Nysmith School faces new allegation of expelling bullied student

Nysmith School faces new allegation of expelling bullied student

Another parent claims her child was expelled from the Nysmith School after he was the victim of bullying.

HERNDON, Va. - Another parent claims her child was expelled from the Nysmith School after he was the victim of bullying. 

What we know:

Hiwot Yohannes says Head of School Ken Nysmith expelled her son in April after he got into an argument with another child over a toy. According to Yohannes, the other child hit her son during the argument. Teachers responded by removing everyone except her son — who was left alone and unattended in a classroom.

"He had just turned 7 at that point," said Yohannes. "I couldn’t comprehend it. You know, my expectations were low at that point for the school, but that was like another low and I was very disappointed ... Nobody was in the room. He was in a corner on his own, and God knows for how long. He felt like it was a really long time."

Yohannes says she felt somewhat relieved after the expulsion because she does not believe the school was a healthy environment for her son. Although she was originally excited for her son to attend what has been ranked as a top ten school by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, she says that changed. At least initially, she believed the school’s academic offerings were worth the one-hour-plus drive to Herndon each day.

But that changed after she says the school repeatedly ignored her requests to intervene and stop her son from getting bullied. She had already decided that her son would not attend Nysmith for the 2025–26 school year when he was removed in April.

Dig deeper:

This isn’t the first time Ken Nysmith and the eponymous school have been accused of expelling a student who was the victim of bullying. Just last month, a Jewish family filed a civil rights complaint against the school with Virginia’s attorney general. The family says the school refused to step in when their sixth-grade daughter was getting harassed for being Jewish — and then expelled all three of their children.

Yohannes says the day of her son’s expulsion was particularly poignant because he lost his first tooth sitting alone in that classroom. She tried to reason with the school’s leader about what happened but says she got nowhere.

"I tried to explain what chimpanzees would intuitively know," she said. "You don’t do that. He’s so little. And it’s your responsibility to give him a sense of safety and well-being, which is the core and foundation of education. You can’t build academics on broken spirit and broken psyche."

Yohannes says she is working with her son in therapy to process what happened to him at the Nysmith School. She hopes he learns to cope and understands that it was not his fault. He will attend a new school in the fall.

FOX 5 has reached out to the school and its leadership multiple times for comment but has not yet heard back.