Overview
- Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by the Louis D. Brandeis Center and StandWithUs, the suit names the state, its education department, the State Board of Education, and Superintendent Tony Thurmond.
- The complaint details incidents across multiple districts—including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Santa Clara, Fremont, Etiwanda, and Campbell Union—citing teacher conduct, student assaults, slurs, and unapproved materials.
- Allegations include a Berkeley art teacher displaying a fist punching through a Star of David, a walkout with chants of “F—k the Jews,” and school responses that removed or isolated Jewish students rather than disciplining perpetrators.
- Plaintiffs challenge allegedly biased curricula such as union-linked lessons featuring “P Is for Palestine” with “I is for Intifada,” asserting violations of California’s constitution and civil-rights protections.
- The filing follows new state measures like AB 715 and SB 48 that created antisemitism prevention roles, as federal civil-rights probes continue and the Justice Department sues the University of California over a hostile work environment at UCLA.