The pastor at the Atlah World Missionary Church in Harlem, James Manning, has long made headlines for his incendiary remarks against former President Barack Obama and vicious attacks on gays and lesbians. What has received less scrutiny, however, is the small private high school that Manning runs as part of the church.
In a recent investigation by HuffPost, former students described an environment of fear, shame, and psychological abuse at the school that was instigated and perpetuated by Manning. They said the Altah functioned "like a cult," according to reporter Rebecca Klein.
"Many of their parents are involved with the church, which is how they started going to the school. They don't really have access to outside information in the world," Klein told WNYC's Jami Floyd. "Pastor Manning [also] presents himself as a God-like, prophet-like figure, so what he says goes."
One former student reported being locked in a basement for days, and said he later became depressed and homeless. Another student said that Manning told his family he was gay, causing him to be kicked him out of his home. A former female student said that Manning harassed and sexually assaulted her when she was 18. She told Klein that the NYPD investigated but did not press charges.
A spokeswoman for the NYPD declined to comment on the case when asked by WNYC.
Manning denies all the accusations of abuse and sexual misconduct, calling the HuffPost report a "hit job" orchestrated against him by the "LGBT mafia" in response to his political beliefs.
"This is a hit job, that's all this is," Manning told WNYC. "Who the hell is interested in four boys who don't have a high school diploma, one of them, not in college, not married, don't have a job," he said, referencing four former students mentioned in the HuffPost article. "Who is interested in that story of four black boys in Harlem?"
It is unclear how much oversight responsibility state and city education officials have over private religious schools and whether they have been fulfilling it. Atlah has been able to award the New York State Regents Diploma even though state officials have not recently visited the school and observed its operations.
Klein says the state allows schools that have applied for registration, as Atlah did in 2013, to administer Regents tests even while the registration is pending.
"It was given pending registration status because the state approved the general outline of its school program and curriculum, but because of backlogs and under-staffing within the state, they have not yet been able to make a visit to the school," she said.
(Manning also runs an elementary and middle school, Great Tomorrows USA.)
A spokesman for the state education department said it is "currently in the process of contacting the schools in this type of status to work with them to move forward with the registration process."