>In April 2018, the former principal of Spanish River High in Boca Raton, William Latson, told a parent, who was seeking information about Spanish River’s Holocaust curriculum, that he had to remain “politically neutral” — sensitive not only to advocates of Holocaust education but to those who deny the annihilation of six million Jews during World War II.
The former Boca Raton principal who generated a national uproar for his comments about the Holocaust should not have been fired, a judge ruled Thursday. The Palm Beach County School District should have given William Latson a reprimand or reassigned him to another job, according to the ruling by Judge Robert S. Cohen.
The school district “failed to prove that (Latson) engaged in misconduct in office, incompetence, or gross insubordination by a preponderance of the evidence. No just cause for his suspension or termination exists, but a reprimand and reassignment are warranted,” the judge wrote. The School Board fired Latson, former principal of Spanish River High, last year for being unavailable after comments he made about the Holocaust infuriated Spanish River parents and alumni, as well as Holocaust survivors and people working to combat anti-Semitism.
Superintendent Donald Fennoy told the board Latson had committed ethical misconduct by being unreachable when “all hell broke loose” after his emailed comments to a Spanish River parent became public. Spanish River parents and alumni condemned what they called the insensitivity of Latson’s comments, considering the large population of Holocaust survivors and their descendants in Boca Raton and South Florida. More than 10,000 survivors are estimated to live in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, the second largest concentration in the United States after New York.
Politicians from across the state also called for Latson’s termination or resignation, as did the Anti-Defamation League.
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