The Santa Ana Unified School District and several Jewish advocacy groups have resolved a legal challenge that alleged several of the district’s ethnic studies courses contained antisemitic narratives and demeaned the Jewish community.
The district and the Louis D. Brandeis Center, American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) agreed on Feb. 19 to resolve the lawsuit filed by the Jewish groups in Orange County Superior Court. The parties agreed that future teaching of the ethnic studies courses in question would cease until they were re-approved by the district Board of Education after adequate public hearings about their content.
The courses covered by the settlement are Ethnic Studies World Geography; Ethnic Studies World Histories; and Ethnic Studies Honors: Perspectives, Identities and Social Justice. The settlement allows the two latter courses to be taught only for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year, provided they comply with the district’s regulations for teaching controversial issues.
Future development of ethnic studies courses must allow for “meaningful, substantive input” from the public prior to such courses being approved by the Board of Education, according to the settlement’s provisions. In addition, the district’s previous Ethnic Studies Steering Committee will not be reconstituted, the agreement says.
The school district has also agreed to no longer use the services of the Xicanx Institute of Teaching and Organization to develop courses and to reimburse the petitioners’ out-of-pocket litigation costs, amounting to $43,091.
During the course of the litigation, the plaintiffs pointed to antisemitic statements made by board members and committee members in emails and other communications.
“Ethnic Studies Steering Committee officials mused about using Jewish holidays to approve courses at the board level to make it difficult or impossible for Jews to attend,” a Brandeis Center new release states. “The pejorative term ‘Jewish Question’ appeared on a committee agenda. Members of the Steering Committee reportedly said, ‘Jews are the oppressors’ and do not belong in ethnic studies, referred to Jewish organizations as ‘racist’ and urged that SAUSD not ‘cave’ to their concerns.”
A statement from the school district said officials were pleased that the lawsuit could be resolved amicably.
“There were some misperceptions that led to the filing of the lawsuit, and those misperceptions have now been cleared up,” Superintendent Jerry Almendarez said in a statement emailed to the Southern California Record. “At no time has the district supported the teaching of instructional content to students that reflects adversely on any group on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity or national origin as alleged in the lawsuit.”
The district also pointed out that the settlement provides no finding that a violation of the Brown Act open-meetings law occurred, as was alleged in the lawsuit. Ethnic studies classes and instruction materials will now be reviewed to ensure compliance with Education Code section 60044, which bars the use of materials that reflect adversely on people due to their race, ethnicity, religion, disability, nationality or sexual orientation, the statement says.
“Ethnic studies should never become a vehicle for sneaking dangerous, antisemitic materials into our schools,” Brandeis Center Vice Chair L. Rachel Lerman said in a prepared 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. …”