DISCRIMINATION

NYC Commissioner’s Family Sues Fieldston School Over Alleged Racism

The school discriminated against Ydanis Rodriguez’s teenage daughter and subsequently expelled his ten-year-old daughter, the suit alleges.

The wife and daughters of New York City Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez were racially discriminated against by Ethical Culture Fieldston School, the family alleged in a lawsuit first reported by the New York Post. The school discriminated against Rodriguez’s teenage daughter and subsequently expelled his 10-year-old daughter after the family brought up concerns to campus administrators, according to the lawsuit. Christina Melendez, Rodriguez’s wife and an Executive Director at the NYC Department of Education, filed the suit with her daughters in June. The school “purposefully and intentionally discriminated against persons of color … and purposefully and intentionally retaliated against persons of color … who complained about racism at the school,” the lawsuit alleged. A spokesperson for Ethical Culture Fieldston School said in a statement to The Daily Beast that the campus addressed the allegations and has recently expanded its Community and Social Impact department. “These allegations primarily date back to 2016 and have been thoroughly addressed by the school in the years since then,” the spokesperson said.