On April 4, 2025, the California Department of Education (CDE) released findings from an investigation into three allegations made by the Bay Area Jewish Coalition Education and Advocacy (BAJCEA) concerning the Ethnic Literature curriculum at Branham High School in the Campbell Union High School District (CUHSD). The complaint BAJCEA made included three allegations,
- A teacher taught a biased lesson and facilitated a discussion suggesting that Israel is a settler colonial state.
- A student project on Genocide, including content on “The Genocide of Palestinians,” was posted on social media.
- The Ethnic Literature Curriculum has students study groups like Students for Justice in Palestine.
After the investigation, the CDE concluded that the first two allegations had merit, but not the third. The CDE, in response, will now make it so that CUHSD ELA and Social Sciences teachers must take at least one hour of anti-bias training, and CUHSD must show the CDE agendas for all the teachers’ training.
The class that the report covers is Branaham High School’s Ethnic Literature class. The class covers requirements similar to those of Del Mar’s Ethnic Studies.
“We cover US history less about who the presidents are and who the rich people were and more about ordinary people and different types of people and their challenges,” ethnic studies teacher Andrew Slater said.
Both Ethnic Literature and Ethnic Studies sometimes discuss controversial topics. “I think there is a general allegation that it is too political or decisive,” Slater said.
CUHSD, in response to the CDE’s findings, has applied to repeal the report’s findings; however, they will still implement the anti-bias training.
“While I don’t agree with the CDE’s findings, in relation to allegations one and two. We are going to do that training, because it’s just a plain good idea,” said CUHSD Superintendent Robert Bravo.
The CDE report references two videos to support the first allegation: a Vox video on the history of the Israel and Palestinian conflict and another video titled “Zionism is not the same as Judaism.”
The report claimed these videos were biased however, the district and Bravo have disagreed with this. The second allegation refers to a student project about the “Genocide of Palestinians.” The allegation claims that the content was biased and that the teacher did not respond appropriately.
“I think what is not clear from the CDE’s report is, what does it mean to respond appropriately? What would have been an acceptable response?” Bravo said.
CUHSD has decided to do the anti-bias training, but has still applied to repeal the CDE’s report.
Bravo said it was because they want clarification on some of the report’s points.
“What I don’t think the CDE report truly explains is this question of when exactly does questioning the state of Israel, and when I say the state, I mean the government, the national government, when does questioning the actions of the national government become anti-semitism?” Bravo said.
The Dispatch tried to contact BAJCEA, the organisation that made the allegations, for comment, but they did not respond.
“To be clear, anti-semitism is totally contrary to the policies of the district and the board and is not ok,” Bravo said.
The district must apply the anti-bias training changes by August 8, 2025, and must report the training agendas by August 22, 2025.
