KANYE West’s Christian private school is still in operation and has been rebranded with a focus on basketball, choir, and dance, as the rapper has hired top choreographers.
The 46-year-old star founded the unaccredited Los Angeles school, with tuition priced at $ 15,000 a year, back in 2021.
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Despite two lawsuits filed by former staffers over the alleged bizarre practices at Donda Academy and its original ranch campus being left abandoned, it is still running.
Kanye has now rebranded the school as Donda Ray Academy, a nod to both his parents after it moved to a warehouse space in Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley.
An insider told The U.S. Sun this week Kanye “was determined not to give up on the kids” despite the school getting off to a rocky start.
A lawyer for the hitmaker, Gregory Suhr, denied allegations made by ex-teachers, saying depictions of the school as a dystopian institution designed to satisfy Kanye’s idiosyncrasies were false.
A new Instagram account has been set up to advertise the school, featuring many posts of the children during classes.
Numerous videos and photos show Kanye’s aesthetic for Donda Ray Academy, with the kids dressed all in black outfits and learning basketball choreography and vocal training.
Sushi can be seen being served from stainless steel worktops, while kids are coached by a small group of teachers.
In January, posts show enrollment began for the school once again with hashtags used including ‘gifted and talented’.
NEW CHOREOGRAPHER
Several professionals are tagged in videos including basketball coach Japhet McNeil, a former pro, along with musician Jason White and Tianne King.
Tianne appears to be new to the team and has been posting footage from the school’s training sessions since December, captioning one video, “Continually preparing our children for greatness.”
Many posts feature Kanye’s songs, while she also wrote on her Instagram in January, “We listen, we train, we nurture. Executing greatness, excellence, and performance on a high level.”
She has also showcased candlelit training sessions and the children filming music videos, while a giant painting of Kanye’s late mother, Donda, is displayed on the wall at the venue.
The choreographer is originally from New York and is an internet star in her own right with almost 200,000 followers on Instagram.
When Kanye was first “canceled” for his anti-Semitic rants in late 2022, he announced the school was closing, only to clarify it would remain open just hours later, according to TMZ.
Donda Ray Academy vows that its students will gain a faith-based education and that it aims to create a “new generation of leaders,” according to its mission statement.
It’s listed as a private elementary school operating within the Simi Valley Unified School District on the California Department of Education website, catering to kids from five to 18.
BLASTING KIM
Meanwhile, Kanye has complained on multiple occasions that his four children with ex-wife Kim Kardashian aren’t attending his academy following their divorce and custody arrangements.
Last week, he went on another public rant on Instagram, blasting, “Kim take my kids out of Sierra Canyon now it’s a fake school for celebrities that are used by ‘the system.”
He also captioned the post, “At this point everybody knows what ‘the system’ is code word for. I was removed from my dad by the system and the system removed me from my children.”
The pair share North, 10; Saint, eight; Chicago, six; and Psalm, four,
“When the system drafts athletes they avoid working with those who have their father in their life because they are harder to manipulate.”
“My two oldest know they daddy is,” he then bizarrely added.
Kim, 43, has not publicly commented on the situation of where their children go to school.
It is not known whether or not they are involved with Donda Ray Academy at all as they attend Sierra Canyon full-time.
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