Collegiate School is an independent school for boys in New York City. It is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Tuition is $63,400 per year. It is an elite prep school. 

The school's administrator, David Lourie, resigned and notified parents and students on Monday. He said he was stepping down to give the school a fresh start. It is described as a sudden departure but it probably wasn't much of a surprise. 

Head of NYC’s elite Collegiate School resigns after antisemitism spat https://t.co/IXhXOGP7Aq pic.twitter.com/rrUGDPCX5K

— New York Post (@nypost) June 10, 2024

He is accused of criticizing an antisemitism task force and calling it a joke. He blamed Jewish families, saying they used the task force as a power play to have him removed from his position.

The drama revolved around a battle among parents, school administrators, and students and reached a tipping point as it became public knowledge.

In his announcement, Lourie said he decided to quit in conjunction with the school's board of trustees. Spending more time with the family, eh?

“After four years filled with shared successes alongside challenges that required difficult and at times divisive decisions, we agreed that a new Head of School is what is best for the boys and the school community as Collegiate begins a brand new school year in the fall,” Lourie said.

He went on to insist that every “difficult decision” he has made during his tenure at the all-boys school has been with the students’ best interests at heart.

“We are, of course, living in a time when so many decisions are fraught with uncertainty, disagreement, and dissension,” Lourie said.

“With every decision then, through every decision now, that has been my lodestar: what is best for the boys and their learning and well-being.”

It's hard to think of a more contentious subject on a school campus than antisemitism. If it is true that he blamed Jewish families for the creation of the task force, then he may have a problem with prejudice toward Jews. 

If Jewish families were asking for an antisemitism task force, they probably had a reason for it. About 100 Jewish parents accused Lourie and the school of failing to meet the moment in their response to the massacres on October 7, 2023, in Israel by Hamas. The parents were pro-actively acting last year to head off any antisemitism after that day's terror attacks on Jews and others.

It sounds like the parents were trying to protect their children and thought the school's administration wasn't doing enough. A school's top job is to ensure the safety of students on campus. This isn't a college, this is a prep school. 

The necessity of the task force was vindicated when an internal investigation report showed that some faculty members did blame "wealthy and influential" Jewish parents for the tension during the Israel-Hamas war. And there is the accusation that Lourie called the task force a "joke." 

The task force’s head, Anna Carello, filed a gender discrimination lawsuit last month. She alleged that Lourie forced her to head the task force because he didn't want to handle antisemitism issues. 

In addition to the lawsuit, the incoming Class of '25 wrote a strongly-worded letter to administrators and parents last week. The students asked them to stop imposing "specific political opinions" on them.

“While many parents have called for the school to provide moral leadership in these divisive and challenging times, we would like to emphasize that the moral leadership best for our community is one that does not prescribe what we should believe, but how we should engage with others in rational, open-minded and empathetic discourse,” the five-page letter said.

The parents acted responsibly here and stood up to protect their children. Jewish students have a right to feel safe at school. Administrators must provide such an atmosphere. Get rid of those administrators who do not do so. 

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