The headmaster of the famed Dalton School resigned over the controversial race-based curriculum and policies, with another sanctioned Manhattan presenting school facing the father’s public anger over the same issue.
Jim Best of Dalton School announced that he is going to pursue “other exciting and inspiring opportunities” after 16 years at the school on Friday. His focus came after months of controversy over the school’s “anti-racist” focus in an Upper East Side academic stronghold.
At the same time, an equally prestigious, $ 54,000-dollar-a-year Breyerly School by a father sent a 1700-word letter to the institution, writing to about 600 families on Briarley’s “obsession with race.”
Letter by Andrew Gutman, first published Bari Weiss’ SubstackExplained why he was expelling his daughter from Upper East Side School after seven years. She started there in kindergarten.
“It should be abundantly clear to any thinking parent that Brettley has completely lost,” Gutman wrote. “The Board of Administration and Trustees has demonstrated cowardice and lack of leadership by appeasing a cowardly, rude crowd.”
He said that he cares that I should be judged by the color of my skin. I cannot tolerate a school that not only recognizes my daughter by the color of her skin, but encourages her and instructs others to be prejudiced by them.
“By looking at every element of education, every aspect of history and every aspect of society through the lens of skin color and race, we are rejecting the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the movement to such a citizen Are completely violated. ” Rights leaders believed, fought and died. “
The most controversial claim in Gutman’s letter was objecting to what he said was the school’s belief in “systemic racism”.
“Systemic racism, apparently supported by Briarley, that any educational, professional or social outcome where blacks are undermined is prima facie evidence of the said systemic racism, or white supremacy and oppression,” he wrote.
The school’s Briarly Head fired back at the school’s families with its missile on Friday, calling Gutman’s letter “deeply offensive and damaging”.
“This afternoon, I and others who work closely with high school students met with over a hundred of them, many of whom told us they felt intimidated and horrified by the letter and the fact that It was sent directly to our homes, ”Jane Fried wrote. “Our students mentioned that in the form of this letter, which denied the presence of systemic racism, crossed their doors, evidence of ongoing racism – systemic or otherwise – is present daily in our headlines.”
Gutman told the Post on Saturday that he stood by his letter and vowed to dispute Fried that high school students would be “horrified” by a letter.
Gutman listed a total of 10 “objections” to his punches. In particular he went to prison “against compulsory racism training for parents”. He also canceled the school’s “empty, inappropriate, and radical use” wOrders such as equity, diversity and inclusion.
“If Brearley’s administration was really concerned about so-called ‘equity’, it would discuss the conclusion of entry priorities for the legacy, siblings, and especially those families with deep pockets.”
“If the administration was really serious about ‘diversity’, it would not insist on reminding itself of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, to its students and their families, to the same mindset. Instead, the school is open to intellectual openness and ideas. Will promote an atmosphere of independence. ”
He criticized the school for promoting the traditional curriculum and censoring books by repeatedly telling parents that its first priority is “protection” of children. “For goodness’s sake, Briarley is a school, not a hospital!”
Gutman said he resented the most that “Briarley has begun to teach how to think, rather than what to think.”
Said one of more than 200 people commenting on the article: “This is a masterpiece, and I want to buy this man a drink.”
The faculty and parents at Briarley have not been that vocal so far.
In contrast, an anonymous group of parents protested Dalton’s race-based policies by sending letters to other school families in January.
“This year every class has an obsessive focus on race and identity, reimagining the ‘racist police’ in science, ‘day-setting whitewashing’ in art class, learning about white supremacy and sexuality in health class,” Said the missile. “Wildly inappropriate, many of these classes feel more like Dalton’s intellectually engaging course for zoom corporate sensitivity-training.”
High tension first began in December when Dalton released an “anti-racist” manifesto written by faculty members.
The document contains an overhaul of the entire curriculum to better hire 12 diversity officers and better reflect social justice imperatives.
Some parents supported the initiative; Others said that it placed extreme emphasis on racial issues and differences.
The insider said that by the fall of 2021 Dalton’s incoming kindergarten class would have 48 percent students.
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