KAlle West named Donda Academy after her late mother. But according to one of his recently fired teachers, the deeply troubled school is an affront to his legacy. And the problems run much deeper than sushi.
Cecilia Hailey, a former teacher at West’s secret Donda Academy, told The Daily Beast that she believes students are at least two years behind in math, not allowed to watch Disney or Pixar movies. Nutcracker.
Hailey, who said she was fired from Donda Academy in March, spoke to The Daily Beast last week. He’s suing Donda for wrongful termination and racial discrimination.
Hailey says that when she was hired as a surrogate in November of last year, she got a sense that Donda was struggling to provide a substantial education to her students.
“We didn’t measure the science and social sciences, but I know they’re behind in math,” Hailey said of her former students, now at Donda Academy. “What I encouraged families to pick their kids up from school now and homeschool is to at least let them learn online so they can have legal notes and transcripts so they can switch in the fall because they can’t get ones from Donda.
While Donda believes that most of her students learn English at grade level, she says the majority of students at the school are at least two years behind in math, with a few notable exceptions.
Hailey says she knew right from the start that things weren’t quite right at West’s mysterious Christian private school. The non-accredited academy, which holds daily choir sessions, reportedly requires parents to sign NDAs, and lists the track as an “enrichment course,” was founded last year.
Hailey and her former teacher friend Chekarey Byers, who are suing West and Donda Academy, hope to disclose the school’s alleged substandard conditions.
“As an educator with more than twenty-five years of experience and as an educator who has served as dean of two colleges, Plaintiff Hailey has identified numerous health and safety violations as well as illegal educational practices at Donda Academy.” “To draw attention to illegal and unsafe practices, Plaintiff Hailey has lodged a complaint with Donda Academy’s director/director, Moira Love (hereinafter ‘Love’) on at least three separate occasions.”
The Daily Beast reached out to Donda and West’s attorney for comment.
The original Donda Academy in Simi Valley closed in October 2022. It has since been reinstated at least once.
Melcon Melcon
Hailey also said that strict restrictions were placed on her on what she could share with students. “We didn’t let students watch anything at Disney,” he recalled. “Nothing with Pixar. There is nothing about fairy tales. We wanted to take the kids to see it. Nutcracker during the holidays and they were not allowed to go Nutcracker.”
“There is no African-American History month,” Hailey continued. “Don’t teach Holocaust lessons. This was outside. Don’t even talk about it. We wanted to have Asian American History Month in May and it wasn’t going to be allowed. Hailey also told TMZ that the Holocaust was removed from the curriculum.
At the height of West’s antisemitic spiral last fall, Donda’s parents reportedly received emails on October 27 saying that the academy would close for the remainder of the 2022-23 school year. But according to Hailey’s case, she was hired as a substitute teacher at Donda on or near November 12, 2022.
In Hailey’s case, despite her substandard lesson plans, Donda was strict in other ways. The lawsuit states, “Defendant West did not allow colors or artwork to be hung in classrooms.”
He also claims that because eating out is not allowed, children are only served ready-made sushi for lunch. “Defendant West did not want the children to use cutlery or utensils,” the lawsuit says. “The school was physically locked out from the outside during the school day; and students were not allowed to go out. The entire school spent the same ‘lunch/recess’ time indoors.”
In Hailey’s case, Donda Academy writes that “there was not a school nurse on staff or medical access, did not follow dietary guidelines, and did not have any safety precautions.”
“We can’t have sushi every day without something else for the kids to eat,” Hailey told The Daily Beast. “This is not the nutritional balance that the state says. And we had no cleaning service. He will come behind us and clean, wash the floors, etc. we should have a doorman, because we were all getting sick.”
According to the lawsuit, West reportedly did not allow chairs at Donda, forcing students and teachers alike to stand or sit on foam pads.
Retrieved from West Coast Trial Lawyers office
Hailey’s lawsuit claims she also had serious bullying issues at school.
“In one case, a student slapped an eighth grade student and then tried to attack another teacher,” the lawsuit says. “It was stated that the student was bullied more than once, both physically and verbally, and was not disciplined. However, there are a few students who have bullying issues that have not yet been addressed.”
“We used to share classrooms with other teachers and kids would come and destroy classrooms,” he told The Daily Beast. “The kids saw a lot of bullying and they wanted something to be done so that people would come into their classrooms and destroy the classrooms and not clean up after themselves. The children were talking loudly and it fell on deaf ears.”
Hailey also told The Daily Beast about her parents, who seemed greatly enthralled by West’s cult of celebrities. The allegedly highly dysfunctional Donda Academy costs $15,000 in tuition.
“We had a few outspoken parents, but their focus was more on their children learning individually and expecting more academically,” Hailey said. “But that’s what I don’t understand – the parents didn’t say anything. I think it’s more about parents wanting to take control of the school so they can say they have an impact on Mr. West, rather than what’s really going on with their kids every day.”
“On or near March 3, 2023, upon arriving at work, the Claimants were met in the school parking lot and were notified of immediate termination of employment,” the lawsuit states. “When asked why they were fired, the Defendants did not give them a reason. Plaintiffs have been informed and believe they were dismissed in retaliation for the Defendants’ complaints about unlawful and unsafe educational practices.”
Hailey said she and Byers were fired by Moira Love, who became the school’s 10th principal in less than a year, and is a “Kanye fan” with zero administrative experience. Love did not respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
“We were the only two African American women teaching at that school,” Hailey told The Daily Beast of herself and Byers. “Donda is a 99 percent Black school and I think it’s very important for Black students to have Black role models as teachers.
“And we were top notch,” Hailey added. “We spent a lot of money out of pocket so that our children could buy things that Donda didn’t pay for. [and] He didn’t offer it.”
The Daily Beast on Friday reported that West has been focusing more on running his school in recent months than on his supposed plans to run for president in 2024. West allegedly told a documentary filmmaker he first hired as part of his “campaign” in November 2022: “I just want to be alone.”
During her time at Donda, Hailey was expressly forbidden from communicating with West, whose requests were strictly enforced but she was never physically there.
What would she say to him now?
“Mr. West, I know it’s a vision and you want this school to be a replica of your mother. That’s not happening,” said Hailey. “My suggestion is that if you want Donda to be the kind of school you dream of, you need to have competent people to run it. You can’t take care of the artists, your friends, and your friends who run an educational institution from the street. It’s like me trying to make an album; I [would] I have no idea what I’m doing.
“So you have to understand that you’re responsible for the lives of the children here, and they are very affected by these decisions and they are not good decisions.”