NAIS schools reinforce DEI priorities while “Alpha” schools compete on results

The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) — the nonprofit representing 1,700 private K-12 schools — continues championing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE) programs even as evidence mounts suggesting these initiatives may be producing unintended negative consequences. Nowhere is this clearer than at The Latin School of Chicago, where Head of School Dr. Thomas Hagerman just resigned his $647K per year position amid multiple Nazi music incidents, a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit, and an independent investigation by one of the country’s most powerful law firms, all while doubling down on DEI programming. For the privilege of a $47,000 tuition annually, Latin delivers students a case study in institutional failure.

Latin isn’t the first NAIS school to face antisemitism scandals while maintaining sprawling DEI bureaucracies. The Shipley School (another NAIS member) previously relieved its headmaster and DEI director following antisemitic controversies, according to published reports. Both schools share a common thread: Carney Sandoe & Associates, the executive search firm that’s become prominent in DEI recruiting for elite independent schools.

At Latin, the crisis has reached critical mass.

Nazi music, take two

In early January 2026, a teacher overheard two Latin middle school students discussing their practice of “Erika” — a 1938 German marching song that was the Wehrmacht’s most popular tune during World War II, according to historian Major General Michael Tillotson. The lyrics describe a soldier missing his sweetheart (innocuous enough), but the song’s inextricable association with Nazi Germany is hardly subtle.

This marked the second time in fourteen months that “Erika” appeared at Latin, according to school communications and media reports. A New York Post article reported that some middle school band members allegedly played the anthem in November 2024. Parents and documents reviewed by the New York Post claim that the school disregarded the incident.

Dr. Thomas Hagerman announced his resignation on Wednesday, January 14, less than two weeks after the second “Erika” incident surfaced. His departure letter cited “health concerns” and the need to “attend more intentionally to my health and overall sustainability.” Translation: He makes for a convenient scapegoat, though the school remains under severe pressure.

According to sources close to the school, “They’re putting his head on a spike so the board can absolve themselves,” one source told us. “They wouldn’t even let Hagerman write his own resignation letter — they wrote it for him.”

The Board’s message to the Latin community spoke of “considerable reflection” and self-care. The reality? Hagerman’s exit comes amid a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit (filed by the Bronstein family), an independent investigation by Boies Schiller Flexner (retained by Latin families to investigate potential fiduciary breaches), and allegations that Latin’s DEI apparatus systematically failed Jewish students.

How Latin hired someone who allegedly misled his previous employer about $1.7 million in IRS fines

Latin hired Hagerman in 2022 despite a spectacular scandal during his tenure as the Superintendent of the Scarsdale Union Free School District in New York. The facts are damning:

June 2021: The IRS notifies Scarsdale Schools of $1.7 million in fines and penalties for payroll tax errors during 2020-2021. According to published reports and Scarsdale Board documents, Hagerman (then earning $476,000 annually — the second-highest-paid public school administrator in New York at the time) allegedly concealed the fines and penalties from the Scarsdale Board for 10 months. During this period, he negotiated a contract extension.

March 25, 2022: The Board finally learns of the crisis. By then, the IRS had filed a $1.3 million federal tax lien against the district.

March 30, 2022: Emergency Board meeting approves an $843,558 payment to the IRS.

Hagerman had already announced his resignation (breaking his 12-month notice clause) to take the Latin job. As outrage mounted, he sent Latin a letter on April 20, 2022, attempting to explain the situation. The problem, according to Scarsdale news reports and Board documents: he allegedly misquoted Scarsdale Board President Karen Ceske, editing her statements to falsely suggest the Board was working with the IRS when they’d been kept entirely in the dark.

According to published reports, when confronted about fabricating quotes to his prospective employer, Hagerman issued a correction. The Scarsdale Board launched an independent investigation. May 6, 2022 — seven weeks early — Hagerman resigned a second time, citing the scandal as “a major distraction.”

The Boies Schiller letter documenting fiduciary breaches at Latin states bluntly: “The current head of the school, Thomas Hagerman, came to the school after a scandal at Scarsdale Public Schools, where he concealed $1.7 million in IRS fines. When his dishonesty at Latin was discovered, he allegedly coerced a worker whose children attend the school to accept responsibility for his false statements.”

Despite the public record of these events, Latin’s Board — led by then-Chair David Koo — maintained “full confidence” in Hagerman and proceeded with his July 1, 2022 start. Latin hired someone who, according to public documents, concealed a scandal, allegedly misled his board about it, admitted to fabricating quotes to cover his tracks, and broke his contract obligations, all to run a school that charges $47,000 per year.

