Florida principal reinstated despite Holocaust statements
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Boca Raton principal who was fired after his controversial remarks about the Holocaust sparked a national outrage will be reinstated to a new position, a divided Palm Beach County School Board decided Wednesday.
The board voted 4-3 to rehire William Latson, former principal of Spanish River High, after an administrative law judge ruled in August the school district failed to prove he “engaged in misconduct in office, incompetence, or gross insubordination by a preponderance of the evidence.”
The decision to reinstate Latson followed expressions of anger from School Board members and 90 minutes of recorded voicemails from Holocaust survivors, family members and others who urged the district to not rehire him.
In 2018, 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.” Superintendent Donald Fennoy didn’t discipline him until it hit the media a year later.
“Dr. Latson, you are fortunate that the school district was inept in the way they conducted the investigation,” said board member Karen Brill, who voted against rehiring him.
Brill said rehiring him was a “stain on the school district that will never go away.”
She was joined by Chairman Frank Barbieri and board member Erica Whifield in opposing rehiring Latson.
Board member Debra Robinson, who voted against firing Latson last year, said, “I don’t think his statements represent the body of his work. “
She requested that Latson apologize for his “reckless and offensive statement.”
Latson did not attend the meeting. Neither he nor his lawyer could be reached afterward.
Thomas Gonzalez, an outside lawyer for the district, advised board members they had little choice but to rehire Latson with back pay, recommended by Judge Robert S. Cohen.
“The School Board may not reject or modify a recommended order’s findings of fact unless the Board determines that there is no evidence which supports the recommendation,” Gonzalez wrote. “This high standard makes rejection or modification of an administrative law judge’s recommendations extremely difficult.”
The district should have instead given Latson a reprimand or reassigned him to another job, according to Cohen’s ruling. Board member Marcia Andrews said the board failed to follow its own policy of progressive discipline.
Board member Chuck Shaw said the school board would likely face an appeal and more litigation trying to fight. The district has already spent about $107,000 in legal fees on the case.
Latson won’t return to Spanish River or another high school, Whitfield said she was assured. A new assignment will be brought to the School Board at an upcoming meeting, district spokeswoman Julie Houston Trieste said.
The issue dates back to 2018 when, in email conversations with a parent, Latson 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.
“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.
He also said that as a school district employee, he couldn’t confirm the Holocaust existed.
“This does not represent the School District of Palm Beach County,” Whitfield said Wednesday. “Not presenting the Holocaust as a global tragedy is inaccurate.”
The School Board fired Latson, who had led Spanish River since 2011, last year for being unavailable after the comments he made infuriated Spanish River parents and alumni, as well as Holocaust survivors and people working to combat anti-Semitism.
Fennoy told the board then that Latson had committed ethical misconduct by being unreachable when “all hell broke loose” after his comments to the parent became public.
The School Board reversed the decision Wednesday despite more than 60 recorded voice mails, which were near unanimous in condemning Latson and asking the board not to reinstate him. Many compared his questioning the Holocaust to questioning slavery.
“Black lives matter. Jewish lives matter. All lives matter,” one caller said.
“I cannot believe you’d actually consider reinstating a person has said absolute evil lies,” another caller said. “How could you want him to be in charge of your children?”
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