Kanye West's Donda Academy Under Fire for 'Unsafe' Practices in New Lawsuit
The suit against Donda Academy was filed by two former teachers.
Kanye West's Donda Academy has become the subject of a new lawsuit just a few months after he reportedly "went missing" to skip out on another.
The suit was filed on Thursday by two former teachers at the Ventura County, California school, Cecilia Hailey and her daughter Chekarey Byers. It claims West's private unaccredited Christian school–which he opened in honor of his late mother in 2021–committed a series of offenses.
Among the allegations, Donda Academy is accused of violating education, health and safety codes, terminating educators based on race and retaliation, and failing to fully pay teachers.
According to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by Parade, Hailey and Byers were employed as teachers in Nov. 2022 and Jan. 2023, respectively. At the time of their employment, they noticed doors locked from the outside and a lack of essential items, including utensils, chairs, and meals outside of the sushi served once daily.
The former employees also described the school as lacking a nurse, janitorial services, and support systems for staff.
Student medications were stored in a closet, with other expired medications scattered around unsecured. There was no cleaning staff as “West did not believe in cleaning products containing chemicals, so teachers were only allowed to clean with acid water and microfiber cloths," per the complaint.
Additionally, the plaintiffs protested that the school was “not following state regulations for students in need of educational services, additional testing, or individualized learning plans.”
Hailey explained that when she tried to share her issues directly with West–who has previously repeated harmful rhetoric, including antisemitic beliefs–“she was threatened not to reach out to him.”
The plaintiffs were also the only two Black women employed at the school and, after raising their concerns, were called “aggressive” by colleagues–behavior that the two say “facilitates stereotypes about African American women as being confrontational simply for doing their job and voicing their legitimate concerns."
The case alleges that two were ultimately fired in Mar. 2023 in retaliation for reporting code violations.
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The artist, who legally changed his name to Ye before opening the school, where he serves as CEO, secretary and CFO, is named a defendant, along with the school and three directors.
In addition to being “terminated in retaliation for their complaints about defendants’ unlawful and unsafe educational practices" and racial discrimination, the school is also accused of “untimely or inaccurate” pay, with Byers never receiving her first check and ensuing checks often being short up to $2,700.
The lawsuit aims to hold West and the school liable for retaliatory wrongful termination, discrimination and unpaid wages.
“Kanye West is clearly as bad at running a school as he is at managing his own personal and professional life, enabling an unsafe and illegal school environment for students that also discriminated against the plaintiffs based on their race,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Ron Zambrano. “These egregious violations at Donda Academy are just another example of West’s unusual behavior, and our clients just won’t stand for it, no matter his celebrity status.”
“I’m extremely sad about all of this. It was such a huge honor and privilege to work at Donda Academy for Kanye West," Byers said. “I still enjoy his music, and I’ll never deny his talent, but while his vision for the school sounds great on paper, it’s just pure chaos and mutiny. It’s like a mental hospital being run by the patients.”
West or his team have currently not yet spoken out about the lawsuit.
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