The Nate Bronstein tragedy

At Latin’s crisis center sits the suicide of 15-year-old Nate Bronstein in January 2022. His parents’ lawsuit, other complaints and sources close to Latin allege relentless antisemitic bullying — “Run, Jew, run” taunts during track practice, whispers blaming Jews for COVID-19 — while school officials did nothing.

The Bronsteins’ amended complaint alleges that, despite “numerous complaints,” Latin’s administration, and particularly its DEI officials, failed to protect their son. The lawsuit suggests that within Latin’s DEI framework, Jewish students are classified as “white-adjacent” or “privileged” — placing them outside the protected categories that receive intervention.

Brandon Woods, Latin’s DEI Curriculum Coordinator, allegedly failed to intervene effectively when incidents were reported, according to the lawsuit. The complaint suggests this may be because in the oppression hierarchy undergirding contemporary DEI ideology, Jews occupy an uncomfortable space — successful enough to be deemed “privileged,” yet vulnerable to humanity’s oldest hatred.

The double standard is apparent: After the November 2024 “Erika” incident, parents and sources report that no meaningful consequences followed. Yet Jewish families report interrogation during admissions about their commitment to “white privilege” and DEI principles, with staff allegedly joining interviews specifically to vet the progressive sensibilities of Jewish applicants, according to sources familiar with the admissions process.

The DEI industrial complex at Latin

Since 2019, Latin has treated DEI not as one education component but as the school’s organizing principle. In 2020, the school formalized five institutional goals governing every aspect of operations:

1. Representation: Hiring and retaining “more faculty and staff of color”
2. Accountability: Creating “clear policies for reporting discrimination”
3. Inclusion: Fostering “belonging” through identity-based affinity groups
4. Professional Development: Mandatory implicit bias training for all faculty
5. Curriculum Integration: Embedding DEI throughout all subjects

Latin’s current DEI bureaucracy:

• Former Director of DEI: Eleanor Maajid (through 2025)
• DEI Curriculum Coordinator (JK-12): Brandon Woods
• Division Coordinators: Sheri Snopek (Lower School), Jayanthi Annadurai (Middle School), Kasey Taylor (Upper School)
• External Partnership: Pollyanna Inc. for “equity audits”

For 2025-26, Latin partnered with Pollyanna Inc. to conduct a comprehensive equity audit. The job posting for the incoming DEI Director (starting July 2026) explicitly requires candidates to “advance work in response to the currently underway equity audit.” The job is listed as paying between $145,000 and $155,000.

What “racial literacy” costs

Pollyanna Inc., founded in 2015 by former Dalton School trustee Casper Caldarola, operates a lucrative business model built on institutional anxiety. The consulting offering and pricing, according to sources include:

• Racial Literacy Integration: $1,750 per hour
• Anti-Racism Sessions (Half-Day): $6,000
• Curriculum Reviews: $21,000+ (and climbing)

What’s Latin buying? According to the curriculum materials, a program is teaching kindergarteners about race as a “social construct” and turning middle schoolers into “committed activists.” At Dalton (where Pollyanna maintains deep board connections), similar programs have reportedly led to Jewish students role-playing “racist cops,” according to published reports.

Pollyanna now services 77 elite clients across New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Despite research suggesting such training can increase bias and hostility, consultants deflect criticism by claiming the “value” is unmeasurable. They get paid regardless.

Moreover, there do not appear to be any associated performance metrics on Pollyanna services. For example, the training does not offer any data suggesting these students perform better academically in any subject or improve standardized test scores.

Mandatory ideology

Latin’s implementation appears comprehensive, according to sources:

Teacher Training: All faculty participate in “deep, spiraled, differentiated” professional development—implicit bias and anti-racism workshops where staff set personal DEI goals.

Hiring Overhaul: Search committees undergo mandatory implicit bias training before interviewing. The explicit focus is on recruiting “BIPOC” educators, with race and identity trumping pedagogical excellence.

Curriculum Takeover: Since 2017, Latin has used the “Social Justice Standards” from Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance). DEI coordinators “collaborate” with the Academic Council, ensuring every subject — junior kindergarten through 12th grade—filters through “identity, diversity, justice, and action.”

Affinity Groups: The school promotes exclusive groups for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC students and faculty. A recent student op-ed in The Forum questioned whether these “build community or deepen division,” noting, “In an extremely polarized era, is it smart to divide ourselves further?”

Conspicuously absent from Latin’s protected identities? Jewish students.

