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OAKLAND — Elegance Wooley is smart, sunny, loves to sing, cook and draw Fortnite characters.
You wouldn’t expect this personable fourth-grader to be expelled from school. And the reason has nothing to do with her but everything to do with her mother, according to the school’s founder, Michelle Lewis.
Elegance, who is 9, has had to study at home since early April. She wishes she could return to Northern Light School, a small, private school near the Oakland Zoo. Northern Light School voided Elegance’s contract on April 2.
“It’s kind of boring because you don’t have anyone to play with or anything,” Elegance said during a recent interview at her San Lorenzo home. “You’re just sitting home and doing work and stuff. … But you get to spend time with your family. It’s nice to be with them.”
The decision to oust Elegance has led to protests at Northern Light School. The student’s expulsion also involves allegations of bullying. And Elegance’s father is Edward Wooley — aka Chef Smelly — a celebrity chef in his own right. Smelly’s Creole and Soul Food Catering — which has more than 40,000 Facebook followers — has passionate, loyal Oakland customers who crave his French fry appetizer (complete with lobster, Angus beef, Dungeness crab and prawns) and garlic noodles, among his other signature dishes.
Word about Elegance has caught fire on Facebook and Instagram — with support from people like Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jaelen Strong, who wrote: “I want you to keep your head up. You’re the future of our world. You will make a difference. And I am inspired by you. I want you to know that you have a friend in me.”
“What happened is that there were incidents that the mom (Tiffany Wooley) claimed happened that didn’t and she came in — and in the middle of some classes — and went in and verbally accosted the kids and then our teachers,” Lewis said in a phone interview. “I said to her, basically, ‘Tiffany, you can’t be doing this. This is not how we do things at Northern Light’ and I said, ‘You have to trust that we can handle things. If you can’t and abide by our rules — which is not going in the middle of the class and accosting teachers and kids — then this is not the place for you.’ ”
Tiffany Wooley denied entering a classroom with teachers and students and yelling at teachers or students. She said she did walk into a classroom with only one of the school’s deans, who also serves as a teacher. “I would never do that,” she said. “I run a business. I would never let any customer in and harass the staff. That’s not even who I am.”
The Wooleys — Elegance, Tiffany and her husband, Edward — say the school ignored at least 10 to 12 separate times that two fourth-grade girls bullied Elegance, including kicking, pushing, hitting and yanking off some of Elegance’s braids, which were extensions.
“I can tell you that bullying is absolutely not tolerated at Northern Light School, which is specified in the school’s written policy against bullying,” Lewis said in an email. “We provide a copy of this important policy to each family within our community, as part of our family handbook, and we apply the policy consistently to any and all bullying concerns of which we are aware.”
Over five months, the Wooleys said they sent texts and emails to Lewis, asking her to meet with them and to hold a school forum on bullying and meet with the students who they alleged were responsible. But they said Lewis did not respond until she called a March 29 meeting with the Wooleys, teachers and deans.
Lewis said other staff members held two meetings before she called the March 29 meeting, which Tiffany Wooley denies. Lewis said she told the Wooleys at the March 29 meeting that they had to trust the teachers and staff to handle the issues. Tiffany Wooley said she criticized the school at the meeting over its failure to address the issue of bullying and failing to take charge.
On April 2, Lewis contacted the Wooleys to let them know that the school’s contract with Elegance was being voided and that she could not return to the school.
“For me to speak up (at the meeting) after the 12th time — I’m the bad person?” Tiffany Wooley said. “I’ll take that, but what I won’t allow you to do is expel my daughter and have her live in hell.”
Northern Light School was founded in 1989 by Michelle Lewis and three additional co-founders. For over 25 years, Lewis has been instrumental in supporting Northern Light School’s over 200 graduates in their journey to higher education, according to the school website. The school’s tuition is $12,700 up through the fifth grade and rises to $13,200 for the sixth through eighth grades.
The Wooleys have sent all three of their daughters to Northern Light School. Elayjia, 17, now a student at San Leandro High School, and Elia, 14, who attends St. Mary’s High School in Berkeley, also attended.
The Wooleys said things were fine with Elegance until this past September, the beginning of the school year. That’s when, they said, the bullying began.
“There were two incidents where she claimed she was bullied and she wasn’t, and I can tell you in confidence that we have evidence of that, and that’s why we handle things the way that we did — after great discussion and great consideration,” Lewis said.
The Wooleys, who said they are consulting with an attorney, want the school to apologize.
Lewis said an apology would not happen now. “Maybe in time I’ll go to one of her soccer games and apologize, but not now,” Lewis said. “It’s too raw.”
