A Tennessee businessman contends he does a solid job at educating some of Atlanta's most troubled teens and disputed a new lawsuit that described his school as a violent place that does a poor job of teaching students.

Community Education Partners CEO Randle Richardson said his teachers turn around the failing students who land at Forrest Hill Academy after being expelled from their regular middle and high schools for such things as violence or truancy.

"The students that are placed with us are there because they violated the school district's code of conduct," said Richardson. "Our primary focus is to help them regain their reading and math skills."

He said his Nashville-based company is paid nearly $7 million annually by the Atlanta School Board to teach the problem students. The school currently has 460 students.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Atlanta board of Education and Community Education Partners, contending that the school is so poorly run it violates student's constitutional right to a public education. The lawsuit also say the school is an unsafe environment where students are regularly assaulted by other students, teachers and staff.

Atlanta School Superintendent Beverly Hall and her deputies declined to comment Wednesday but the district issued a statement saying it is "disturbed by the allegations contained in the complaint and will thoroughly investigate them."

Hall's office would not immediately release information on Community Education Partners' contract with the school system or any records on the school's performance.

A former administrator at the school said the ACLU's lawsuit is right on target.

Carla Hayes, who went by Carla DeVeaux when she was an assistant principal there in 2004, said the school had a bedlam-like atmosphere in which teachers didn't teach and weren't properly trained to handle disruptive students. Hayes said the school allowed the kids to act out as long as they weren't hurting each other.

"The staff handled the kids so roughly when they were misbehaving — it was like adults fighting with another adult," said Hayes. "They weren't restraining the kids like you are suppose to. It was hit for hit and punch for punch."

She said she only worked at the school for several months before resigning in frustration.

"A lot of days I didn't get to every classroom but when I did there was very little teaching going on," she said. "A lot of the time, the teachers would sit outside the classroom and let the kids do what they wanted inside."

Richardson, whose background is in business, government and politics, said his company operates 15 similar schools around the country.

Almost all Forrest Hill's students have failed one or two grades and may be several grades behind in terms of literacy and mathematics, Richardson said, adding, "For the student who averaged a 150-day stay (most) gained about three grades in reading and four grades in math."

Richardson also disputed Hayes' description of teachers fighting with students. Teachers are trained on how to calm potentially violent students and work as a team when its necessary to restrain them, he said.

Most disruptive and violent students cease such behavior after spending two months at the school, he said.