(JTA) — The New York teacher who assigned her students to write a persuasive essay on why Jews are evil was placed on leave and will be disciplined.
The teacher, who has not been named, was placed on leave Friday from her job at Albany High School and could face a reprimand or firing, according to the Albany Times Union.
Albany Public Schools Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard, speaking Friday at a news conference with members of the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Federation, said the teacher will be disciplined by the school district and might not return to the classroom this year.
The district also will bring in sensitivity trainers from the ADL to work with the district’s teachers and their students, the newspaper reported.
Wyngaard said the teacher was a longtime employee whose work has never been criticized, but said her assignment "displayed a level of insensitivity that we absolutely will not tolerate."
The writing project, assigned before the class read "Night," the Holocaust memoir by Elie Wiesel, called on the students to research Third Reich propaganda and then write a letter to a Nazi officer arguing that "Jews are evil." One of the three classes given the assignment refused to carry it out, the Times Union reported.
