Dear Honorable Chairwoman Congresswoman Virginia Foxx,
It is clear that independent schools, and even non-profits in general, can not be excluded from Title VI and Title IX. As concerned parents of Jewish children enrolled in various independent schools that are members of NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools), we advocate that the OCR be expanded to include non-profits and independent schools, not withstanding any exclusion that Title VI and Title IX have for religion.
As a way of background, as stated on their website, NAIS is “the largest association of independent schools…empowering our community…through thought leadership, research, creation and curation of resources, and direct collaboration with education leaders.”
NAIS provides curriculum and leadership development to both teachers and students and does so mostly through its annual flagship DEI conference, “The People of Color Conference.” As written on their website, this conference “is the flagship of NAIS’ commitment to equity and justice in teaching, learning, and sustainability for independent schools.”
Many troubling things about this conference have led us to contact your committee. First, this conference is advertised in schools for students of colors and its allies. That in itself is troubling as it neither promotes the inclusion and community building it says it set out to build. Attendees must join affiinity groups, based upon skin color, which is also confusing for American Jews who are indigenous people living in the diaspora and are required to erase and assimilate their identity to fit into ideological racial categories. It also forces Jewish students, many of whom are descendants of Holocaust survivors, survivors of the Nishul (the expulsion of Jews from the MENA), or refugees of Iran and only second or third generation Americans themselves, to put themselves into an “Accountability Group.” This is a failure of this ideology to force people into proscribed identities in order to determine their value or blame. Only seen as "white", these Jewish students are considered oppressors in DEI, and meanwhile, DEI proclaims its goal is to eradicate white supremacy culture.
The NAIS affinity groups are:
• Asian, Asian Pacific-Islander
• Black, African-American
• First Nations
• International
• Latinx
• Greater Middle Eastern
• Multiracial
• South Asian
• Transracially Adopted
• White, European Awareness & Accountability Group
At this year’s annual conference, a hate filled speech of untruths and historical revisions was given by Dr. Suzanne Barakat, to a room filled with raucous applause. She was not the only speaker that promoted extreme, biased anti-Israel rhetoric while also downplaying the terrorist attack on October 7th, 2023.
Jewish students deserve to be safe, and we as parents demand that our tuition not be used towards propagating hate while also disqualifying Jewish voices. When we tried telling our respective schools how marginalized this conference makes us feel and how antithetical it is to the crux of our school’s mission, we were told that our school will continue sending delegation to this conference “no matter what.”
We are urgently requesting your help in understanding how the long tentacles of NAIS has grabbed hold of our private schools, our voices, and our tuition.
We ask that you please investigate this organization which currently has the power of accreditation of our schools and wields so much power over how our schools are managed.
Sincerely,
JewsInSchool
Undercover Mother
NAIS Whistleblower
Peer K12
Israel-American Civic Action Network
Parents Unite
