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Menlo-Atherton High School’s former ethnic studies teacher Chloe Gentile-Montgomery has filed a complaint against the Sequoia Union High School District alleging discrimination, retaliation and a hostile work environment. The filing was made on April 30 in the San Mateo County Superior Court.
Reed Williams, a Sacramento-based law firm, is representing Gentile-Montgomery. This complaint adds to the list of lawsuits filed against the school district for discrimination, antisemitism and violation of the California Public Records Act.
In November 2023, Gentile-Montgomery became the face of a controversial lesson taught at Menlo-Atherton High School centered on the Israel-Hamas war. The lesson drove heated public comments from parents and community members during a school board meeting in January 2024, accusing the teacher of being biased and antisemetic. A petition was also started by Sequoia Union High School District Jewish Parents and Allies criticizing the lesson plan and calling for Gentile-Montgomery to be fired.
That month, she took a leave of absence for her mental health after facing personal attacks from the public.
The complaint alleges that the school district allowed Gentile-Montgomery, a Black educator, “to be attacked everywhere,” including from staff meetings, school board meetings, social media, work emails and non-Black individuals, “particularly, white faculty, staff, students, parents and community members.”
The legal filing compares the harassment she faced to a “public lynching,” and came despite the same lesson being made and used by another Menlo-Atherton social studies teacher.
Due to pending litigation, the district declined to comment on Gentile-Montgomery’s complaint.
“SUHSD is committed to transparency and accountability, but we have an obligation to ensure that due process is respected,” said district spokesperson Naomi Hunter.
Discrimination alleged for Black students and educators
Gentile-Montgomery’s complaint references multiple instances that together allege a culture of discriminatory behavior from district staff, including a failed attempt to host a required bias training for all faculty and staff in collaboration with the University of Southern California. The complaint quotes several comments that were made by teachers in response to a training question that invited staff to comment on potential biases that exist at SUHSD through an online portal.
Some included, “Expecting Black teachers to take on all the work of supporting and protecting our Black students without any additional compensation for the role” and “Educators of color seen as aggressive.” Commenters described the district as a hostile working environment and teachers of color said they felt unsafe at work.
Negative comments were also being directed toward the Black USC presenter who was leading the training. The session had to be canceled due to the influx in harmful comments, according to the complaint.
The legal action also details an allegedly racially insensitive staff meeting held by Menlo-Atherton High School Principal Karl Losekoot pertaining to the arrest of a Black student in April 2024.
As an adviser to the Black Student Union, Gentile-Montgomery helped over 100 students organize an after-school protest regarding their classmate who was allegedly arrested with force by Atherton police officers. Students also gave speeches about their classmate and the importance of amplifying Black student voices at Menlo-Atherton.
During the staff meeting, Gentile-Montgomery asked if she could play a few videos of the students speeches but the request was denied by Losekoot who said “he did not have the liberty to change the agenda ‘last second’ — after saying over and over that there was no agenda for the staff meeting,” according to the complaint. Tension in the meeting continued to rise after Losekoot responded to an anonymous question saying if the incident happened again, he would call the police.
This comment upset Gentile-Montgomery, who spoke up in front of her colleagues about the lack of acknowledgement the faculty have for Black student needs, however other staff members allegedly began to cut her off when she was speaking and turned their comments against her. The complaint writes that Losekoot “did nothing to stop the targeted attack,” on her.
Separately, Gentile-Montgomery was asked by a parent to help represent A.W., a BSU student with an Individualized Education Plan, who was being bullied by two male students. Although the student’s parents requested Gentile-Montgomery to be present for meetings they would have with administrators, she was barred from attending them. The complaint argues that Gentile-Montgomery had a legal right to be in the meeting.
In December, Menlo-Atherton’s Administrative Vice Principal Amy Hanson requested to meet with Gentile-Montgomery about A.W. to which she responded she would attend with private investigator Dan Molieri as her representative. Molieri is the lead investigator for the Law Offices of John Burris, the firm representing the arrested Menlo-Atherton student.
Hanson allegedly refused to have Molieri in attendance and on the same day, Gentile-Montgomery noticed she lost access to her school portal account and could not access records to her BSU students.
“Gentile-Montgomery believed this was in response to her advocacy for A.W.,” the complaint writes.
Alleged sexual harassment
Gentile-Montgomery also reported experiences of sexual harassment from a student who messaged her on her private Instagram account asking if she might consider a relationship with them.
The complaint said “she felt violated and was physically repulsed and disgusted.” After reporting it to school administrators, Atherton police officer and Menlo-Atherton Student Resource Officer Demitri Andruha was brought in to discuss the issue.
Andruha allegedly dismissed the complaint and sexual harassment allegations. The complaint said Andruha thought the student was trying to be funny and stated this was the equivalent of a student walking into a bar and calling her attractive. The student remained in her class for the rest of the year and no mediation was facilitated between Gentile-Montgomery and the student, the complaint notes.
Impact on mental and physical health
After numerous alleged accounts of discrimination and retaliation, Gentile-Montgomery began experiencing physical injuries from a lupus flare up, panic attacks and other mental health struggles including depression, anxiety, paranoia and post-traumatic stress disorder.
In a previous report, The Almanac spoke to eight former SUHSD staffers accusing district admin of discrimination. All of them described similar symptoms of mental health struggles in the aftermath of their experiences with the district.
According to the complaint, Gentile-Montgomery filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in March 2024. By January 30, the EEOC issued Gentile-Montgomery a right to sue notice, which allowed her 90 days to file a lawsuit in federal court for employee discrimination.
