Ex-principal’s future under review after Holocaust comments
BOCA RATON – The fate of William Latson, the former principal of Spanish River High School who was dismissed from his post Monday for comments he made about the Holocaust, is now up to the Palm Beach County School Board.
The board will vote on July 24 on whether to accept a recommendation from Superintendent Donald Fennoy, who said Wednesday that Latson’s contract should not be renewed.
Florida politicians and a national civil-rights group, dissatisfied with Latson’s reassignment to another school district post after his comments became public, had been calling for him to resign or be fired by the school district.
In 2018, 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 6 million Jews during World War II.
“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,” Latson wrote to the parent, whose name is redacted from the emails released by the school district.
“Our schools can never be fact-neutral environments,” Fennoy said in a video released by the school district Wednesday. Fennoy acknowledged the “distress, the anger and the heartbreak” caused by Latson’s comments.
School board chairman Frank Barbieri Jr. said he agrees with Fennoy.
“It has been painful for me to watch events surrounding Spanish River High School as they unfolded over the last week,” Barbieri said in a text. “I fully support the position of the superintendent recommending to the board the non-renewal of Mr. Latson’s contract.”
Barbieri said Florida law allows three weeks after school grades are released to act on staff reappointments. School grades have not yet been released for the past school year.
Latson’s comments enraged many residents of Boca Raton, the home of more than 400 Holocaust survivors and many families whose relatives were killed by the Nazis. South Florida has the second largest number of Holocaust survivors in the U.S., behind New York.
The anger intensified after Latson wrote a farewell letter to his staff that blamed the parent for his removal.
“I have been reassigned to the district office due to a statement that was not accurately relayed to the newspaper by one of our parents. It is unfortunate that someone can make a false statement and do so anonymously and it holds credibility but that is the world we live in,” Latson wrote. “Thank you for your support and kind words during this trying time in my career, it meant more to me than you know as I have much respect for each and everyone of you.”
Politicians from across the state called for Latson’s firing or resignation, as did the Anti-Defamation League, a national civil-rights group with an office in Boca Raton.
ADL regional director Sheri Zvi said the organization initially supported Latson’s reassignment, but decided he should resign after he declined to take responsibility for his comments in the farewell letter.
“While we welcomed his reassignment to a district position, ADL had hoped his apology was sincere and Latson could learn from his mistakes. Given that he cannot take responsibility for his actions, Latson should resign, and if not we believe the district should end his employment,” Zvi said.
Elected officials also voiced their outrage.
State Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Boca Raton, said in a statement Latson “has the First Amendment right to be wrong. He doesn’t have a right to a taxpayer paycheck.”
Sen. Kevin Rader, DBoca Raton, and Rep. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, also called for his firing. State Reps. Lauren Book, DPlantation, and Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, want the school district to examine its procedures for how it handled the initial complaint and its follow-up.
“We demand a full and complete investigation into how such anti-Semitic conduct could have been tolerated and covered up by the school district’s bureaucracy for more than a year,” they said.
The school district has known about Latson’s comments for the past year, chief of staff Ed Tierney said Wednesday. Latson’s supervisors were working with him on improving Holocaust education at the school. He even traveled to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial in Washington, D.C., to gain additional knowledge, Tierney said.
Still, it took the public release of Latson’s email comments to spur the school district to recommend his removal, Tierney said.
“The damage [the comments] caused were taken into account,” Tierney said. “We appreciate hearing from the public.”