Former Donda Academy teacher Cecilia Hailey is speaking out about the treatment of children at the school. In an interview with TMZ, she issued a warning to students’ parents about the various things they should know.
“They need to be aware that their children are behind,” Hailey said. “And that they need to consider that it’s going to be very hard for them to be able to transfer their kids out of that school next year or later because there are no grades, which I think they know of, and they can’t get transcripts and they’re not getting what they need. They absolutely are not getting what they need. The kids are being suppressed because of all the constant changes that go on at the school.”
Hailey had been teaching at Donda Academy since last year, but she and daughter Chekarey Byers, who was hired in January, were fired in March 2023. In a recent lawsuit, the women claim they were discriminated against as the only two Black female teachers in the school. They believe they were terminated in retaliation for reporting health and safety violations, as well as lack of disciplinary procedures for bullying and assaults, lack of security, teachers who were not trained to provide basic life support and more.
The women say their complaints were consistently ignored by the school director and they were called “aggressive.” The suit adds when Hailey tried to bring the issues to Kanye West‘s attention, “she was threatened not to reach out to him.”
With the lawsuit, Hailey and Byers want to hold West and Donda Academy liable for their termination and discrimination. They’re also hoping to be compensated, as they claim their paychecks were “untimely or inaccurate.”
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