The San Francisco Unified School District is considering a “pause” on its ethnic studies mandate after a cascade of controversy surrounding its materials, including complaints that some are biased against Israel.
The news comes amid intense public scrutiny and assertions that the course materials are politically indoctrinating.
“Our kids deserve real history—not political slogans,” wrote Viviane Safrin, a Jewish parent with a child in the district who has been spearheading opposition to politically charged content, in a text message to J. on Friday. “SFUSD’s Ethnic Studies curriculum replaces historical context with ideology and teaches students what to think, not how to think.”
In 2021, the school board passed a resolution requiring the course beginning with the class of 2028. However, the rollout at the start of the last school year was chaotic, and some parents demanded their children be unenrolled, according to a recent report in the SF Standard.
San Francisco schools have offered ethnic studies for years, long before the subject became the focus of statewide attention. In 2008, the school board resolved to expand ethnic studies, a course usually taught to college students focusing on the history and culture of people of color. By 2015, ethnic studies was available at all public high schools, usually offered in ninth grade.
Amanda Fried, a Jewish San Francisco resident and former SFUSD parent, has been pressing the school district for more oversight. She helped compile screenshots of SFUSD curriculum slides that she described as “concerning” dealing with Jews and Israel. The slides, which were seen by J., were later deleted or modified.
One slide, whose title is “Solidarity,” describes what it calls “embodied solidarity,” or “living their vision/beliefs of the world.” It includes as examples joining an ICE protest, or a boycott, divestment and sanctions protest. The slide does not explain what the BDS movement is, or provide a counterpoint.
Another slide, whose purpose is to instruct students about antisemitism, linked to a page showing six versions of the “Happy Merchant” cartoon, an antisemitic image of a large-nosed Jew rubbing his hands together. A third slide defines “Settler Colonialism” and includes Israel as a case where “colonial invasion decimated Indigenous populations.”
“Parents can be really emphatically supportive of ethnic studies, and extremely uncomfortable with what is actually being taught in ethnic studies at SFUSD right now,” Fried said.
The subject of Israel has been a lightning rod for controversy throughout the debate over ethnic studies, which began in 2019 after the State of California published a draft of a model curriculum for the course that drew allegations of anti-Jewish bias. The draft listed the international boycott movement against Israel as a social protest movement, alongside the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter and the movement for climate justice. It did not include any meaningful discussion of antisemitism.
The issue has popped up in San Francisco, too, where the teachers union has endorsed the BDS movement.
“San Francisco has experienced a surge in antisemitism, including acts of violence,” the Jewish Community Relations Council said in a statement to J. on Friday. “JCRC Bay Area believes that accurate and inclusive ethnic studies, which addresses Jewish identity and antisemitism, can be of widespread benefit.”
On May 31, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a group of parents had visited school district offices “to share their concerns with the Superintendent about certain elements of the curriculum as unnecessarily inflammatory.”
Superintendent Maria Su, who assumed the role in the fall, said in a June 12 statement on the district website that leadership was working toward “rebuilding trust” with parents and teachers to address their concerns. The statement said the district is “continuously revising” its ethnic studies materials.
“I am committed to working with all stakeholders to evaluate and improve curriculum standards for Ethnic Studies and recognize that this is a long-standing issue,” the statement said.
Some other published excerpts from SFUSD curricula provoked outrage, including from a national organization called Parents Defending Education. A slide published in the S.F. Chronicle encouraged students to write letters to Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther described as a “political prisoner” who was convicted of murdering a police officer. Another slide titled “Resistance!” takes aim at “white male privilege.” It asks, “what would white males need to give up (or relinquish) in order to make a more equitable society?”
Proponents of ethnic studies say it has been shown to improve outcomes for students of color, often citing a 2021 Stanford study that showed “compelling and causally credible evidence” that ethnic studies courses improved student achievement over time.
Activists have launched a campaign imploring the superintendent not to pause the course requirement.
“We, the undersigned, are writing to express our profound concern and strong opposition to the proposed pausing or cancellation of Ethnic Studies for 9th graders in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) for the 2025-2026 school year,” a petition called “Open Letter to Defend Ethnic Studies in San Francisco” states. “This decision would not only harm students in the short term, but also roll back decades of community-driven progress. “
Much of the SFUSD ethnic studies curriculum is available online. Its lessons include titles like “Building Community,” “Self and Stories” and “Power and Privilege.”
At a school board meeting on Tuesday, a number of ethnic studies teachers and administrators lambasted what they described as a district plan to pause ethnic studies two months before students return to the classroom.
Daniel Ruelas, the chair of the social studies department at Lincoln High School, pushed back against claims that the course puts “ideology over education.”
“I can say, as department chair, that teachers and new candidates are not there to push ideology. We’re there to teach students,” he said, calling it “another disruption to scheduling.”
“The push to pause ethnic studies is part of a national wave against DEI and against truth-telling in schools,” said Sarah Ballard-Hanson, the principal at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, using the acronym for diversity, equity and inclusion. “SFUSD must resist.”
The news that the district is considering a pause on ethnic studies was first reported in Mission Local.
In a statement to J., the school district affirmed it is in “active discussions” about ethnic studies, said it has not changed its graduation requirement and that it would release an “official update” soon.
“The Superintendent is currently in active discussions with principals and various stakeholders regarding high school curriculum and course sequencing for social studies, including Ethnic Studies, in fall 2025,” the statement said. “There are no changes to SFUSD’s two-semester Ethnic Studies graduation requirement, as governed by Board policy. We are committed to keeping our community informed as soon as we have an official update.”