SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — ADL San Diego released the following statement on a recent incident at Carmel Valley Middle School:
ADL San Diego is well aware of and has been in touch with the person who reported the incident and the school since it was initially reported. What follows is a list of the facts of the incident and ADL’s involvement:
On September 27, 2022, ADL San Diego received an online incident report from a parent alleging that a poster of Adolph Hitler was featured among the images of Gandhi, President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Winston Churchill and other historical figures in their child’s 7th grade classroom at Carmel Valley Middle School as part of a world history lesson on historical leaders.
According to the parent, their 12-year-old child communicated to their teacher that it was inappropriate to feature Hitler’s likeness alongside positive role models. The teacher allegedly told the student that, “Hitler may have done some bad things, but he also had strong leadership qualities.”
The student’s parent contacted the school principal and then filed an online incident report to ADL. It is our understanding that the parent also requested their child be moved to another history class. The school reviewed the situation and asked the teacher to remove the poster of Hitler.
To be clear, images of Adolf Hitler in the classroom without proper context can be deeply offensive and hurtful to members of the Jewish community. Particularly for younger students who are impressionable. Based on the available information, ADL is troubled by the inclusion of Hitler among inspirational historical leaders as part of this world history lesson. As soon as ADL became aware of the situation, we contacted the school principal (who had just removed the poster), expressed our concerns, ensured the offending poster had been removed, and offered our expertise and resources to the teacher and school to resolve this situation and avoid such incidents in the future.
Carmel Valley Middle School is an ADL-registered No Place for Hate® school, which means it is committed to fighting hatred and bigotry. Regardless of the teacher’s intent, the impact was felt in the classroom and beyond. We will continue to work closely with Carmel Valley Middle School to reduce, address and remedy any incidents of hate and bigotry and we are pleased with the administration’s cooperation and willingness to learn from this. ADL education staff will meet with the teacher for future discussion and education to avoid similar situations from happening again.
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Preceding provided by ADL San Diego