'I had no idea how pervasive and entrenched critical race theory had become in our schools': Dad who pulled his daughter out of elite Brearley School says the outcry has exposed the 'cancer of cancel culture'
The dad who pulled his daughter from an elite Manhattan private school over its anti-racism policies says the resulting backlash opened his eyes to the 'cancer of cancel culture'.
Andrew Gutmann, who previously spoke out about efforts to 'brainwash' his daughter at The Brearley School, said he'd been shocked to learn how 'pervasive and entrenched critical race theory had become in our schools', in a New York Post op-ed.
'Nor did I comprehend just how many parents were dealing with the same issues as our family, with close-minded administrations and racist, age-inappropriate and indoctrinating curriculums.'
Gutmann wrote in The Post piece that he's heard stories at about all levels of education: from Kindergarten-aged kids drawing self portraits with a focus on their skin tone to young adult med school students spending weeks on transgender issues and antiracism in lieu of pediatrics and geriatrics.
Gutmann penned the controversial 1,700-word letter to Brearley School on April 13 to explain his decision to pull his daughter from the $54,000-a-year school, near Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side, and sent it to 650 families because 'someone had to speak out.'
He blamed much of the problem on Covid, saying schools were able to roll out reforms without any real fight from parents.
Andrew Gutmann, 45, wrote a letter blasting the $54,000 a year Brearley School over its woke antiracism 'obsession'. Gutmann told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview that he never intended his scathing letter to go viral but now welcomes the controversy he sparked
Gutmann penned the letter last week and explained his decision to withdraw his daughter from the $53,000-a-year school, near Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side, pictured
The letter was the talk of the school on Monday morning and nearly every parent had read the scathing remarks but were divided in their reactions – with some labeling the father a racist and others agreeing he had some valid points
Jane Fried, Brearley's head of school, sent a a strongly worded message to the school's families, saying Gutmann's letter was 'deeply offensive and harmful.'
'What the school is saying, what all these schools are saying, is that if you don't agree with us, we don't want a dialogue, don't even want your kid in our school,' Gutmann told DailyMail.com during an exclusive interview at his home on April 20.
'They shove it down our throats. Honestly, I have no problem if people disagree with everything I wrote. But there has to be a dialogue. That's my point.'
Although he said he didn't write the letter for fame or intended to be leading a fight against 'cancel culture,' that's the position he's in.
As a public face against 'cancel culture,' he said he's been asked if his letter finally broke the dam, 'if we have finally turned a corner on the rubbish that is antiracism training.'
'I wish that were the case, but it is not,' he wrote. 'We have taken no more than baby steps. In fact, just days after my letter became public, the Biden administration announced a plan to promote critical race theory in America's schools with federal grant money.'
Gutmann said the educational problems can't be fixed until 'we eradicate the insidious cancer that is cancel culture.'
He said too many parents are too afraid to speak up in support of their children's education because they're scared they might lose their jobs, which he said is a larger problem where 'our business leaders have been cowering to a small, miseducated and unenlightened social media mob.'
'We are quite literally under assault by the proponents of critical race theory, by the purveyors of cancel culture and by the high priests of woke-ism,' Gutmann wrote in The New York Post. 'Worse, our children are being brainwashed, turned against us, and enlisted in this anti-intellectual, illiberal, and Marxist army.'
Jane Fried, head of Brearley, doubled down on the school's position on Instagram, waving Gutmann and his daughter goodbye
Gutmann said, 'People have been overwhelmingly supportive, with many people telling me they're having these same issues in their schools and that my putting this out has helped them speak up.'
He even received words of support from Paul Rossi, a math teacher at Manhattan's Grace Church School who was forced out of the classroom this week after he penned his own letter criticizing his school's anti-racism agenda.
Gutmann returned the compliment and said he looks forward to eventually meeting Rossi. He noted a third party is currently arranging to make that meeting happen.
'I've gotten a lot of emails saying I'm brave, but what Paul did was a hell of a lot more courageous than what I did,' Gutmann said. 'I could do this because I didn't feel I was cancellable. I don't work for Goldman Sachs or a big law firm. Paul actually risked his job.
'Most parents are still afraid to speak out given the cancel culture,' Gutmann continued. 'That's why I wrote the letter. Because I know and I do believe that more than half the parents have similar views to me. Not that they all agree with everything I wrote, but there is agreement that there's been no dialogue possible.'
Gutmann now finds himself in heavy demand, particularly from conservative news sites.
'Fox keeps calling me, all different programs,' he said, but noted he's rejected these requests. 'I did not do this for fame and fortune. I did this because I'm a concerned dad and it felt like it was the right thing to do.'
He said his daughter will finish out the remainder of the school year from home, taking classes online. After that, he said, he's thinking of home schooling her with 'more of a classic, secular education.'
'We would love to find some other educationally like-minded families and see if we can set up some kind of pod, some kind of nontraditional home school,' Gutmann said. 'I've had so many people reach out.'
He is also working on a follow-up to his Brearley letter. For one, he wants to do a better job explaining one statement he made -- that systemic racism no longer exists in the United States.
