Disney Family Files Lawsuit Against Wack Silver Lake Preschool After Facebook Fight, Expulsion

Last year, Natasha Vargas-Cooper reported a long and wild piece about Camelot Kids, a fancy preschool on Los Angeles’s east side that was crumbling under the influence of white wine, identity politics, and an extremely high-strung director named Renae Plant. Can’t be that crazy, you might be thinking? I recommend revisiting Natasha’s story, which includes parents doing molly on a parents-only field trip and the unforgettable concept of D.U.C.K.S.:

For a peek into Plant’s overall management style, her acronym-infused, psychobabble-heavy Power Point slides used for new staff orientation is a good start. Plant classifies good teachers as S.A.N.E. (Self-disciplined And Nurturing Enthusiasts). Bad teachers are categorized as D.U.C.K.S, (Dependent Upon Criticizing and Killing Success). The SANE are encouraged to confront the DUCKS when “they start quacking.” (This was casually referred to in a slide as “duck hunting season.”) To succeed at Camelot, Plant believes teachers must be H.A.P.P.Y: Having a Pleasing Personality Year-round.

The story ended with a four-year-old being expelled from Camelot after her mother, a big-money donor to the daycare, threw a cocktail party with a Facebook invite for Camelot parents without initially inviting Plant. The party was ostensibly to calm people down after a wave of capricious firings; Plant reacted badly, and the parents subsequently sued Plant.