Four New York City Department of Education (DOE) executives plan to sue the city, claiming they were demoted because they are white, according to the New York Post.

The four reportedly claimed Chancellor Richard Carranza has created “an environment which is hostile toward whites” and that they were demoted for less qualified people of color.

“These decisions are being made because DOE leadership believes that skin color plays a role in how to get equity — that white people can’t convey the message,” an unidentified source familiar with the complaints told the Post.

{mosads}According to The New York Times, Carranza has taken a series of steps since he took office just more than a year ago aimed at reducing racial disparities within the city’s educational institutions, including a plan to eliminate the city’s specialized high school exam. He said last June that “I just don’t buy into the narrative that any one ethnic group owns admission to these schools,” the Times noted. 

Under Carranza, the department has also contracted consultants Pacific Educational Group for “Courageous Conversation,” a training protocol on racism in the workplace, the Post reported.

“It is not talking about these issues that create divisiveness,” the protocol’s outline reportedly states. “The divisiveness already exists in the society and in our schools. It is through dialogue, even when uncomfortable, the healing and change begin.”

“Since Carranza took office, he’s brought in a lot of new people. As a result, it’s been bureaucratic chaos and backbiting, with deputies and their subordinates seeking better perches in the pecking order,” David Bloomfield, a Brooklyn College and City University of New York Graduate Center education professor, told the Post. “Racial tensions appear to be one manifestation of these internal battles.”

“We hire the right people to get the job done for kids and families, and any claim of ‘reverse racism’ has no basis in fact,” Education Department spokesman Will Mantell said in a statement shared with The Hill. “We’ll continue to foster a supportive environment for all our employees.”

Updated at 11:01 a.m.