'I know that was the biggest criticism of the letter,' he said. 'If I had to rewrite the letter, I would clarify that. I am by no means denying there is racism. Of course there is racism. I am making the distinction between racism and systemic and institutional racism. I will be publishing a follow-up piece within the next few days and I will elaborate on that.'
Students were seen arriving to school at The Brearley School in New York City in the wake of Andrew Gutmann's bombshell open letter about 'race obsessed' private school
Another father of a third-grader told DailyMail.com that 'to be honest, I wasn't happy to see the letter' by Gutmann, but added, 'I didn't think it was such a bad thing to actually have someone express their views and put his name and email on it. It could encourage more people to write back and have an honest conversation'
The letter was the talk of the school on Monday morning and nearly every parent had read the scathing remarks but were divided in their reactions – with some labeling the father a racist and others agreeing he had some valid points.
'He's f*****g crazy – for him to say there's no systemic racism and to send it in a letter that's three pages long to every parent in the school, outing himself and his daughter,' one father told DailyMail.com as he dropped his second-grade daughter off at the school on Manhattan's Upper East Side. 'It's insane. And the worst part, I know there are parents that agree with everything he said.'
'It's sad but it is what it is,' the father continued. 'I'm a black parent and this is a white institution, I know that. There are rick white folks here who don't even talk to their kids about how to engage with black people. There's going to be racism everywhere you go. But the school's doing its best. I wouldn't haven't my daughter here if I thought otherwise.'
He even received words of support from Paul Rossi, (pictured) a math teacher at Manhattan's Grace Church School who was forced out of the classroom this week after he penned his own letter criticizing his school's anti-racism agenda
Another father of a third-grader told DailyMail.com that 'to be honest, I wasn't happy to see the letter' by Gutmann, but added, 'I didn't think it was such a bad thing to actually have someone express their views and put his name and email on it. It could encourage more people to write back and have an honest conversation.'
'My take is that letter had a lot of ignorance in it,' the father continued. 'But this is the real world and I can't expect everyone to think the way I think. I'm also happy the school has taken a stand as to how they feel and the values they're going to support and uphold. I'm supportive of some of these changes.'
He wondered whether Gutman would show up to the school with his daughter.
'I'm sure the friends are going to know and that's going to be tough on her,' he said.
Another parent at Brearley described it as a 'pretty angry letter,' but said, 'I think he did make one really good point, which is about the freedom to have a different opinion. I mean, it's gotten really bad where you can't even question critical race theory. There's a sense of menace, that if you don't agree, that if you ask questions, they're most unwanted.
'When my daughter says at the dinner table that I'm a racist and I'm not doing anything about it, I find that disturbing,' the father said. 'I think people are really afraid to speak up.'
Another parent whose daughter is in fourth grade supported Gutmann speaking out.
'My wife and I don't 100 percent agree with the letter, but we believe that it delivered the right message,' he said. 'The head of school sent a letter out Friday calling it deeply offensive. We don't view it that way.
'Some of the concerns Gutmann raised were delivered a little too aggressively. But here's the point. The whole anti-racism thing in the school goes too far. The school should spend more time focusing on education. This mandatory anti-racism training for the parents, which the letter mentions. Much of this goes too far. We don't want to move our kids, but there's a lot of concern from the parents. We want the focus to be on education.'
A mother dropping off her two daughters at Brearley student called the letter 'incredibly upsetting.'
'I think his views are just disgusting,' she told DailyMail.com. 'The letter was offensive and my girls are very upset. I think the school's taking these issues very seriously and doing a really good job of trying to make it a schoolwide effort to combat racism, which I think is imperative in society right now.'
Gutmann said he he refused to sign the school's anti-racism pledge in October.
The school had started the required pledge after black alumnae accused the school of racism in posts made to the Instagram account account 'Black at Brearley,' according to the Washington Free Beacon.
The school's antiracism and diversity plans are extensively described on its website.
'I thought they were going to kick my daughter out then,' Gutmann said. 'They didn't but next year they have the pledge built into the yearly school contract.'
The concerned dad claimed that the school's 'once-rigorous curriculum' completely changed after administrators 'managed to sneak' in an increased emphasis on race during the pandemic 'when everyone was distracted,' the New York Post reported.
This is Brearley's exhaustive anti-racism calendar for the school year of 2020 to 2021 which includes training sessions for parents
It was not immediately clear how Gutmann managed to receive the home addresses of the 650 families to home he sent the letters.
Gutmann said has received supportive emails from parents across the city.
'There's a whole underground-like movement out there,' he told the New York Post.
Brearley's alumni includes Caroline Kennedy, the actress Tea Leoni, Elisabeth Murdoch, Dorothy Schiff and Alice Gore King.
In his letter, Gutmann mapped out what he called Brearley's 'critical race theory' which he said is 'advocating that Blacks should forever be regarded as helpless victims'.
One of the examples he gave was the school's 'sophomoric' and 'simplistic' anti-training sessions for parents, and the fact that materials that have been taught for years are now suddenly considered offensive in light of the BLM movement.
He didn't say which books had been pulled but said it applied to his daughter's fourth grade class.
Gutmann fumed that the girls are being taught to hate their own country and that white students are being judged for the color of their skin.
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