School district removes principal accused of denying Holocaust for becoming 'major distraction'

Palm Beach County school district reassigns school principal

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Palm Beach County school district reassigned a school principal more than a year after he wrote an email to a student's mother saying that "not everyone believes the Holocaust happened."

The principal at Spanish River High School was responding to an April 2018 email from the mother who was curious about the school's curriculum, when he wrote that he couldn't say the World War II-era genocide of six million Jews is a "factual, historical" event.

Recommended Videos



"I am not in a position to do so as a school district employee," William Latson wrote, adding that he had to stay "politically neutral." 

The district released a statement on Monday saying Latson "was counseled" and "instructed" before he was reassigned to a district position because he had "become a major distraction."

Latson also spent several days at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum "to increase his personal knowledge," according to the statement.  

The Palm Beach Post reported that after a nonprofit paid for his four-day trip to the museum in Washington, D.C., he released a statement saying the trip was a "poignant lesson and reminder of one of the most horrific events in human history."

Latson had been the principal at the high school in Boca Raton, which has about 2,500 students.  The Palm Beach Post published the April 18, 2018 email

 


About the Author:

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.