“You get presented with, on equal merits, like a white person or a black person or whatever. Yeah, we’re going with the black person,” Ferrer told an undercover journalist, confirming that Summit’s hiring decisions are often based on race. Summit Public Schools is a charter school network operating across California and Washington.
The admission directly contradicts both federal and state anti-discrimination laws, which prohibit employment decisions based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Ferrer justified the practice as part of a broader strategy to match staff with what he called the school’s “cultural needs.” “Who do we feel is best for kids right now in the context of that school site or that classroom?” he explained. “So if it’s a person of color, great. If it’s a trans teacher, great.”
He also admitted that Summit’s hiring process is influenced by Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) goals. When asked whether quotas exist, Ferrer said, “Obviously we have a lot of kids that identify as LGBTQ, maybe even trans… So I think it’s just culturally, we just naturally look for those folks.”
Ferrer further revealed that the school system uses DEI-focused interview questions as a litmus test for political and ideological alignment. When asked if the school would ever hire a supporter of Donald Trump, Ferrer replied bluntly: “I don’t think we would hire them.”
He elaborated, “We do have DEI questions built into our selection process. We have a rubric… If they say any of these things, this is not someone who’s answering the question the way we’re aligned to answer the question.”
One such disqualifying answer, according to Ferrer, would be a candidate expressing interest in teaching conservative values. “If the candidate or teacher is like, ‘Well, I want to make sure that [students] learn about conservative values,’ blah, blah, blah… that’s probably not what we are looking for.”
OMG has reached out to Summit Public Schools for comment.
