“All of these hardworking folks were sold a ticket to a sinking ship, and I think that really captures it,” said David Slossberg, attorney representing Stone Academy students.
On Tuesday, eight Stone Academy students filed a class-action lawsuit toward the school’s leaders.
“I was miserable, depressed, and I said, ‘I’m going to take action, and I have to do something,’” said Terencia Ridenhour, a former nursing student at Stone Academy.
In the formal complaint, Ridenhour and seven other students claimed that “up until its last date of operation, Stone Academy passed itself off as a reputable, viable, and well-established nursing school, all the while disregarding the instructions and warning of state regulators concerning its substandard programs.”
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“Part of that is trying to get them compensation for the money they’ve spent,” Slossberg said.
He said the outcome of the lawsuit would affect students enrolled at Stone Academy from 2018 to the school’s closure, as well as those who graduated on or after Nov. 1 of 2021.
“Even though they got their degrees, and they may have even passed the licensing test, they’re being told they have to go back and take refresher courses at their own expense and time,” Slossberg said.
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This lawsuit comes on top of ongoing legal action taken by the state, which is investigating the school for allegedly misrepresenting the credibility of its courses to the students.
“I’m sure everybody has their own story, their own struggles, their own sacrifices that they had to go through, and then to hear this is just devastating,” Ridenhour said.
In a statement, lawyers representing the Stone Academy said they reject the lawsuit’s “characterization of the quality of Stone students’ education and the circumstances of the school’s closure.”
The statement also said “the Connecticut Office of Higher Education and Department of Public Health forced Stone to close on short notice without legal justification and without following required processes to address exam passage rates or other concerns.”
In response, the Office of Higher Education said it had no comment.
