Lee and Aletta Williamson enrolled their adopted son at Heritage Preschool, a private Christian daycare in Homewood, with hopes that he would spend his formative years in a safe and nurturing environment.

But last summer, the Williamsons started noticing a troubling pattern: Their two-year-old, who was the only Black student in his class at the time, was coming home with dozens of discipline reports. Officials later expelled the boy, leaving them with few options for childcare, they said.

The Williamsons sued the preschool’s Homewood location and its parent company, Heritage Preschools, LLC, in February. The lawsuit claims Heritage employees racially discriminated against their son, who is biracial and African American, and retaliated against the family for bringing up concerns with administrators.

“God’s word is about unconditional love,” Aletta Williiamson told AL.com. “And let me just tell you that what (our son) experienced was anything but unconditional.”

Their child, who is named JW in the suit, had hardly ever gotten in trouble at Heritage since he enrolled in 2021, the Williamsons said. But after he was promoted to the two-year-old classroom in May 2023, they started receiving multiple discipline complaints from his teacher, who is identified in the suit as Caroline Harmon.

Preschool incident reports are typically used to document biting and other serious offenses. But the teacher, who is white, singled their son out for “typical two-year-old behavior,” like sitting under a desk, they said.

Within one three-week period, the suit alleged, the teacher filed about 30 write-ups regarding JW’s behavior.

“These are small boys, these are literal children,” Artur Davis, the Williamson’s attorney, told AL.com, noting that his legal team has received additional reports from other Black families at the school of discriminatory behavior.

“When you take on the role of educating and training preschool children, you’re assuming a difficult task and responsibility,” he added. “We understand that. But when you exercise your authority one way for little white children, and you exercise your authority another way for little Black children, particularly Black boys, that’s a violation of the law.”

Heritage Preschools has accepted a summons to appear in court but has not yet responded to the Williamsons’ complaint.

In a statement to AL.com, Heritage CEO Larry Vann said the preschool “adamantly” denies the allegations.

“Heritage Preschools has very high standards that we hold ourselves to. We take these allegations very seriously,” the statement read. “We are looking forward to the opportunity to refute the allegations contained in this filing, which is currently being addressed by our attorneys. We do not comment on pending litigation, however, we adamantly deny these allegations and we are looking forward to vindicating ourselves in the court of law.”

Timeline of events

Aletta Williamson said she often saw other students’ misbehavior go unaddressed on visits to the school. JW eventually became reluctant to attend class, and would often hide behind his parents’ legs when the teacher was present, the suit alleges.

According to the suit, an assistant teacher secretly shared with the Williamsons that she was troubled by the head teacher’s behavior, and confirmed that their son wasn’t behaving in a manner that was unlike any of his classmates.

Officials denied a number of the family’s requests – including to review video footage and receive an evaluation from an occupational therapist – and ultimately recommended placing JW on a four-week behavior plan, which the Williamsons likened to “the pre-school equivalent of probation.”

Requests to put JW in another classroom didn’t go anywhere, and the writeups continued, they said.

According to the suit, the Williamsons were eventually told that the school had to remove their child because he was a “safety threat to adults.” Officials gave the family two weeks to come up with an alternative childcare plan, they said.

“At that point, we took a breath and looked at one another and we just expressed to them that we didn’t feel that he was treated fairly,” Lee Williamson told AL.com.

The Williamsons said they felt their son was targeted, and notified officials that they were planning to file a civil rights complaint and had told lawyers about their situation.

Later that day, they received an email that, due to the threat of legal action, JW would be disenrolled immediately.

“You don’t know what it felt like to hear them tell us that our job is to keep our teachers safe and the other children safe,” Aletta Williamson said. “He’s a baby. He is a baby.”

Exempt from licensure

In 2023, a CBS 42 investigation uncovered multiple complaints of alleged discrimination and abuse at Heritage’s Hoover location. Heritage serves six locations across Alabama, including Homewood, Pelham, Trussville, Hoover, Liberty Park and Huntsville.

Briana Merriweather, who is African American, told the station that her three-year-old son was ultimately expelled from the school after he was portrayed as a “violent Black child” while white students were given a second chance.

“There was no ministry,” she told CBS. “They’re not doing what they say they do.”

The Williamsons’ lawyers cited Merriweather in the suit, along with another Black Hoover parent, who removed her son from the school after she learned that he was forced to sit in soiled diapers for an unknown amount of time, the suit claims.

Attorneys said Heritage administration has failed to take steps to address alleged discrimination across its campuses – and they believe their status as private, religious centers may play a part.

According to the Alabama Department of Human Resources, all six of Heritage’s preschools are listed as exempt from licensure, which means that they aren’t subject to regular inspection.

But private institutions aren’t immune to federal civil rights law. In the Williamson suit, attorneys are citing a little-known but powerful statute called Section 1981, which prevents discrimination in any economic relationship – including tuition.

“Not only is this a really important case for vindicating the rights of Aletta, Lee and JW, but we also think that this could create good precedent that would stop discrimination at other private preschools and schools,” said Alexandra Brodsky, a senior attorney at Public Justice, a national legal advocacy organization that is also representing the Williamsons.

Months after their son’s expulsion, the Williamsons are still struggling to find a daycare that can accept their 2-year-old son. And the family is worried about the long term impacts this could have on JW down the line.

“He’s going to want to know what happened, and how do you prepare to tell your child that he wasn’t worthy?” Aletta Williamson said.

“That they didn’t believe he was worthy of the same grace, or that he wasn’t worthy of the same care – that he wasn’t worthy of the same opportunity to be able to succeed like other children, the white children that were in the classroom?”