{"id":189977,"date":"2026-04-08T20:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/189977\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T20:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:14:08","slug":"nycs-top-private-schools-gathering-for-woke-diversity-symposium-aimed-at-kids-as-young-as-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/189977\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC’s top private schools gathering for woke ‘diversity symposium’ aimed at kids as young as 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City\u2019s most elite private schools will attend a \u201cdiversity symposium\u201d this week, hosted by a nonprofit critics say perpetuates antisemitic and anti-Western viewpoints while turning the ritzy institutes into \u201cindoctrination centers\u201d<\/a> by promoting diversity, equity and inclusion for kids starting at the pre-K level.<\/p>\n

The stated agenda for the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) Diversity Symposium 2026, kicking off at the Lyc\u00e9e Fran\u00e7ais De New York on April 9, is to \u201cassess the current state of diversity, equity and inclusion in practice and pose the critically important question: where do we go from here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheNYC\u2019s most elite private pre-K-12 schools will be attending a woke, DEI-focused \u201cdiversity symposium\u201d this week. Helayne Seidman for NY Post<\/p>\n

President Trump touted in his State of the Union address in February that the administration has \u201cended DEI\u201d in America once and for all as universities and corporations have dismantled or blunted programs in that realm.<\/p>\n

But the NYSAIS\u2019 diversity symposium has a workshop geared toward repackaging DEI at elite NYC K-12s under a different name but with the same goals and ideals.<\/p>\n

The workshop, called \u201cReclaiming Belonging in the Classroom: Equity as the Universal Design for Teachers and Schools,\u201d acknowledges that \u201cequity language\u201d has become \u201cincreasingly politicized,\u201d and pledges to \u201creclaim equity work\u201d inside classrooms by \u201cframing DEI as Universal Design for Learning (UDL).\u201d<\/p>\n

Another workshop called \u201cThe Belonging Lab: A Hands-On Design Studio for Story, Structure and Courageous Dialogue\u201d describes itself as inviting \u201cparticipants to dig into African indigenous knowledge systems long ignored or undervalued, remembering how communities sustained wisdom, governance, healing and education outside of books and beyond educational colonial structures.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening workshop of the event touts it \u201cinvites educators and school leaders to explore equity and inclusion as core instructional and organizational practices, not add-ons.\u201d<\/p>\n

The speaker and presenter of the symposium will be Liza Talusan, who is described in her bio as \u201can educator, facilitator, and strategic change partner for organizations, corporations, leadership teams, schools and individuals who are looking to build their skills in areas of identity and leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics of the NYSAIS and symposium call its parent organization, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), a \u201cshadowy group that is hell-bent on expanding curricula and an educational environment that has a long history of antisemitic and anti-Western actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

They argue that the divisive, discriminatory DEI practices that pervade the curricula of top private schools like Brearley, Spence, Dalton and others amount to little more than \u201cindoctrination centers\u201d that teach pupils from an early age to view everything through the victim-oppressor lens.<\/p>\n

Students then carry those views into their college years, which came to fruition during the widespread and disruptive campus takeovers during the spring of 2024.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration waged war against the discriminatory practices at the nation\u2019s most prestigious universities, presenting schools with ultimatums and threatening to withdraw federal funding<\/a> for noncompliance.<\/p>\n

\"LizaAuthor and educator Liza Talusan will be the speaker and presenter of the symposium. Instagram\/@ltalusan<\/p>\n

These efforts at the federal level led to schools enacting systemic changes to curb antisemitism and discriminatory practices, most notably at Columbia University<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Michelle Parker, a New York lawyer representing the parents of independent private school students, says DEI is alive and well at many of the 203 elite schools that make up the NYSAIS, and even accelerating in some cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe administration is working to eliminate the discriminatory aspects of DEI in both higher ed and public K-12, but it is still being taught and practiced in private schools. We all watched the divisive nature of DEI play out after October 7 when universities allowed the targeting of certain students under the guise of peaceful campus protests. It is remarkable that prestigious federally tax-exempt private schools throughout our country have escaped this scrutiny,\u201d she told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the government believes DEI, as it is being taught and practiced, is discriminatory, then it is discriminatory and harmful regardless of whether the school is public or is private. Under existing federal regulations, private schools that discriminate are ineligible for federal tax-exempt status. These revered entities should not get a pass, rather they should either operate in accordance with the law or operate without the privilege of a tax-free existence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parker said she\u2019s frequently asked why parents can\u2019t just take their kids out of schools that don\u2019t align with their values and move them somewhere else, but that the issue is more complex than that.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents tell me that uprooting a child and moving them away from their friends, and away from the only school they have ever known, is emotional. There is also the issue that private school administrators talk and families could be blackballed. The bigger issue is that leaving won\u2019t solve the problem,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The consequence of a parent moving their child is that one child is protected from the potential harm, while the school continues to infuse divisive content into curriculum and throughout school operations. So while one parent who knows better may move their child, another parent who doesn\u2019t yet know what is at stake slides their kid into that spot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cParker sent a memo to Congress asking for a Congressional inquiry into discrimination at tax-exempt K-12 private independent schools and seeking action by state attorneys general to enforce existing state laws that govern nonprofit independent private schools in their state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Post reached out to NYSAIS and Talusan for comment but did not hear back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City\u2019s most elite private schools will attend a \u201cdiversity symposium\u201d this week, hosted by a nonprofit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[17446,67,57,9,56,63,65,64,18508,58,10403],"class_list":{"0":"post-189977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-dei","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-metro","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-news","16":"tag-private-schools","17":"tag-us-news","18":"tag-woke-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}