For at least a year, Mountain Brook administrators, educators and students have tried to implement diversity programming in their six schools following anti-Semitic events.

But over the summer, a vocal group of parents have pushed back against teacher anti-bias training, saying it focused too much on race and gender, and is linked to an organization with what they called politically controversial views, the Anti-Defamation League.

Mountain Brook is the state's wealthiest suburb, and its schools, founded during a period of segregation in Jefferson County, have earned spots as among the most segregated in America. Its most recent debate about teacher training has now became entangled with a national conversation about critical race theory -- an academic concept not taught in any Alabama K-12 schools nor included in the Mountain Brook training, but which has become associated with diversity and anti-bias training in schools.

Some community members said they fear that this controversy will worsen depictions of the town and deter more Jewish families and families of color from living there.

Allison Padilla-Goodman, a regional organizer for the Anti-Defamation League, which has helped implement Mountain Brook's diversity training, told AL.com the training is used by hundreds of schools across the country, including 42 in Huntsville. The backlash was the strongest she'd seen from any district, she said, and as of Sunday, it was the only district in the nation she'd seen end a partnership with the organization during her time working with them.

"What has happened in Mountain Brook over the past several weeks is by far the biggest, disappointing experience we've had with the school district in my history with the ADL," she said. "I feel like they've made the decision to kind of live with the hate in their district and to not do anything about it."