The Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) has agreed to a settlement with multiple Jewish organizations in which the district will suspend its ethnic studies courses until they’ve received public input and been rewritten.
The lawsuit was initially filed in Sept. 2023 by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), American Jewish Committee (AJC), the Louis Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Covington & Burling law firm.
“As part of the settlement, SAUSD will cease instruction of Ethnic Studies World Geography, Ethnic Studies World Histories, and Ethnic Studies: Perspectives, Identities, and Social Justice until the courses are redesigned with the opportunity for public input in accordance with California’s open meeting laws,” a press release from the Brandeis Center announcing the settlement stated. “The courses contained false and damaging narratives about Israel and the Jewish people. Antisemitic content will be removed from Ethnic Studies World Histories so that the course can continue being taught for the remainder of this school year only.”
“SAUSD will cease instruction of Ethnic Studies World Geography, Ethnic Studies World Histories, and Ethnic Studies: Perspectives, Identities, and Social Justice until the courses are redesigned with the opportunity for public input in accordance with California’s open meeting laws,” – Brandeis Center Press Release
Journalist Joseph Hammond noted in a Sept. 2023 article for The Journal that a draft for the Ethnic Studies World History course recommended teachers use sociologist’s Michael Mann’s book “The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing,” which depicts Israel as “the main contemporary example of settler-conquerors. For half a century, Israelis have been cleansing the occupied territories of native Arabs, most murderously in the late 1940s.” The outline for the course also included an editorial from the anti-Israel outlet Middle East Monitor accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing, according to Hammond.
The lawsuit had alleged that the SAUSD Ethnic Studies Steering Committee discussed about how to deal with “the Jewish question” in response to the Jewish community’s concerns about the curriculum and that committee members referred to Jews as “oppressors” who benefit from “white privilege.” Senior officials on the committee also discussed the possibility of approving ethnic studies courses during Jewish holidays when the Jewish community could not weigh in. As part of the settlement, the district will be dissolving the committee altogether.
The lawsuit also accused the district of circumventing state law requiring that the curricula to be publicly available and open for public comment.
“Antisemitism has no place in our communities – and especially not in our schools. Here, Santa Ana, CA’s past Board & Committee members knew that antisemitism was infecting their curriculum process, and intentionally excluded the public from it,” ADL Vice President, National Litigation James Pasch said in a statement. “Open meeting laws exist to prevent exactly what unfolded in Santa Ana. This case sends a message – not just in Santa Ana, but from coast-to-coast – that if school leaders proceed with implementing antisemitic curriculum and material in violation of the law, we will use the courts to protect the community.”
“Ethnic studies should never become a vehicle for sneaking dangerous, anti-Semitic materials into our schools,” Brandeis Center Vice Chair L. Rachel Lerman said in a statement. “That is the law, plain and simple, and we’re glad to have stopped this in Santa Ana schools. Unfortunately, this dangerous and deceitful behavior is being attempted in other school districts as well. This should serve as a cautionary tale. We are watching those jurisdictions and will not hesitate to address similar violations of the law. School boards must operate in the light of day, and not ‘under the radar’ as SAUSD described its own conduct.”
“It has been our privilege to provide legal support to this effort,” StandWithUs CEO and Co-Founder Roz Rothstein said in a statement. “This lawsuit allowed us to uncover serious issues with the SAUSD’s implementation of California’s ethnic studies laws, leading to the critical results of ensuring that antisemitic material will no longer be included in these courses and improving the district’s process for adopting such future courses.”
