Florida principal who couldn’t confirm Holocaust as a ‘factual’ event is fired

A Florida high school principal was fired by his school district Wednesday after he told a parent in an email there was no “factual” evidence that the Holocaust ever happened.

In a 5-2 vote, the Palm Beach County School Board fired Boca Raton principal William Latson — citing “just cause” of inability to handle job responsibilities and ethical misconduct, according to meeting records.

Mr. Latson gained national attention in 2018 when a parent asked how Spanish River Community High School taught students about the Holocaust, to which he responded: “I can’t say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event because I am not in a position to do so as a district employee.”

“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,” he wrote, according to emails obtained by the Palm Beach Post.

The school district also criticized Mr. Latson’s unresponsiveness as district officials were attempting to respond to the backlash while he was on vacation in Jamaica.

“While his email was receiving global news coverage, Mr. Latson failed to respond to communications from his supervisors and failed to assist the District in addressing the serious disruption caused by the aforementioned email and news coverage,” a statement from the school district said, according to CNN.

Mr. Latson was reassigned to a “district position” in July after being a principal for the high school since 2011.

The school district said Mr. Latson went through counseling and attended the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., to learn about the Nazi regime’s genocide of more than 11 million people, including 6 million Jews.

The district also affirmed that the Holocaust happened and said they asked Mr. Latson to create more lesson plans involving the topic.

“Every generation must recognize, and learn from, the atrocities of the Holocaust’s incomprehensible suffering and the enduring stain that it left on humankind,” said Palm Beach County School Board Chairman Frank Barbieri Jr. in a July statement.