Following the murder of George Floyd, the $50,000 per year Brentwood School in Los Angeles announced that it was reimagining its purpose "with an eye toward anti-racism" and DEI. Parent Jerome Eisenberg, whose daughter attends the school, called it a "bait and switch" on parents - suing the school last year for breach of contract, civil rights violations and emotional distress.

"The curriculum change shifted away from teaching students critical thinking skills — how to think — and started indoctrinating them into what to think, based on Brentwood's preferred political fad of the moment," reads Eisenberg's lawsuit - which entered private arbitration in November.

The issue - which has become a major point of contention in red states such as Florida, where governor Ron DeSantis (R) has fought to ban DEI in public schools - has now become a nationwide effort by concerned parents to protect their children from what they see as a racist education that makes white students a lifelong target, and uses historical revisionism to sow seeds of division.

"There is an increased appetite for parents using the legal process to fight for their kids in a way that just wasn't as prevalent before," said attorney Sara Goldsmith Schwartz of Massachusetts-based Schwartz Hannum PC - which frequently represents private schools.

Eisenberg's lawyer, David Pivtorak, says he believes that legal complaints over DEI in schools have increased, and that the actual number may be understated due to arbitration clauses such as the one at Brentwood.