Jerome Eisenberg, the father of an eighth-grade student at the Brentwood School in the southern California suburb by the same name, is suing the school and its principal in federal court over a racially divisive program that was hostile to Jewish students in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police.
According to The Ankler, Eisenberg is suing the school for breach of contract, violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act that forbids discrimination by California businesses, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims (Brentwood School Sued Over ‘Woke’ Curriculum).
Eisenberg filed a lawsuit on June 8 in Los Angeles Superior Court, accusing Brentwood of “explicitly racializing its policies” without the consent of the parents. He also alleges that Jewish parents at Brentwood were frozen out of curriculum discussions, which he argues was an act of antisemitism.
With celebrity alumni such as Jonah Hill, Adam Levine, and Jack Quaid, and celebrity parents Arnold Schwarzenegger, Reese Witherspoon, and Jack Nicholson, the Brentwood School’s website suggests it is “a place where scholars, athletes, artists, and activists, inventors, and aspiring leaders are all at home. It’s also a place where one person can take on many of these roles. At Brentwood, we believe you should be—and be celebrated for—all the things you want to be.” Also, according to media reports, the tuition at this 1-12 grade private school hovers around $50,000 a year.
The Eisenberg allehes (see screenshot below)
Eisenberg’s lawsuit follows an April 2021 Los Angeles Magazine report on Brentwood and its headmaster Mike Riera’s clumsy and occasionally injurious attempts to make the school more inclusionary and woke (How L.A.’s Brentwood School Became a Battleground in the Culture Wars).
According to the lawsuit, the school created affinity groups organized based on race and ethnicity, but when Jewish parents tried to establish a Jewish affinity group, they were blocked by Riera and other school staff. Eisenberg alleges that the reading list for his daughter’s 8th-grade literature class was altered drastically, and books such as To Kill a Mockingbird, and Lord of the Flies, were replaced by Ibram X Kendi’s controversial book, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.
“After defendants implemented their new policies the atmosphere at Brentwood changed completely,” according to the lawsuit. “Teachers began to engage in racial and political humiliation of their students. Middle-schoolers were confronted by teachers about their ‘white privilege’ and how they were going to redeem themselves.
“Tests in social study classes were couched in politically charged terminology to insult and denigrate political figures based on Brentwood’s preferred ideology. When confronted, the school offered apologies for the conduct. However, as time moved on, the apologies ceased but the indoctrination continued. Students were forced to study charts on ‘Becoming Anti-Racist’ that made bigoted assumptions about them and required them to engage in political activism based on those assumptions.”
