Summer Grant, a single mother from Akron, Ohio, took to Facebook Friday to say her two daughters were expelled from a local Christian school because she is unmarried and her children have different fathers.
During an interview with the Akron Beacon Journal, Grant said her daughters, fourth-grader Summara-Rayn and second-grader Summaia were dismissed from Chapel Hill Christian School a month shy of the end of the school year.
Grant, 30, said concerns about her marital status surfaced last summer when she discussed her daughters' scholarships. She accused school administrator John Wilson of asking about her daughters' fathers and "how we can get your household to live biblically moral." Grant said, "It wasn't about whether they had their scholarship in place."
The single mother added, "It was more or less about me just not living right. … It was an uncomfortable conversation, but I sat through it because I really wanted my children to go to the school."
Grant and Wilson had another run-in after Summara-Rayn had an issue with a school bus driver last week. According the paper, Grant got involved and the police were called.
She assumed the dispute played a role in her children's dismissal, but Wilson allegedly told her, "The bus incident just shed a light on many problems that we have with you."
Grant also claimed Wilson told her that it wasn't a requirement for her to be married, but it was a "strong recommendation."
As her interview with the Beacon Journal circulated on social media, Grant defended her character on Facebook, where she said she's a "really good mother."
"I can say I've done some 'not so ok things' in my life. Done some things I probably shouldn't have but I don't want to be judged as a bad person! [And] I especially don't want my kids to be judged for my actions," she wrote.
Administrator Wilson and board of education chairman Jeff Sumner issued a statement to the Beacon Journal in response to Grant's claims. "While we believe it would be wrong to make public the particular circumstances that led to this separation, out of concern for the privacy of the family, we also felt that dismissal was necessary in order to protect the safety of our school children and their families."
Grant says she's unsure if her daughters, who have no discipline issues and earn grades, will return to the school and has been considering homeschooling her daughters for the rest of the school year.
