A Florida high school principal has been fired after he made remarks that he “can’t say the [Nazi] Holocaust is a factual, historical event.”
According to the Miami Herald, Wednesday, the decision was made during the Palm Beach County School Board meeting. Following the 5-2 vote. it was announced that Dr. William Latson would be terminated from Spanish River Community High School on November 21st.
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The controversy surrounding Latson began in July when an email he sent a parent in April 2018 resurfaced. In the written exchange a mother asked the principal of the Boca Raton, Fla., school how the World War II killing of millions of Jews was being taught in their curriculum.
“Not everyone believes the Holocaust happened. And you have your thoughts, but we are a public school and not all of our parents have the same beliefs,” read an excerpt of the email obtained by the Palm Beach Post through an open records request. “I can’t say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event because I am not in a position to do so as a school district employee.”
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Shows the need for SB 184. Ask your rep to co-sponsor SB 184 … Latson wrote that students could opt out of Holocaust lessons because “not everyone believes the Holocaust happened” and that as an educator he had “the role to be politically neutral.” https://t.co/gGdbcwCmfm
— Susan Aertker (@Freespeech12345) November 1, 2019
Following the backlash from his statement the educator was removed from his position and reassigned over the summer. The day after his reassignment, Superintendent Donald Fennoy asked the school board not to renew the principal’s contract. This week’s official dismissal comes after over 20 years of employment with the district, and 11 years at Spanish River Community High School specifically.
During Wednesday’s board meeting, an executive summary from Fennoy explained that the decision was made to end Latson’s employment not in response to his controversial statements but because he “failed to respond to communication from his supervisors and failed to assist the district in addressing the serious disruption caused by the aforementioned email and news coverage.”
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Several of Latson’s former colleagues have spoken up in support of him, opining that the punishment does not fit the crime. Omni Freeman, a teacher at Spanish River, praised Latson as a man who “rises to the top as the best principal I’ve had throughout my teaching career.”
“This is a textbook example of a witch hunt,” responded Ryan Wells, a 13-year educator in the Palm Beach School District. Wells also believes “systemically racist ignorance” was at play during some of the reactions to Latson’s remarks.