Reforms Coming for Sequoia Union High School District over Anti-Semitic Harassment of and Pro-Hamas Propaganda

The Sequoia Union High School District in Redwood City this week agreed to sweeping reforms to settle a federal lawsuit over the anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students and  pro-Hamas propaganda in classrooms.

The Deborah Project, a law firm that specializes in fighting anti-Semitism in education, filed the lawsuit in  2024 on behalf of parents of Jewish students at two high schools in the District.

Under the terms of the settlement, the District  is required to explicitly deem anti-Semitism as a form of prohibited discrimination. (Kind of amazing they didn’t have this previously.)

Also, they are going to define anti-Semitism to include particularly virulent criticism of Israel, such as calling the country racist or denying its right to exist.  Additionally, teachers are required to have their curriculum on the Israel-Palestine conflict pre-approved by a special monitor to be selected  by the District and the Deborah Project.

And no more teachers agitating for Hamas in the classroom.

According to the settlement, “In leading or guiding class discussions about issues that may be controversial, a teacher may not advocate their personal opinion or viewpoint” and shall “refrain from sharing personal views in the classroom during instruction on controversial topics.”

On top of that, mandatory ant-Semitism training is required for all teachers, administrators and staff.

The settlement also includes monetary damages. The District is paying the plaintiffs $325,000.

Deborah Project founder Lori Lowenthal Marcus told the California Globe that the most important facet of the settlement is that wholesale attacks on Israel are now properly deemed a form of prohibited anti-Semitism.

“The most significant principle is that the denial of Israel’s right to self-defense or self-determination is antisemitism, as is the demand that Israel’s behavior be greater than that demanded of other democratic nations which are not permissible under SUHSD’s anti-discrimination policy,” she emailed. “If I could add another: all supplementary material used to teach about the ‘Israel-Palestine Conflict’ has to receive clearance from an independent neutral before being used in classrooms and VERY IMPORTANT: that teaching about the ‘Israel-Palestine Conflict’ is per se a Controversial Issue and according to that board policy must be taught from an objective, even-sided perspective without a teacher’s personal political orientation or efforts at indoctrination. From these flow all the other sea-changes made in SUHSD’s policies and procedures, in addition to the general fairness requirements that timing for resolution of complaints be treated as requirements and not free-floating options, that investigations have to be performed by independent and knowledgeable attorneys, that the materials gathered by those investigators be provided to the complainants.”

Lowenthal filed the lawsuit on behalf of six Jewish families on November 15, 2024 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

The lawsuit cited  “egregious failures” by school administrators in their response to anti-Semitism and “indifference to it.”

The administration’s “tepid response to the Oct. 7 attacks exacerbated the already pervasive antisemitism within its schools. Jewish students faced a barrage of taunts, slurs and hateful remarks, culminating in the appearance of two giant swastikas on campus grounds,” the complaint says. “Rather than addressing the escalating incidents, SUHSD officials shifted blame onto the victims, refused to engage with concerned parents, and used superficial ‘investigations’ to whitewash legitimate concerns.”

“When SUHSD parents and students raised concerns—through emails, petitions, and formal complaints—the District responded with bureaucratic obfuscation and outright denial, demonstrating a deliberate indifference to SUHSD’s Jewish students. Emails were ignored, and meetings were canceled, without explanation,” the lawsuit says. “The District’s administrators and trustees have consistently and deliberately refused to take concrete action to stem the scourge of antisemitism on their campuses, to the detriment of Jewish SUHSD students who, subjected to harassment and ridicule from both peers and teachers, have been forced to endure an increasingly hostile learning environment.”

It also cited the case  of a history teacher at Woodside High School who adorned his classroom with a “Free Palestine” sticker and browbeat a Jewish student who took issue with his pro-Hamas posturings.

The complaint said Gregory Gruszynski regularly spouted “pro-Hamas propaganda under the guise of teaching 10th-grade World History” and “coerced [the student] into endorsing his biased and ahistorical views to achieve satisfactory grades on exams.”

But when her parents complained to administrators about Gruszynski they did nothing in response.

Gruszynski, a former head of the local teachers union apparently still employed at the school, also sounds like quite an ignoramus.

This gem from the lawsuit is worth quoting in full.

“GRUSZYNSKI repeatedly instructed students that Gaza is an ‘open air prison that Israel controls,’ when, in truth, Israel left Gaza nearly 20 years ago—forcibly removing every single Jew.”

Gruszynski and Sequoia Union High School District Superintendent Crystal Leach did not reply to repeated requests for comment.