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Early Dismissal: Florida High School Principal Who Refused To Say Holocaust
Townhall.com ^ | July 9, 2019 | Matt Vespa

Posted on 07/09/2019 4:04:28 AM PDT by Kaslin

The ‘Florida man’ stories are hilarious. There’s even a special account on Twitter dedicated to this sort of news, the ever-growing list of local stories from those residents of the Sunshine State who engage in some of the most outlandish antics out there. It’s true entertainment, one that should make anyone laugh. Yet, this one ‘Florida man’ story isn’t so funny. A high school principal at Spanish River High School in the Palm Beach School District decided a year ago to take the odd position of refusing to declare the Holocaust a factual and historical event. William Latson is the name of the principal in question and he’s now out of that job, having been reassigned due to the uproar this has caused. 

The Palm Beach Post posted excerpts of those email exchanges he had with a concerned parent. The parent was wondering what the school curriculum was concerning this dark period of human history. While Latson had apologized for the wording, it wasn’t enough. It should also be made clear that no one believes Latson is a Holocaust denier or anti-Semite, just someone who dabbled in sheer folly in trying to apply the two equal sides protocol as if this were a debatable subject. It’s not. The Holocaust happened. There are remnants of the concentration camps in Europe. There are scores of interviews with survivors providing a record of this most terrible crime and there are thousands of such survivors who live in and around the school district (via Sun Sentinel):

A principal in heavily Jewish Boca Raton is out of a job because he refused to say the Holocaust was a real historical event.

Spanish River High School Principal William Latson told a parent that as a public school official he needed to remain “politically neutral” — sensitive to both Holocaust education advocates and people who deny the destruction of six million Jews during World War II.

The Palm Beach County School District didn’t see it that way and on Monday assigned Latson to another, unspecified position.

His email exchange with the parent created a furor in Boca Raton, the home of many Holocaust survivors and their descendants, and spurred an investigation by the school district.

A new principal has not yet been named.

“Mr. Latson made a grave error in judgment in the verbiage he wrote in an email stating, ‘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.’ In addition to being offensive, the principal’s statement is not supported by either the School District Administration or the School Board," the district said Monday.

In an email exchange last year with the parent, Latson wrote:

“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 so they will react differently."

This wasn’t that hard, sir. I mean of all the things to lose your job over. You’re going to go down in flames in what appears to be a move to respect the wishes of… apparent Holocaust denier parents in the school district.  As we’ve said before, who cares what they think; they’re wrong. Those who have that position live in la la land and peddle a myth that’s heavily associated with anti-Semitism. There is no ‘two equal sides’ to this question, man. Even the village idiot would know not to debate the Holocaust.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: highschool; holocaust
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The rest of the title is: Was A Factual Event Has Been Removed
1 posted on 07/09/2019 4:04:28 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

“he’s now out of that job, having been REASSIGNED due to the uproar this has caused.”

Oh, that probably hurts. Most likely has an easier job while collecting full Principal salary. Not good enough. Ge needs to be fired.


2 posted on 07/09/2019 4:07:49 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Worry ends where faith begins.)
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To: Kaslin

You should see the guy’s LinkedIn page.


3 posted on 07/09/2019 4:08:56 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds)
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To: MayflowerMadam

Does Florida have “rubber rooms”?

If so, guess where he is.


4 posted on 07/09/2019 4:09:44 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds)
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To: MayflowerMadam

Government school systems are chock full of cashiered principals who are assigned deadhead positions when they fail in a job with actual responsibilities.


5 posted on 07/09/2019 4:12:27 AM PDT by abb ("News reporting is too important to be left to the journalists." Walter Abbott (1950 -))
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To: Kaslin

Here he is, in case you’re wondering:

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/schools/fl-ne-william-latson-comments-20190708-cm5wzlw4lrayrl5y2r3vljxhnu-story.html


6 posted on 07/09/2019 4:19:13 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Kaslin
This story (from another media source) was posted on FR before and there's something missing.

How does it explain the below tweet from the same principal on the Holocaust a few months ago?

Another unprincipled school official talking out of both sides of their mouth trying to cowtow to all PC special interest groups?

7 posted on 07/09/2019 4:21:05 AM PDT by drpix
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To: Kaslin

Not sure why the author goes after the two equal sides angle. You can take down this idiot without referencing Charlottesville.


8 posted on 07/09/2019 4:21:08 AM PDT by Lisbon1940 (No full-term Governors (at the time of election))
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To: drpix

I think someone put the fear of Allah in the guy.


9 posted on 07/09/2019 4:23:06 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds)
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To: 9YearLurker

Oh that’s why he was reassigned.


10 posted on 07/09/2019 4:27:18 AM PDT by Skywise
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To: Kaslin
he’s now out of that job, having been reassigned due to the uproar this has caused.

Umm, no. He is out of a position, but he still retains his job as he was just reassigned to anther position.

11 posted on 07/09/2019 4:40:48 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: Kaslin

In other words, he’s getting a promotion.


12 posted on 07/09/2019 4:43:06 AM PDT by Track9
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To: Kaslin

It doesn’t sound like he denied it. It sounds like there was an issue with his curriculum on the subject as well as his explanation for his choice. Think someone went a little overboard with the response - especially after seeing the picture of the holocaust survivors at the school (in a previous post).

I don’t agree with him. But, wasn’t there a way to handle this without going full steam ahead and have him removed?

I’d also like to read the full email to which he responded to so there’s more context.


13 posted on 07/09/2019 4:46:21 AM PDT by HollyB
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To: HollyB

Follow the link in the above linked article to the Palm Beach Post coverage. The PBP has a link to the email.

And I’ll tell you this, after reading it, I think you’ll find that school has more problems than just that principal.

I think my Allah crack may have been spot on.


14 posted on 07/09/2019 4:51:48 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds)
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To: Kaslin

Show me a school that adopted a ‘not everyone believes you can change your sex’ policy of neutrality rather than transgenderism advocacy.


15 posted on 07/09/2019 4:53:23 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (TDenounce DUAC - The Democrats Un-American Activists Committee)
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To: mewzilla

In England there were questionable charges against teachers and school boards to shift power to muslim leadership


16 posted on 07/09/2019 4:54:59 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (TDenounce DUAC - The Democrats Un-American Activists Committee)
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To: Kaslin

I have long believed that politically driven “virtue-signaling” should be eradicated from every public school curriculum. There’s something inherently pathetic about a U.S. high school graduate who knows everything there is to know about the Holocaust and the slave trade but couldn’t even answer 20% of the questions correctly on a test about the U.S. Constitution.


17 posted on 07/09/2019 4:55:50 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave." -- Frederick Douglass)
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To: Kaslin
"two equal sides protocol."

(?) Where is it written that we must respect and give homage to the lie... What is wrong, is wrong and what is right, once proven to be so, is right.. No matter how hard the liberals try they can't make the truth a lie or a lie the truth... Evil is not good, up is not down and the left sure the heck ain't right..

18 posted on 07/09/2019 4:56:23 AM PDT by unread (Joe McCarthy was right.......)
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To: a fool in paradise

After reading that email I’d say that school’s problems extend far beyond the principal. He’s just a symptom. And reassigning the guy isn’t fixing the underlying issues.


19 posted on 07/09/2019 4:57:44 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds)
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To: Alberta's Child

When I was a kid we learned about the Constitution, slavery, the Triangle Trade, the Holocaust, et al.

It can be done. It used to be done. The Educational Industrial Complex just chooses not to do it.


20 posted on 07/09/2019 5:00:22 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds)
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