The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute has called an Alabama school system's response to complaints from a Jewish student that ...
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute has called an Alabama school system's response to complaints from a Jewish student that a teacher had classmates perform a Nazi salute 'disconcerting' and that it shows a lack of commitment to diversity.
While Mountain Brooks Schools issued a statement saying it was 'deeply apologetic for the pain' caused by a lesson that 'lacked sensitivity,' the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute questioned actions taken by the system.
In a story first reported by the Birmingham-based Southern Jewish Life, a Jewish student said he was shocked last month when a history teacher at Mountain Brook High School had classmates stand and give a stiff-armed Nazi salute during a lesson on the way symbols change. The teacher has not been identified.
The student, Ephraim Tytell, said school officials reprimanded him and told him to apologize to the teacher after he shared a video and photos of the incident on social media. Tytell said he refused.
Tytell, the only Jewish student in the 11th-grade history class, and several of his classmates refused to stand. 'I felt upset, unsure of what's going on. Just kind of shocked,' Tytell told CBS 42.
The school system, which is right outside Birmingham and includes four elementary schools, a junior high school and a high school, was previously criticized by civil rights groups and activists after it ditched an anti-bias and diversity program produced by an organization that combats antisemitism after several anti-Semitic events.
'It is in this light that we find a more recent incident involving the Nazi salute displayed by students in a Mountain Brook classroom particularly disconcerting, as it shows a conspicuous lack of preparation on the part of administrators to discuss, teach and lead in this area,' the city-owned educational institute said in a statement issued on Friday.
Mountain Brooks Schools has been accused of showing 'a conspicuous lack of preparation on the part of administrators to discuss, teach and lead' after an unnamed teacher (pictured) instructed students to stand and give a Nazi salute during a history lesson
Mountain Brooks Schools was previously criticized by civil rights groups and activists after it ditched an anti-bias and diversity program produced by an organization that combats antisemitism after several anti-Semitic events Pictured: A shot from the video
Ephraim Tytell, the only Jewish student in the 11th-grade history class, (pictured) was reprimanded by the school after he shared a video of the inappropriate assignment
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (pictured) claimed the schools 'disconcerting' response to the Nazi salute shows a lack of commitment to diversity
'They proceeded to tell me that I'm making Mountain Brook look bad for uploading the video and sharing it and asked me to apologize to my teacher, which I refused to,' he said.
'The day after, he made our class, and our class only, put up our phones and he moved me from sitting in the back of the class to right next to him.'
The lesson was said to be intended to show how symbols change by demonstrating that something very similar to what's now widely known as a Nazi salute was used before World War II to salute the U.S. flag.
The 'Bellamy Salute' was ditched in 1942 for the right-hand-over-the-heart gesture following the United States' entry into the second world war.
The population of Mountain Brooks is 97 percent white with a median household income of $152,355, making it the state's wealthiest suburb, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Mountain Brooks school system was previously ruled one of the top three most segregated school systems in the country, according to the nonprofit EdBuild.
On Tuesday, the school system issued a statement saying the video and photos shared online 'are not representative of the lesson' and that no one tried to teach students how to do a Nazi salute.
With blowback continuing, the system followed up with a more conciliatory statement on Thursday, that said in part: 'There are more effective ways to teach this subject without recreating painful, emotional responses to history's atrocities.'
'To improve our instructional strategies, we will continue to work with the Alabama Holocaust Education Center to advance training for our teachers surrounding Antisemitism, the Holocaust and its symbols,' the statement said.
The school system said it stands 'absolutely and unequivocally' against antisemitism.
The Birmingham Jewish Federation said the district's follow-up statement was a 'direct result' of conversations it had with leaders of the school system.
School officials 'fully recognize and understand the insensitivity of the instruction in the classroom that day and the absence of a safe space for learning for the students,' the Jewish organization said.
William Galloway, a spokesman for Mountain Brooks Schools, said it was against system policy to comment on whether the teacher remained in the classroom.
'Understanding the sensitive nature of this subject, Mountain Brook Schools has addressed the instructional strategy used with the teacher and does not condone the modeling of this salute when a picture or video could accurately convey the same message,' the school system's statement said.
The population of Mountain Brooks is 97% white with a median household income of $152,355, making it the state's wealthiest suburb, according to the U.S. Census Bureau
Mountain Brook Listens, a group that works to promote diversity in the virtually all-white city of 22,000, issued a statement saying the incident showed the need for more resources, education and training on understanding implicit biases, building empathy and acting with more compassion.
'And our entire community, including our school system, must foster an environment where people feel safe to report behavior that they are concerned about and certainly not create an environment that cultivates any ''fear of reprisal,''' it said.
Last year, Mountain Brook's school system responded to community complaints about a diversity program produced by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) by dropping the lessons. Schools had begun using the material after anti-Semitic events, including a video of a student with swastikas drawn on his body.
Opponents claimed the lessons focused too much on race and gender and criticized the ADL as being too political.
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