Isaac Newman, a teacher in the Elk Grove Unified School District in suburban Sacramento, says the problem began with the mandated 28 hours of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training that his union and district colluded to require. Now, he has been kept from a leadership position because he is not black.
"About 60 years ago, the Civil Rights Act actually banned labor organizations from precisely this sort of thing," he notes.
In 2023, Elk Grove Education Association (EGEA) officials voted to create a "BIPOC At-Large" seat on its executive board. The EGEA's statewide affiliate union, the California Teachers Association, reviewed and approved the board position later that year.
"To run for this newly created position, they actually required me to check a box identifying as a person of color, so I was prohibited from running for a board seat, an elected position, because of my race," the teacher explains. "This kind of racial litmus test is un-American, and it's illegal, and that's why I'm taking them to court."
Newman's attorney, Nathan McGrath of The Fairness Center, says the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and California's own Fair Employment and Housing Act are on his side.
"This isn't new law that's being created; this is enforcing Mr. Newman's rights against union officials who are acting illegally," McGrath asserts. "In this case, they're discriminating based off of race, not allowing him to run for an executive board seat. That's clearly wrong, in our opinion, under the existing law."
Newman's personal ties to the district are one reason why this case means so much to him. He grew up in the Elk Grove Unified School District and graduated from the school where he teaches. His mother retired from the district, and his father taught at the community college down the road.
Now, his own children go to school in that district.
Newman says this so-called diversity that is being pushed is only skin deep, and equity does not mean fairness. Also, there is nothing inclusive about this "exclusive segregated board seat."
"Since people are different, equal outcomes is inherently unfair," he submits. "We discovered this in the Marxist experiments of the 20th century."
The teacher concludes that the union is giving lip service to what "we all want school to be," but that is not what they are actually doing.
