The United Jewish Federation of Utah said it plans to speak with a local school district about implementing an anti-hate curriculum after an incident at a local school where a student dressed up as Nazi leader Adolf Hitler for Halloween.
At a Creekside Elementary School Halloween parade last week, parents said a student in a Hitler costume walked in the parade using a “Heil Hitler” salute. He made two full laps around the school while parents watched. A mother told Fox 13 the boy later at recess directed the salute towards minority children, including her own son.
The Davis School District said on Monday it has no updates on the investigation into the incident, though placed the school’s principal and a teacher on paid administrative leave.
“It’s horrible and mortifying that something like that was allowed to happen, and a child wasn’t asked to be removed from the parade,” said Jewish Federation’s executive director Alex Shapiro about what happened, which he classified as a hate incident. “The message is that we haven’t learned from our past. Conjuring up memories of hate and extermination ... .”
Shapiro wants to meet with the school district to talk about implementing a nationwide, anti-bias curriculum for elementary school and high school by the Anti-Defamation League that centers around promoting anti-hate, anti-bullying and inclusivity.
“Now is the time,” he said, “to have a conversation around what can we do to teach the students ... about bigotry, bias, hate, anti-Semitism.”
