I thought it was just a small problem to be solved in a few days.
Jewish friends told me their children were hearing disturbing things in San Francisco Unified School District classrooms: an antisemitic poster here, a questionable classroom lesson there. It sounded like the kind of issue a phone call or meeting could fix. I’ve spent years advocating in SFUSD for my children’s unique learning needs, and I believed in the power of a firm push and a friendly smile. I was the “nice” mom.
But then I started pulling on threads, and what I found shocked me. The problems weren’t isolated incidents. They pointed to something much deeper: an ethnic studies program that distorts history and embeds a political agenda. And it’s not limited to one class. It’s a blueprint woven throughout SFUSD — from elementary school until graduation.
This is by design: The fire is coming from inside the building. The ethnic studies program at SFUSD has been led by individuals who are neither trained historians nor curriculum experts, but political activists. Some of the same people who wrote the original (now rejected) framework are full-time district employees who shape what students learn. They are not just influencing the system. They are the system.
Before such a contentious course is taught — let alone required — we should have access to the materials and curriculum, produced with input from historians and educators with a focus on complicated history.
The ethnic studies course, now required for all ninth-graders in SFUSD, was created and implemented without a board-approved curriculum or public transparency. It was never vetted by historians or reviewed through the district’s formal process. It was built by a small group of activists using the “Liberated” framework rejected by the State of California. These activists have a well-documented record of anti-Israel activism, including calling Zionism racist, opposing Jewish organizations and disrupting events featuring Israeli speakers. These fringe views are now embedded in what every ninth-grader must learn.
The course presents a binary worldview: oppressors vs. oppressed, with revolution as the only path to justice. It glosses over how real change has come through laws, courts and civic action. Students aren’t learning how ethnic groups, including Jews, have struggled and contributed through democratic means. And this isn’t college — it’s ninth grade.
The curriculum was so concerning it was finally discarded by the district after over a year of advocacy and recent public outcry — but no official replacement has been approved. And based on what students and families experienced last year, the concerns are real. One lesson described Zionism as colonialism, with Jews “decimating indigenous populations through foreign disease” — erasing the Jewish people’s historical and religious connection to Israel. Another lesson on the teacher-resources portal had students role-playing Israeli soldiers herding Palestinians into refugee camps. A now-scrubbed lesson likened Mao’s Red Guard, known for torturing dissidents during China’s Cultural Revolution, to the American Civil Rights Movement.
The district claims it is implementing a new “pilot” curriculum — using the same closed-door process and a scramble to find a quick fix. But like SFUSD’s canceled curriculum, the pilot collapses diverse cultures and histories into broad categories to focus on the narrow themes of oppression, resistance and activism. There has been no vote by elected Board of Education commissioners, no independent vetting by historians and no formal public review. Without real transparency and accountability, families are being asked to trust that the same team responsible for the original problems will now get it right — while still mandating that all SFUSD ninth-graders take a year-long course using the curriculum.
This is not the course the state intended when it passed AB 101. Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote that ethnic studies should highlight ethnic groups and historical facts, helping students “see themselves in the history they are taught” and support academic success.
San Francisco falls far short of that vision. And in a signal to districts across the state, the law remains unfunded and is not operational — meaning districts are not required to implement it.
Instead, San Francisco turned ethnic studies into a full-year requirement that replaces ninth-grade world history. It’s taught before students learn U.S. history, which leaves them without the tools to evaluate sweeping claims about power and identity. At an age when students are beginning to think critically, they’re being handed ideology in place of foundational history.
The consequences are real. Students who disagree with the course’s framing say they feel silenced or penalized. Parents report their kids are unsure how to speak up. For Jewish students in particular, the impact is deeper: They say they feel erased, misrepresented and unwelcome in a classroom that claims to teach inclusion.
It is valuable to teach students about injustice. The problem is in teaching that injustice is all there is. The current framing fixates on what’s broken. It skips over stories of resilience, progress and triumph. For Jewish families, that omission is personal. We are a community that has endured discrimination and exclusion, and also helped build real change through civic action, legal advocacy and coalition-building.
Jewish history is not alone in being sidelined. So are the stories of accomplishments of Asian, Latino and Black communities, of innovators and luminaries who overcame seemingly insurmountable burdens rooted in racism, and countless others who have shaped California and American society through untold stories of effort, compromise, achievement and democratic action. This course marginalizes those narratives in favor of a rigid, grievance-driven framework. Until SFUSD can implement a course that respects students’ right to ask questions and challenge the lessons, includes historically accurate content and reflects the true diversity of California, this course and its mandate should be put on pause.
We believe in justice — but also in truth, inquiry and nuance. These aren’t just educational ideals. They are Jewish values.
I’m no longer the “nice” mom hoping for quiet fixes. Let the public see what’s being taught before we require it for every ninth-grader. Bring in trained historians and educators who can teach complex history with rigor. And if SFUSD won’t hit pause, we must speak up. Unless we act now, it’s our kids who will get hurt.