Illustrative Anti-Israel protestors c. 2021. Photo: Matt Hrkac/Wikimedia Commons.

Some of America’s most prominent Jewish and civil rights groups are suing the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) in California for allegedly concealing from the public its adoption of ethnic studies curricula containing antisemitic and anti-Zionist themes and refusing to intervene when members of the Jewish community were harassed at school board meetings.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), American Jewish Committee (AJC), and Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law are among those that filed the suit in the Superior Court of California.

“The Santa Ana School Board has allowed ethnic studies courses with substantial antisemitic content to slide through the approval process without giving the public legally required notice or a meaningful opportunity to comment,” Rachel Lerman, general counsel of the Brandeis Center, said in a statement on Monday. “As a persecuted minority, we know all too well the importance of a strong ethnic studies education, but antisemitism does not belong in ethnic studies or anywhere in our classrooms. Teaching kids to hate Jews is a recipe for disaster and must be addressed, particularly now at a time of rising levels of antisemitism.”

According to court documents, the suit alleges that SAUSD gave students and parents virtually no notice of its ethnic studies plans and that secrecy was its intention, citing internal emails obtained through a Public Records Act request in which SAUSD officials discussed how to “address the Jewish question” and plans to avoid dialogue with the Jewish community by consulting outside groups for advice on the best path forward. Court documents also described a troubling incident in which members of the Jewish community were called antisemitic slurs, accused of racism, and followed to their cars after raising their concerns about the curricula during a school board meeting in May.

One spectator, the lawsuit alleges, told a man wearing a yarmulke to “go home” and others called Jewish speakers “racists” and “killers.”

Filed on Friday, the lawsuit, which emphasizes its petitioners’ support for ethnic studies, charges that SAUSD’s alleged opacity violated California’s Ralph M. Brown Act — legislation that obligates district officials to present any changes to school curricula to the community as well as allow a period for public comment.

The suit also aims to halt implementation of the ethnic studies program in SAUSD while district officials complete a legal “process of approving courses.” It cites the alleged failure of SAUSD officials to protect Jewish constituents from harassment during May’s meeting as an additional violation of the Brown Act, which contains an anti-discrimination provision requiring that all public meetings be “consistent with applicable civil rights and nondiscrimination” laws.

“It’s clear that Santa Ana Unified School District violated the law in their rush to approve antisemitic content within their ethnic studies curriculum,” James Pasch, the ADL’s senior director of national litigation, said in a statement. “No school board should silence the families and students who have a vested interest in the lessons taught in public schools. We’re grateful to the members of the community who endured significant harassment to speak out against this hateful content and the school board’s actions.”

On Monday, concerned local parent and California State University-Fullerton professor Robin Gurien told The Algemeiner that she supports ethnic studies but is concerned that certain bad actors are pushing antisemitic versions of it on unsuspecting school districts.

“This is not about trying to stop ethnic studies from being taught. We want it to continue. The issue is that what is being taught about the Jewish people is inaccurate and fosters an impression that Jews are violent extremists. I’m uncomfortable with it, and any ethnic group would be,” Gurien said. “This school board’s own actions and their own behaviors make it clear that their exclusion of the Jewish people was intentional and that doing so was so important to them that they violated the process rules to make sure we were excluded.”

According to a press release put out Monday by those filing the suit, StandWithUs, a nonprofit that promotes education about Israel, is providing legal counsel to the ADL, AJC, and Brandeis Center.

The suit was filed on behalf of these groups by Potomac Law Group, a legal practice based in Newport Beach, California.

The Algemeiner has reached out to SAUSD for comment for this story.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.