A 19-year-old Connecticut youth is taking legal action against her former public high school for failing her by allowing her to graduate “with honors” when she was basically illiterate.

Last June, Aleysha Ortiz graduated from Hartford Public High School in Hartford, Connecticut, with honors and even earned a college scholarship, but she is now suing her former school for negligent infliction of emotional distress. The 19-year-old is accusing the public learning institution of neglecting her education, claiming she can barely hold a pencil in her hand and her reading abilities are comparable to a first-grader. Born in Puerto Rico, Aleysha exhibited learning difficulties at a young age, and her roubles continued after she moved to the US at age 5. She claims her school and the special teacher appointed to her case were of little help until a month before graduation when they finally conducted the additional testing she had been asking for and realized she was virtually illiterate. School district officials told the youth that she could defer accepting the graduation diploma in exchange for intensive services. She refused.

Photo: Kenny Eliason/Unsplash

“I decided, they had 12 years, now it’s my time,” Ortiz told CNN, adding that she went on to graduate with honors from Hartford Public High School, which usually means a student has demonstrated academic excellence.

But how could Aleysha Ortiz graduate high school with honors when she couldn’t read and write? Stranger still, how did she get accepted to the University of Connecticut? She claims modern apps were a huge help. She used smartphone apps to translate text to speech and speech to text, even using them to fill out the college application and write the required essay. Being a college student has been an entirely different situation, however. Aleysha admits she has been struggling and stopped attending classes in early February. She wanted to take time off for mental health treatment but hopes to return to classes soon.

 

Aleysha claims that she sued her former school because she wants its leaders to be held accountable for what she has experienced. She claims that they “don’t know what they’re doing and don’t care,” and she hopes that her legal battle will prevent other youths from basically having their education stolen.

“I’m a very passionate person and I like to learn,” Ortiz said. “People took that opportunity for me to learn, and now I’m in college and I wanna take advantage of that. Because this is my education.”