What kids are actually learning

The Social Justice Standards categorize children by group identity from age five:

• K-2: Identity framed through group “advantages and disadvantages”
• Grades 6-8: Students police classmates’ pronouns and view illegal immigration through prescribed political lens
• High School: Lessons focus on “white supremacy” and training for “collective action against bias.”

Merit, personal responsibility, and individual character get replaced by “privilege” and “power dynamics.” They label white students as belonging to the “dominant culture.” Non-white students are taught they face “systemic barriers” at every turn. Jewish students? Jewish students are considered too successful to be seen as victims, despite the fact that half of the global Jewish population was wiped out less than a century ago.

No parental consent is required for this ideological reshaping.

As one Latin student wrote in The Forum: “My friends and I — who are white, Chinese, Indian, Black, Jewish, and Mexican — hardly feel any differences between us aside from our physical appearance… Our entire lives, we have been taught to prioritize the content of our character rather than the color of our skin.”

Latin doubles down while others pull back

Even as corporations and nonprofits nationwide roll back DEI initiatives (Microsoft laid off its DEI team in July 2024, Boeing scrapped its department in October, and NASA terminated all DEI programs), NAIS continues promoting them. The organization canceled its 2025 People of Color Conference and Student Diversity Leadership Conference, yet its Diversity Leadership Institute continues, as do DEI webinars and workshops.

April 2025: Latin’s student newspaper reported the school was bucking the national trend against DEI. Head of School Thomas Hagerman: “Unlike many other institutions, Latin doesn’t face the prospect of losing significant federal funding. As a result, we are able to further the mission-aligned work we are doing to cultivate an inclusive learning environment.”

Nine months later, Hagerman resigned amid the school’s worst crisis in history.

DEI Curriculum Coordinator Brandon Woods defended the ideology: “I think there’s been an incorrect characterization of DEI as just based on either race or gender. To me, diversity is really about looking at the people in your company or organization and making sure they can bring their full selves to work.”

Jewish families tell a different story. “Many Jewish families do not feel welcome or cared about,” one parent told the New York Post. “The school does not seem concerned for the safety of our kids, which leaves us disappointed and feeling like outsiders in our school community.”

The Boies Schiller investigation

January 23, 2025: International law firm Boies Schiller Flexner sent a 14-page letter to Latin’s Board on behalf of numerous concerned families. The letter names 65 trustees and officials accused of breaching fiduciary duties and demands:

1. Proof of unconflicted board majority by February 13, 2025
2. Immediate independent investigation with full transparency
3. Anonymous surveys of the entire school community
4. Public release of all relevant information for two+ years

The letter and other sources close to Latin detail allegations beyond “Erika”:

• A student allegedly yelling “Run Jew run, there’s money at the end” at a Jewish peer during cross country—with reportedly no disciplinary consequences, according to the legal complaint
• Hallway maps where Israel was allegedly erased, according to witness accounts
• A “Survivors of Latin” Instagram account (2,700 followers) documenting alleged incidents, including “racial epithets, prejudice, sexual assaults, and accusations that Jewish students spread COVID-19.”
• Jewish families allegedly being “gatekept” during admissions with questions about “white privilege” views, according to sources familiar with the process

Under Illinois law, officers and directors of nonprofit educational institutions have fiduciary duties identical to those of for-profit corporate boards: care, loyalty, and obedience. When institutions fail to investigate breaches, “voting members” (at Latin: all parents with enrolled students) have derivative lawsuit rights.

The letter: a final warning before additional legal action.

As a result of the Boies Schiller allegations, sources tell the Chicago Contrarian that a sub-committee of Latin’s board hired Quinn Emanuel, a firm that describes itself as the “largest trial firm in the world,” to conduct its own investigation. It is not unreasonable that the costs of firms investigating the allegedly discriminatory behavior at Latin is running into the seven figures for the Latin board and community, detracting from funds that could be going to education.

“Quinn Emanuel does not get out of bed for anything but a million dollars,” a corporate litigation expert remarked. “And the meters continue to run for two of the most expensive global law firms from Latin’s shenanigans,” he suggests.

The Alpha school alternative

While NAIS schools double down on DEI ideology, a different model emerges, putting actual outcomes first.

Alpha School, founded in Austin in 2016, uses AI-powered adaptive learning to revolutionize education. The model: complete core academics in two focused morning hours and spend afternoons on real-world skills, field trips, and passion projects.

