The head of Manhattan’s elite Collegiate School has resigned from his role — just weeks after he was accused of ripping an antisemitism task force as a “joke” and a “power play by Jewish families” to have him ousted.
David Lourie, who has been the posh prep school’s top administrator since 2020, broke the news to parents and students on Monday, telling them he was stepping down to give Collegiate a “fresh start.”
His sudden departure from the $63,400-per-year school comes after a long-running antisemitism spat involving parents, administrators and students recently reached tipping point and dramatically erupted into public view.
Lourie, who didn’t directly address any of the recent rising tensions in his announcement, said the decision for him to quit was made in conjunction with the school’s board of trustees.
“After four years filled with shared successes alongside challenges that required difficult and at times divisive decisions, we agreed that a new Head of School is what is best for the boys and the school community as Collegiate begins a brand new school year in the fall,” Lourie said.
He went on to insist that every “difficult decision” he has made during his tenure at the all-boys school has been with the students’ best interests at heart.
“We are, of course, living in a time when so many decisions are fraught with uncertainty, disagreement, and dissension,” Lourie said.
“With every decision then, through every decision now, that has been my lodestar: what is best for the boys and their learning and well-being.”
The drama engulfing the school first erupted late last year after the board of trustees set up a task force to weed out any possible antisemitism on the Upper West Side campus in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks.
The task force was created after more than 100 Jewish parents had accused Lourie and the school of failing to “meet the moment” with their overall response to the Hamas bloodshed.
The finger-pointing only escalated after a much-anticipated internal task force report later admitted that some faculty members had actually blamed “wealthy and influential” Jewish parents for the tension as the Israel-Hamas war raged on.
Meanwhile, Lourie was also accused of deriding that same task force as a “joke.”
Those allegations were laid bare in a wide-ranging gender discrimination lawsuit filed last month by the task force’s head, Anna Carello, who alleged Lourie had forced her into the role to address antisemitism issues he “could not be bothered handling.”
Then, just last week, the school’s incoming Class of ’25 penned a scathing letter to administrators and parents urging them to quit trying to “prescribe specific political opinions” on them.
“While many parents have called for the school to provide moral leadership in these divisive and challenging times, we would like to emphasize that the moral leadership best for our community is one that does not prescribe what we should believe, but how we should engage with others in rational, open-minded and empathetic discourse,” the five-page letter said.
Board of trustees president, Jonathan Youngwood, briefly addressed the ongoing sagas on Monday as he noted in his own letter to the school community that an interim head would be appointed soon in the wake of Lourie’s resignation.
“As we move to new leadership, I recognize the serious concerns and discussions that have been going on at the school this year,” he wrote.
“In the midst of this transition, I ask that our community engage with each other with respect and kindness.”
