The Brentwood School Sorts Students and Families by Race, Religious Ethnicity and Sexual Orientation

The Brentwood School, a private school in Los Angeles, hosts “dialogue and community building sessions” that are intentionally segregated.

As of late January, 2021 this is what the calendar for the sessions looked like on the school website:

They also included sessions for Jews and members of the LGBTQ community.

Erika Sanzi, our director of outreach here at Parents Defending Education, wrote about it at the time—since her piece was published, the school has changed its website and bold-type disclaimers about participation being optional are ubiquitous.

The website describes these 60 minute discussion groups this way:

The team’s approach to conducting social research is inclusive, aligned to leading best practices in order to create identity-affirming, psychologically safe environments in which to facilitate conversations around complex topics such as anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

According to the school website, “Equity is about dissolving systemic bias that leads to unequal outcomes among people when compared by identity groups.” It also says “This Brentwood School initiative stands strong as part of a national conversation ensuring K-12 schools are actively anti-racist agents of DEI.”

To view an overview of the school’s DEI initiative, click here.