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Elite Parents Shell Out $1.1M for NYC Private School, Demand Refund Upon Learning Staff Includes Ex-Public School Teachers
By: Serach Nissim
A couple has filed a lawsuit against their children’s private school, demanding a refund, alleging the posh school failed to live up to its promise. As reported by the NY Post, parents Deighn and Ying Eliason allege in the lawsuit that Rudolf Steiner School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan made “multiple false promises”. The couple says they chose the school for its specialized Waldorf education, but the school hired teachers who had no Waldorf education but were former public school teachers. The suit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleges that the posh school, which boasts actress Jennifer Aniston as an alumni, “knowingly hired public school teachers who had no Waldorf education certification or Waldorf education background, and never served as assistant teachers for the minimum two years as promised.” Per the suit, the family enrolled their three daughters in the posh school in East 79th Street over a decade ago, paying $56,000 in tuition annually for each child. The couple says they spent over $1.1 million on their daughters’ education at the Rudolf Steiner School, but did not receive the superior education promised, and eventually yanked the girls out, per the Post.
Waldorf-style education aims to inspire and eliciting academic excellence through emphasis of the arts, imagination and creativity, limiting technology for students in younger grades, and encouraging students to be active thinkers. The school pledges the same teacher will follow students from elementary to eighth grade, as a guide and mentor. The educational philosophy was pioneered close to a century ago by Austrian philosopher and scientist Rudolf Steiner, who lived from 1861 to 1925. There are roughly 1,000 such schools across 60 different countries offering this specialized Waldorf education, as per the Sunbridge Institute in Chestnut Ridge, NY, which helps certify Waldorf teachers. To become a Waldorf teacher requires special training –in Foundation Studies in Anthroposophy and the Arts, then in early childhood, elementary, or high school Waldorf teacher training, and finally in taking ongoing Waldorf refresher courses.
The Eliason couple alleges that especially in the nursery and kindergarten, the Manhattan school hired non-Waldorf certified teachers, it “knowingly hired its own students’ parents . . . to be lead teachers”. “This problem became so pervasive that on at least one occasion the School’s executive director had to intervene when it involved her own child’s class,” the lawsuit claims. The couple alleges that even when one non-Waldorf qualified teacher was replaced, the replacement too was non-Waldorf certified, till finally the director replaced them with a Waldorf-certified educator. “By then, however, the students were extremely far behind,” as per the couple’s legal complaint. The couple said that they don’t “challenge any of these teachers’ abilities to teach generally.” Rather they stressed that, they had “agreed to pay the school over a million dollars based on specific representations about the credentials and qualifications of the girls’ teachers,” as per the court papers.
Per the Post, the disgruntled parents say they pulled their children out of the Manhattan Steiner school before the 2023-2024 school year and demanded a refund. The school, however, has refused to issue a refund, and has also demanded a $64,000 payment, per the lawsuit.
The school commented saying: “Out of respect for the legal process and the privacy of our students, families, faculty, and staff, we are unable to comment on the specifics of this case at this time.” The school’s statement added: “We can share that we strongly disagree with the assertions made in the complaint and are fully committed to vigorously defending against these claims.”
