Two mothers whose kids were expelled from an exclusive private school after they campaigned against critical race theory have filed suit against the school and its headmaster – accusing them of calling in the FBI against them.
Andrea Gross and Amy Gonzalez allege in their suit, filed June 12, that Columbus Academy, just outside Columbus, Ohio, bullied them and took retaliatory action after they pushed back teaching critical race theory teaching and questioned how the school, a non-profit like most private schools, was handling its finances.
The moms told The Post they were just doing their due diligence and watching out for their kids but the school “overreacted” to the point where administrators called the police and alerted the FBI.
Gross, an attorney, and Gonzalez, who is a pharmacist, said the saga, which began during the pandemic in 2021 – started with what they saw as irregularities in how the $35,000-a-year school handled its money.
They have now set up their own private school, Columbus Classical Academy, with the first students starting late summer.
Gonzalez, who served on the Columbus Academy’s parent association, said she noticed that money that she believed had been earmarked to pay a bill had instead been “misdirected” to fund a pandemic-related account for black families at the school.
Gonzalez, whose daughter is Latina, said the money was not made available to any other minority students at the school.
“Everyone wants to make this about DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion),” Gross said. “It’s much more than that. What we don’t accept is kids being hurt and the predatory alienation of parents for asking questions. It’s a pattern – a way to shut down parents, malign them and throw the kids out like they are trash.”
At the same time the mothers accused the school, under its head Melissa Soderberg, of developing an extreme left-wing bias in recent years.
“One teacher stated, on the first day of class, that he would not communicate with any student who supported President Trump,” the complaint said.
“Politically charged issues were regularly taught and discussed in the classroom without opposing viewpoints presented.”
Among other things, the mothers’ suit said that activities involving racial pride were skewed away from Latinos. There was only one Latino costume available during a historical dress-up project: Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Gonzalez’s daughter, who is Latina, was told she had to dress as Coretta Scott King.
The mothers said it was devastating for both them and their kids to be on the receiving end of calls to law enforcement agencies and to be made pariahs at the school after they spoke out.
“Columbus called the faculty – 863 people – in and said they had alerted the FBI,” Gonzalez said. “The takeaway was that we were dangerous. The headmaster even hired personal security for protection against us.”
The school, which includes pre-K through 12th-grade students, effectively expelled – or “denied re-enrollment” – to two of Gross’ children and one of Gonzalez’s.
“The school said we violated the ‘politeness agreement’ of our parent contract,” Gross said.
“They said we were violent and dangerous and it worked,” Gross said. “It destroyed our relationships with the school and our friends.”
Gross said it was particularly painful for her family, as her husband is a graduate of the school and credits it with being a formative part of his life.
They accuse the school of an attempt to “destroy their reputations in the community” in the suit, in a state court in Ohio. They are accusing the school of harassment and of breaking Ohio sales law by claiming to cater to diverse students but offering nothing to those with conservative viewpoints.
They seek unspecified compensation for damages in response, calling the actions of the head and the president of the board a “conspiracy.”
“This is a pattern across the country with private schools,” Gross said. “The boards of (non-profits) have responsibilities and they should be responsible for kids. Their finances are at the root. There is a pattern with the way they operate with their finances. It’s shockingly similar.”
Columbus Academy and its headmaster, Melissa Soderberg, did not respond to calls from The Post, but issued a statement through Werth PR, a crisis communications firm.
It said Gross and Gonzalez were motivated to sue by launching their own school, and called their case “lies,” saying that parts had been filed and withdrawn last year.
“These two individuals launched a national media attack against Columbus Academy two years ago,” the statement said.
“Columbus Academy will withstand this assault as we did the last one, and continue to stand for independence and excellence in the education of young scholars.”
