child-abuse reporter training. The school allegedly forbade using cleaning chemicals, befitting trash cans, and janitorial services in general. There were also complaints about an absence of a school nurse, medical supplies, and proper medication storage. Even the plaintiffs exposed one scenario where the school stowed an allergic student’s EpiPen above a microwave. Further, the women revealed that cups and bowls were compulsorily gray.
The allegations expanded into issues as severe as the alleged acceptance of bullying and allowing strangers to pick up students. The women stood against the school’s lunch culture as well. The complaint documented how West would lavish $10,000 a week on his unswerving Sushi rule. Moreover, the school reportedly mandated teachers to restrict classes to the first floor due to West’s stairs phobia. Aside from being sentenced to a permanent Sushi menu, students reportedly had to eat on the floor. The women described how the school outlawed tables and chairs, crossword puzzles, and other helpful materials. West has not commented on the lawsuit at the time of this publication. However, we never know when he’ll rear his outspoken head.