California father sues school board over ethnic studies graduation requirement   

A California father is suing his school district after it changed its ethnic studies requirement “in secrecy” while “deliberately obscuring the content” from the public, he says.

Alan Crystal, a father of three children residing in the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), alleges the school board violated the Ralph M. Brown Act – the state’s open meetings law – when it made ethnic studies a graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2029.

California became the first state to require ethnic studies in 2021, with the new mandate taking effect in 2030.

However, the field has since faced accusations of antisemitism and discrimination. Jewish community members in Santa Ana were even harassed when objecting to the new curricula.

“PAUSD’s actions are part of a concerning trend emerging in K-12 schools where board members act behind closed doors and without the required public notice in order to approve K-12 curriculum that may be controversial, inflame bigotry, and even be unlawful,” said Kenneth Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center, which is representing Crystal.

“The actions of PAUSD and their Board are a blatant attempt to circumvent public opinion and bypass the very legal protections that every individual – and parent – in California possesses.”

The lawsuit, which was filed July 21, accuses the district of purposefully withholding information from parents and community members.

“The Board acted in secrecy, approving sensitive ethnic studies content before the public could view the material,” the lawsuit stated. “The Board also misled the public and school community by accelerating the date of its ethnic studies graduation requirement a full year and deliberately obscuring the content of its ethnic studies curriculum from the public before and during periods the public could comment.”

PAUSD Superintendent Don Austin disputed the lawsuit’s claims.

“The allegations misrepresent the facts, misapply the law, and politicize a local curriculum decision,” Austin told local media. “This appears to be the next step in an unsuccessful local attempt to allege Brown Act violations to stop the implementation of Ethnic Studies courses.”

The University of California Ethnic Studies Faculty Council drew criticism in 2023 for seeming to support the terrorism of Hamas.

One group said the council was “morally depraved” and “presents a clear and present danger for Jewish students in UC classrooms and beyond.”

California’s model curriculum details only four core racial groups of ethnic studies, which are African American, Asian American and Pacific Islander, Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x, and Native American.

Sample lessons include titles such as:

• “This is Indian Land: The Purpose, Politics, and Practice of Land Acknowledgement”
• “US Housing Inequality”
• “#BlackLivesMatter and Social Change”
• “Cambodian Americans – Deportation Breaking Families Apart”