Student Sues High School Insisting She Can't Read or Write Despite Graduating With Honors: 'I Didn't Understand Anything'

A Connecticut student who graduated with honors in June is now suing her former high school, claiming she can't read or write and is failing college as a result of her alma mater's poor curriculum.

Aleysha Ortiz was born in Puerto Rico and moved with her family to Hartford, Connecticut, when she was 5 years old. She graduated through the school program despite reading at a kindergarten or first grade level as a sixth grader, according to reporting by CNN.

During her last month at Hartford Public High School, after she disclosed she was attending the University of Connecticut in the fall, Ortiz completed additional testing that revealed she had dyslexia and "required explicitly taught phonics, fluency and reading comprehension," the first of which is taught in kindergarten.

"I didn't know English very well, I didn't know the rules of the schools. There were a lot of things that they would tell me, and I let myself go by what the teachers would tell me because I didn't understand anything," the 19-year-old revealed.

Ortiz said she used apps to translate text-to-speech and speech-to-text to complete her assignments.

After testifying about her experience as an illiterate high school student during a May 2024 city council meeting, Ortiz said school officials began clamoring to ensure she received her diploma.

She and her family are now suing the Hartford Board of Education and the City of Hartford for negligence, as well as her special education case manager for negligent infliction of emotional distress, CNN reported.

"I'm a very passionate person and I like to learn," Ortiz shared. "People took (away) that opportunity for me to learn, and now I'm in college and I wanna take advantage of that. Because this is my education."