Education reform group Parents Defending Education has filed suit against New Trier High School, saying the school abruptly refused student requests for a ceremony to honor Holocaust Remembrance Day earlier this year without explanation, and has since refused to disclose communications among school staff that could shed light on how the decision was made.
On April 10, PDE filed its complaint in Cook County Circuit Court against New Trier Township High School District 203. The lawsuit accuses New Trier of allegedly violating the Illinois Freedom of Information Act by denying PDE's request for certain public records and staff communications addressing a topic of public interest.
PDE describes itself as a nationwide grassroots membership organization whose members oppose political indoctrination in schools. The organization particularly seeks to expose policies and programs that they say promote anti-American and left-wing ideology and causes in public schools, often over the wishes of parents.
In this instance, the lawsuit seeks to acquire information PDE says is part of its investigation of New Trier's decision in January to refuse a request from students to officially honor Holocaust Remembrance Day at the school that serves the high net worth suburbs of the North Shore.
Internationally, January 27 is designated as Holocaust Remembrance Day, established in memory of the millions of people who were killed by Nazi Germany during World War II, particularly 6 million Jews, or about one-third of the world's Jewish population at the time. The Holocaust was carried out as part of Adolf Hitler's "final solution," which called for genocide against all Jews everywhere.
The day has been used to further raise awareness of antisemitism and draw attention to continuing threats against Jews around the world.
According to the PDE complaint and published reports, the decision to cancel Holocaust Remembrance Day at New Trier was made by New Trier Superintendent Paul Sally.
The highly publicized decision drew a backlash from many in the surrounding communities and beyond, including New Trier's substantial population of Jewish students and families.
The decision was conspicuous against the political backdrop of the time, as left-wing activists joined with Palestinian and other Muslim activists in protests they claimed were meant to call for the end of Israeli military action in Gaza, but which often have taken on antisemitic tones and slogans targeted at Jews in general, and at Jewish individuals, businesses and groups, specifically.
The Israeli military took action in Gaza to combat terrorist organization Hamas, which on Oct. 7, 2023, had launched terrorist actions in Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israelis and the taking of 253 hostages.
The antisemitic, pro-Hamas protests have particularly arisen on U.S. school campuses, both college and high school, leading Jewish students to increasingly report feeling threatened and unsafe.
The backlash to Sally's decision reportedly led him and New Trier administration to publicly apologize in February.
In a statement given at the Feb. 20 New Trier Board of Education meeting, Sally said: "My efforts to help our Jewish students feel like they belong, to feel like they matter at New Trier, have fallen short, and of course that matters deeply to them, and deeply to me ... We have met with them to apologize for how we communicated the decision, and to ensure their voices are heard in the future."
In a report published by the New Trier News, Sally reportedly also pledged to add the goal of increasing "focus on educating the school community on how to combat antisemitism" as part of the school's goals for "culture, climate and equity."
A few days before those apologies were issued, however, PDE said its president Nicole Neily had issued a request under the FOIA law for records concerning that decision. Specifically, the request sought communications from and involving 13 New Trier school administrators and staff, that may have involved the Holocaust Remembrance request or anything to do with Gaza around the time of the decision to refuse the Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration request.
Those identified as targets of the FOIA request included Sally; Associate Superintendent and Chief School Business Official Chris Johnson; Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction Peter Tragos; Communications Director Niki Dizon; Winnetka Campus Principal and Assistant Superintendent Denise Dubravec; Northfield Campus Principal Paul Waechtler; Northfield Campus Associate Principal Gail Gamrath; Assistant Superintendent of Special Education and Student Services Joanne Panopoulos; the high school's "equity liaisons Timothy Hayes, Patricia Savage-Williams and Kiran Subanhi; Assistant Principal Dan Paustian; and Director of Curriculum and Instruction Chimille Tillery.
According to the complaint, the FOIA request sought records of communications and documents involving those New Trier staffers from Jan. 1-Feb. 15, 2024, which include the terms "Holocaust," "Gaza," or "Palestine."
However, on March 1, New Trier denied the FOIA request, calling the request "unduly burdensome." The response further claimed "the burden on the School District outweighs the public interest in the information."
PDE, however, disputes those determinations, claiming the request is directly tied to a nationwide and global rise in antisemitism in recent months and led to a public apology from the district's superintendent at a school board meeting.
"Here, the public has a strong interest in knowing how New Trier Township High School leaders and administrators discuss and view important issues impacting and implicating religious groups," PDE wrote in its complaint. "... Likewise, the public has a strong interest in how New Trier Township High School leaders and administrators discussed, and acted upon, their views of the Holocaust, Palestine and Gaza."
They are seeking a court order directing New Trier to turn over the communications and other records asked for in PDE's FOIA request.
PDE is represented in the action by attorney John Fogarty Jr., of Chicago; and attorneys Jason Torchinsky, Oliver Roberts and Zachary D. Henson, of the firm of Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak, of Washington, D.C.
A New Trier spokesperson did not reply to a request from The Cook County Record for comment on Thursday, April 11.