The results:

• 2.6x faster growth: Alpha students grow 2.6 times faster than peers on nationally normed MAP tests
• 99th percentile performance: Majority consistently outperform national averages
• Top performers: Best students achieve up to 6.5x growth rates

Alpha’s “2 Hour Learning” platform uses AI, providing personalized 1:1 instruction at each student’s pace, with “Guides” (not teachers) focusing on motivation, mentorship, and emotional support. Students progress through concept-based mastery without knowledge gaps.

The model is spreading rapidly. Alpha operates campuses in Texas, Florida, Arizona, and California (tuition is $40,000-$75,000 annually — comparable to elite private schools but with demonstrably superior outcomes). In 2025, Alpha graduated its first senior class: 11 of 12 graduates moved to four-year universities.

According to research by The Hunt Institute, mastery-based programs like Alpha show students perform up to 14% better during their freshman year versus traditional education graduates.

Alpha founder MacKenzie Price told The Cognitive Revolution podcast, “Students are achieving 2.3x faster learning rates than statistical models predict… We’re seeing kids accomplish twice as much because they’re not sitting in a one-size-fits-all classroom for six hours.”

The critical difference: Merit vs. identity

The contrast:

NAIS schools like Latin spend thousands per hour on consultants to teach the community that whites and Jews are implicitly racist, categorize five-year-olds by skin color, exclude Jews from victim hierarchies, and substitute activist training for academic excellence.

Alpha Schools use AI-powered adaptive learning to accelerate mastery at each child’s pace, focusing on measurable outcomes and proving that technology + human mentorship beats ideology + bureaucracy.

At Alpha: No DEI directors, no equity audits, no affinity groups segregating students by race. At Alpha, only students are learning at unprecedented rates, while teachers are freed from administrative burdens to focus on helping kids thrive.

Latin spends tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars on “equity audits” and curriculum reviews, ensuring proper DEI integration. Alpha spends that on AI platforms, actually teaching math, reading, and science.

While Latin students practiced Nazi marching songs, Alpha students ran actual businesses, trained for 5Ks using “Atomic Habits” principles, and produced musicals — all while learning academics 2.6x faster than traditionally schooled peers.

The existential threat

A former Chicago private school parent told us, “The further I am from the Chicago educational scene, the more laughable it’s become. Chicago is a communist city… The left doesn’t know what to do with its Jewish problem. They can’t spin the bottle correctly that Jews are oppressors.”

The parent went on to say, “Ultimately, it’s insignificant. Data is pouring in on the ineffectiveness of colleges, and these college prep schools are about to hit the proverbial wall. AI is coming for them all, and Alpha Schools will eat their lunch.”

This statement is not hyperbole. Traditional elite schools face an existential crisis:

1. Demonstrably inferior outcomes: When Alpha students learn 2.6x faster while spending half the time on academics, how do traditional schools justify their model?
2. Ideological capture: When families pay $50,000/year to have children categorized by oppression hierarchies while Jewish students are bullied to death, market forces will eventually prevail.
3. The AI revolution: As AI-powered personalized learning scales, the one-size-fits-all classroom becomes obsolete—along with massive administrative bureaucracies that captured it.

The crisis at Latin and CPS (facing federal investigation for antisemitic discrimination) sparked efforts to launch a new Jewish high school in Chicago. The Forward reported, “The climate has gotten very scary for Jews and our kids.”

The proposed school follows Emet Classical Academy (opened in NYC in 2024), teaching Greek and Latin alongside Hebrew while “eschewing progressive educational values.”

Jewish families are voting with feet — and checkbooks.

In summary

Latin families have had enough. They hired Boies Schiller, demanding a full investigation into fiduciary breaches and discrimination.

Latin’s Board announced a national search for Hagerman’s replacement — someone who’ll “advance the work” and continue the Pollyanna partnership. You know, more of the same ideology that spent $1,750/hour telling teachers they’re racist while a Jewish student was bullied to death.

This only happens when excellence is traded for ideology, and measurable outcomes are replaced by unmeasurable “equity,” as students become a lab experiment in progressive education at the expense of academic excellence.

Meanwhile, Alpha Schools prove daily there’s a better way: Use AI to personalize learning, free teachers to mentor, focus relentlessly on outcomes, and let kids be kids — not oppressors or victims, just learners.

The choice facing elite independent schools: embrace genuine educational innovation and student safety, or continue doubling down on demonstrably failed ideology and watch enrollment hemorrhage to schools actually delivering results.

Dalton, Shipley and Chicago’s Latin School are the canary in the coal mine. The only question is will other NAIS schools learn from their tragedies or repeat them?

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