Editor’s Note: This story was updated on March 8, 2023, because an earlier version of the story did not meet CNN editorial standards.
A staff member at a Washington, DC, elementary school is under investigation after allegedly directing students to reenact scenes from the Holocaust, according to the city’s public school district.
A DCPS official told CNN that the district placed the instructor on leave Friday pending the investigation. “This was not an approved lesson plan, and we sincerely apologize to our students and families who were subjected to this incident,” the official said.
According to The Washington Post, which first reported on the allegations, the instructor directed third-grade students at Watkins Elementary School to play specific roles, such as Adolf Hitler, and reenact different scenarios, such as digging mass graves, during a library class.
“Earlier today, we received a report of a classroom of students receiving a lesson that included portraying different perspectives of the Holocaust,” Principal MScott Berkowitz wrote in a letter to parents Friday and obtained by CNN.
“Students should never be tasked with acting out any atrocity, especially genocide and war. Additionally, there were allegations of a staff member using hate speech during the lesson, which is unacceptable and not tolerated at our school,” Berkowitz said.
Berkowitz did not name the staff member nor did he elaborate on the specifics of the alleged hate speech.
Students, the DCPS official said, are “being supported by our DCPS Comprehensive Alternative Resolution and Equity Team.”
