A Manhattan private school that charges a yearly tuition of $63,400 has seen a change in leadership following overt efforts to fight antisemitism.
On Monday, head of school David Lourie announced plans to step down from his top position at the Collegiate School, a private K-12 boys’ institution on New York City’s Upper West Side. He has held the job since 2020.
Lourie called the school’s newly formed antisemitism task force “a joke,” labeling the initiative a “power play by Jewish families.”
He had responded to a task force created by the school’s board of trustees following complaints from more than 100 Jewish parents. A report found that some faculty had blamed “wealthy and influential” Jews for creating the hostile environment at the school after the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 and the start of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.
Still, he did not mention steps to counter anti-Jewish sentiment on campus upon his leaving.
“We are, of course, living in a time when so many decisions are fraught with uncertainty, disagreement and dissension,” Lourie wrote in his announcement. “With every decision then [and] through every decision now, that has been my lodestar: what is best for the boys and their learning and well-being.”
