Principal fired again over Holocaust remarks
A principal’s reluctance to say the Holocaust was real— leading to a two-year saga that inflamed his Jewish community and people around theworld— reached a possible climax Monday when the School Board decided to fire him for the second time.
William Latson was the principal of Spanish River High, a school in Boca Raton that serves a large Jewish population. He told a parent in a 2018 email that, as a district employee, he couldn’t confirm the Holocaust was a factual event.
After the story received international attention, he was reassigned, then fired but then re hired last month on the recommendation of administrative law judge who said the firing was improper.
That action created another backlash, and the school board decided unanimously Monday to rescind it.
Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran had said he planned to take disciplinary action on Latson’s license, and the School Board received thousands of comments from all over the world from Holocaust survivors, their family members and other soutraged by Latson’s comments.
The board had to delay its
consideration of thecase for over a weeks o that members could listen at home to about 1,300 voicemails from around theworld.
Board members Marcia Andrews, Debra Robinson, Barbara McQuinn and Chuck Shaw reversed their earlier votes.
“I heard your calls,” Andrews said. “I’m going to rescind my vote. I’m going to fix this today.”
McQuinn, a former principal, said she changed her mind after getting more insight. She said she realizes now that Lat son had allowed students to opt out of Holo caust education despite the curriculum being required by the state.
“Will Latson failed,” McQuinn said. “He failed students. This district administration failed to make him do his job.”
Robinson said she reconsidered after speaking to a Jewish man a few weeks ago who said the denial of his history caused him pain.
“I relate so well because my history continues to be denied,” said Robinson, who is Black.
“I am sorry for the pain that my vote contributed to,” she added .“I would not wish that pain on anyone. It was not my intention to cause a flare-up of your pain.”
Board members Erica Whitfield, Frank Barbieri and Karen Brill voted against rehiring Latson last month.
The School Board played a recorded message from Latson, similar to one he released on YouTube last week.
“I am not a Holocaust denier,” he said in the recording. “I have never been a Holocaust denier. I am sorry that my comments caused people to think that.”
School Board Chairman Frank B ar bieri had called for the new vote, saying board members may not have realized the judge’ s decision was a recommendation that the board could reject.
The School Board must still hold a formal hearing, scheduled for Nov. 10, for its decision to become final. Lat son and his lawyer will be allowed to present a defense at this hearing, but it’s highly unlikely the School Board vote would change again.
Neither Latson nor his lawyer or representative from the Palm Beach School Administrators’ Association could be reached for comment Monday.
Robert S. Cohen, the administrative law judge who heard the appeal from Latson, ruled in August that the school district failed to prove he “engaged in misconduct in office, in competence, or gross insubordination by a preponderance of the evidence.”
The judge also said Latson had no prior discipline, so terminating him violated the district’s progressive discipline practices. However, several boardmembers said that finding was an error, that there is no progressive discipline requirement for administrators.
Chris Whitelock, a lawyer who represents school administrators in Broward, said it’s rare and risky for a School Board to defy an administrative judge’s ruling. He said the case can be tried through circuit court and the school district would likely lose unless there’s some important new information.
“They can override an administrative law judge in very rare circumstances,” said Whitelock, who is not involved in this case. “It can’t just be a different interpretation of facts. Something has to be substantially different .”
Superintendent Donald Fennoy said Oct. 21 that he plans to commission an independent investigation into what went wrong in the Latson case.
Although Fennoy recommended the rehiring of Latson at the urging of a judge and lawyers, he said “my lack of faith in Dr. Latson’s leadership remains the same.”
Fennoy was criticized after his administrators allowed Latson to avoid discipline for a year after learning of the email in which the principal said he couldn’t confirm the Holocaust actually happened.
The controversy dates to 2018 when, in email conversations with a parent, Lat son detailed his efforts to implement the school’ s Holocaust curriculum, a state mandate since 1994. He wrote that not every family had been amenable to the lessons.
Latson told a parent in an email, “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.” Fennoy didn’t discipline him until it hit the media a year later.
“I work to expose students to certain things, but not all parents want their students exposed so they will not be and I can’t force that issue,” Latson wrote.
The School Board fired Latson, who had led Spanish River since 2011, last year for being unavailable after the comment she made infuriated Spanish River parents and alumni, as well as Holocaust survivors and people working to combat anti-Semitism.