Bed-Stuy Charter School Harassed Disabled Student, Suit Claims

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN -- A Bed-Stuy student was driven out of Success Academy with tactics that included pulling the boy out of his school and dumping him at a local police precinct, a federal lawsuit claims.

Tanwa Omolade filed suit against Success Academy Charter Schools Monday that accuses charter school officials of harassing the mother and her fourth grader son, who has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, in an effort to eject him from the school, court records show.

Tactics detailed include suspending Omolade's son (called D.F. in the suit) four times, holding D.F. back a grade despite his having met academic expectations, and twice reporting Omolade to the Administration of Child Services because she "could not control her child."

Both ACS complaints were declared "unfounded" but triggered an NYPD investigation against Omolade, who is employed by the 79th Precinct as a school safety agent, and put her job at risk, the suit claims.

Success Academy officials also stand accused of “forcibly" removing D.F. from school and leaving him at a local police precinct, according to the suit.

"They just dumped him at the police precinct to sit and wait with strangers," the lawsuit claims.

"D.F. committed no crime and was taken to the precinct for no legitimate criminal justice purpose or any other legitimate purpose."

Success Academy spokeswoman Ann Powell told Chalkbeat, first to report on Omolade's case, that “the lawsuit is completely without merit and contains numerous factual inaccuracies.”

State education officials recently found Success Academy violated civil rights of students with disabilities when it failed to provide required services to special education students, changed students' placements without parent input and ignored orders to return students to their original classes.

The New York Times reported in 2015 that a Success Academy in Fort Greene had established a "Got To Go" list of students, several with special needs, that school officials hoped to dissuade from returning by piling on demerits, doling out suspensions and encouraging parents not to re-enroll their children.

Omolade removed D.F. from Success Academy Bed-Stuy 1 at the end of the 2018 school year, according to the suit.

Correction: The original version of this report mistakenly attributed a Chalkbeat report to Chartbeat.