Gwyneth Paltrow's former school sued by fired teacher in DEI row

A popular teacher at Gwyneth Paltrow's former private school says she has been left destitute and unemployable after being targeted by the head of the school's woke daughter.

Anne Protopappas, 62, spent decades teaching languages to girls at the $62,000-a-year Spence School on New York's Upper East Side before being fired by the head of the school, Felicia Wilks, in February.

Protopappas claims she was terminated after Wilks' daughter, Sarai, asked her to explain 'why the French banned the hijab,' sparking a discussion of the country's ban of head scarfs in public schools.

The teacher says her comments during the conversation were deemed 'Islamophobic.'

'The implication was that I was not DEI enough,' said Protopappas, the multi-lingual child of Vietnamese parents, in a piece penned by her former student for The Free Press.

'Ironically, since I was fired, teaching French at Spence appears to be a white privilege.'

The prestigious school next to Central Park boasts Oscar winner Paltrow and the Emmy Award winner Kerry Washington among its alumni.

It's been cited as one of the inspirations for the hit show Gossip Girl, centered on the adventures of upper-class students in Manhattan, with some filming for the show taking place outside its building on East 91st Street.    

Spence declares on its website that 'the academic journey is a spirited adventure grounded in inquiry and a desire to delve deeper and pursue challenge and complexity.'

That idea proved too much for the head of school's daughter in her French class, according to a lawsuit filed by Protopappas.

She claims she gave a straight answer to question about hijabs in May of last year, pointing out that the ban applied to France's public schools and is in line with the the country's strict separation of church and state.

When she invited her students to discuss the pros and cons of the ban, the head of school's daughter 'unexpectedly burst out in anger and displayed an uncharacteristically emotional and intensely personal reaction,' according to the lawsuit.

Wilks railed at how 'unfair the French law was to her friend from her former school on the West Coast who wore the hijab.'

The following day, Sarai 'expressed even more anger, as if she had been inflamed,' the suit claims.

'Her classmates were embarrassed and confused by what seemed completely out of the ordinary and blown out of proportion,' it adds.

The worried teacher found herself stonewalled by colleagues when she sought help for the girl, before being hauled in for a meeting with school director, who told her that 'some students' had found her remarks 'Islamophobic.'

'Overnight, I felt demonized, discredited, disqualified, and delegitimized,' Protopappas told The Free Press.

'It was Orwellian.'

In February, she was fired after being told that her teaching was 'inequitable, confused students, and prevented them from speaking in class,' and that it 'did not meet Spence's standards and expectations.'

The elite school has repeatedly riled parents over its progressive stances under former head of school Brodie Brizendine.

In 2020, billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson threatened to stop donating to the school because of 'anti-white indoctrination' in the curriculum being taught to his two daughters.

The following year, board member Gabriela Baron penned an excoriating open letter after her daughter was among the eighth grade pupils forced to sit through an episode of Ziwe Fumudoh's Showtime comedy, Ziwe, which she claimed 'exemplifies hate speech against white women.'

'Had a similar video been shown making fun of ANY OTHER racial group, Spence, its faculty, the Board and the entire community would be whipped into a frenzy,' she wrote. 'Racism is racism.'

And broadcaster Megyn Kelly was among the parents who pulled their daughters out because of 'growing far-left indoctrination.'

'This is a place we've loved - breaks my heart they're doing this,' she posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Wilks succeeded Brizendine in July 2022, earning a salary of $381,500, and sat in on the meeting in which Protopappas was fired.

The former director of diversity at Friends School of Baltimore told her new students to 'love learning so much, to seek it everywhere, even among those who annoy and disagree with you,' at their graduation last year.

Protopappas' dismissal has appalled former students of their beloved 'Madame Proto,' who they thanked for organizing school trips to China and Japan, coaching the debate team, and establishing a language and culture institute.

'I can't remember another teacher I've ever had at the high school level that wanted me to be so aware and so well-rounded on issues,' Madeleine Singer told The Free Press. 'Not just explaining the facts at face value, but asking us why.'

'Her termination is not just a loss of an outstanding educator but a setback for the values of critical thinking and respectful dialogue that she so passionately promoted,' added Sarah Rose Shannon.

Now, the beloved teacher fears she has been blacklisted by the liberal academic elite after applying to 15 'sister' schools, without securing a single interview.

'I was simply trying to find another job and not stir any controversy or sue, but since strangely all doors suddenly closed, I had no other choice but to start this process,' she said.

'My financial situation is absolutely disastrous. I have nothing at all, and I started drawing from my retirement, which of course is a disaster too since I cannot contribute to it anymore, and it is not much. 

'I honestly even have to worry about food, and paying my credit card debt that is ballooning, so I may have to declare bankruptcy.'

But she said it is not just her that has been betrayed by the school she loves.

'I have done nothing but serve this school,' she said. 

'I never thought that I would pay such a high price for practicing and teaching the skill of free and responsible expression and independence of mind at a school that I picked for its open-mindedness 25 years ago.

'It's about the students. Spence is not honoring the voice of the students,' she added.

'The teaching profession is under attack. Independence of mind seems less and less safe.

'How are we going to have a democracy if we don't teach that skill?'