Kanye West’s private Christian prep school violated numerous health and safety standards and employs bizarre rules — dictating cleaning services are forbidden, doors were to be locked from the outside and students get fed just one sushi meal per day, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.
Two former teachers at the Donda Academy in California’s Simi Valley allege they were fired after complaining about potential dangers to students including code violations, according to the LA County wrongful termination suit.
“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,”
attorney Ron Zambrano, a lawyer for the teachers, said in a statement.
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.
Medications were also stored haphazardly, there was no school nurse on site, and janitorial services were forbidden because “West did not believe in cleaning products containing chemicals,” the lawsuit states.
“Kanye needs to realize his genius is in creating music, not in school administration.”
Other strange rules included crossword puzzles and artwork are not allowed to be hung on walls and students being barred from the second floor because West “was reportedly afraid of stairs,” according to the suit.
The school also failed to follow nutritional guidelines and had a lack of security, with students allowed to be picked up by strangers, the court papers state.
