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Santa Ana Unified School District will stop teaching ethnic studies courses that Jewish advocacy groups say were infused with antisemitic material after settling a lawsuit this week for allegedly making the classes out of the public eye.
[Read: Santa Ana School District Sued for Allegedly Creating Antisemitic Classes in Secret]
Wednesday’s settlement agreement means the district will stop teaching Ethnic Studies World Geography, Ethnic Studies World Histories, and Ethnic Studies: Perspectives, Identities, and Social Justice in future semesters until they are redesigned in an open process that invites community input.
The settlement also requires the district to recognize “that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a controversial issue”
“Materials that, for example, teach, state, or imply that the Jewish people do not have a right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor) or teach, describe, or refer to double standards by requiring of Israel a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation shall not be used unless taught through an appropriate critical lens,” reads the settlement.
To read the settlement, click here.
Marci Miller, director of Legal Investigation with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law – a plaintiff in the lawsuit – said in a Thursday phone interview that the settlement will send a nationwide message.
“This really shows not just Santa Ana Unified, but all neighboring districts and really school districts throughout the country, that they can’t create any kind of bias or antisemitic curriculum in the dark of night and without full transparency, and that they can’t bring these materials into the classroom,” she said.
Fermin Leal, a spokesman for the district, said in a Thursday morning phone call that officials are not offering comment on the settlement at this time and that he believes school board members still have to ratify the settlement.
The settlement agreement shows the district’s legal counsel and Board President Hector Bustos signed the agreement on Tuesday – the same day they had a special closed door school board meeting.
Board member Brenda Lebsack said in a text message Thursday that she would comment on the settlement after the district’s lawyers release a statement on the issue and the vote from Tuesday’s closed door meeting was not reported out to the public.
The other Santa Ana Unified School Board members did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. District officials had previously denied the allegations.
The Arab American Civic Council and the Council on American Islamic Relations have pushed back against the lawsuit in the past, arguing that it was an effort to not include teachings on the displacement of Palestinians and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
Rashad Al-Dabbagh, Founder of the Arab American Civic Council, said in a Thursday text message statement that the district’s decision to settle the lawsuit sets a dangerous precedent for erasing Palestinian history from the classrooms.
“By stopping these Ethnic Studies courses from being taught, the district is denying students the opportunity to learn about a historically vilified and marginalized people—one that is actively facing genocide,” reads Al-Dabbagh’s statement.
“Our schools should foster critical thinking, not censorship. We call on the district to stand on the right side of history and ensure that all marginalized communities, including Palestinians, are represented in our curriculum.”
Amr Shabaik, an attorney for the Council on American Islamic Relations, said the lawsuit was an attack on education.
“For years, educators have faced harassment, doxing, and threats simply for their efforts to rightfully include Palestine in their ethnic studies curriculum,” he said in a December press release.
“This lawsuit is yet another attempt to intimidate anyone who legitimately criticizes Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and decades of human rights violations and illegal occupation of Palestinian land.”
James Pasch, senior director of National Litigation for the Anti-Defamation League, said the settlement is enormously consequential and will show school districts across the country the importance of following open meeting laws.
“When those rules are violated and they’re violated with the intent of enacting or adopting antisemitic curricula or class material, the ADL and our Jewish partners will be there to challenge those decisions,” he said.
The settlement comes after school board members voted earlier this year to layoff nearly 300 teachers and staff due to declining enrollment and dwindling COVID federal relief funds.
As part of the settlement, the district will have to reimburse the Brandeis Center’s legal counsel roughly $43,000 for out of pocket costs during the lawsuit. The rest of the attorney fees will be paid by the respective parties.
The Ethnic Studies Debate
The settlement comes years after heated debates on how history should be taught and fears of political indoctrination in the classroom played out at school board meetings in Orange County as local education leaders discussed requiring and developing ethnic studies courses.
[Read: Ethnic Studies and Critical Race Theory: A Tumultuous Year for OC School Boards]
Santa Ana Unified School District officials instituted an ethnic studies graduation requirement prior to the state in 2020.
By April 2023, district officials approved courses that included watching a video from B’Tselem – an Israeli Human Rights group – entitled Firing Zone 918 – An Exercise in War Crimes and reading from a book called titled “The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing” by Michael Mann, a research professor of Sociology at UCLA.
The materials and curriculum drew criticism from the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federation of Orange County as being one-sided and antisemitic, which prompted district leaders to reconsider their approach to the courses.
Palestinian and Arab American advocacy groups urged district leaders to keep the course as it is, arguing that it was not antisemitic but factual and fairly presented Palestinian voices and the realities of life in Gaza and the West Bank.
[Read: Santa Ana School District Struggles With How to Teach Palestinian & Israeli History]
Wednesday’s settlement allows the district to teach the World Histories and Perspectives, Identities and Social Justice courses for the remainder of the year as long as they don’t include certain excerpts from Mann’s book.
They also can’t use a glossary by the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum which contains a definition of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions as a teaching resource.
Miller said the advocacy groups are strong supporters of ethnic studies, but it needs to be taught correctly.
“It needs to teach students to recognize and value the challenges and contributions of all different ethnic groups in California,” she said. “The Jewish community as a persecuted minority understands that this value is very important, and it’s important to a full education.”
Pasch said the ADL supports ethnic studies classes, but they shouldn’t introduce antisemitism in the coursework.
“There’s very few things in society that are more vital or as vital as the education of our children and ensuring that hate and antisemitism do not make its way into the classroom as early as elementary school is vital for the future of both the Jewish community and the future for all of us,” he said.
In a December news release, Shabaik said that schools must be places where diverse viewpoints are welcomed, not censored and ethnic studies need to include Palestinian history.
“Ethnic studies courses are intended to be a structural analysis of the experiences of marginalized communities and people of color, including Palestinian Americans,” he said.
“Meaningful ethnic studies courses provide opportunities for students to discuss and learn about these experiences in order to understand and address the root causes of inequity and create positive social change.”
Santa Ana Gets Sued For Antisemitic Courses
The lawsuit was brought forth by the Brandeis Center and a coalition of Jewish advocacy groups including the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee in 2023.
To read the lawsuit, click here.
The advocacy groups alleged there was a host of antisemitic material in different ethnic studies courses and that district officials violated open meeting laws to prevent pushback from the Jewish community by not properly describing agenda items on the courses – something district officials had previously denied.
They also alleged the district held private steering committee meetings to develop the courses and their attorneys said they had text message exchanges that show two top district officials discussing approving the classes on Passover to avoid input from the Jewish community.
The settlement forbids the district from bringing back that steering committee and bars school board members from being a part of any future committees involved with ethnic studies course development or teacher training.
Redevelopment of the courses will have to adhere to two district policies on teaching controversial issues including one that requires all sides of an issue to be given a “proper hearing.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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