A New Jersey elementary school teacher will resign after he allowed a student to dress up as Adolf Hitler and write and essay about the dictator's accomplishments.
On Monday at a school board meeting in Tenafly, the board voted to accept the resignation of the teacher who has been on a leave of absence since May.
The board also reinstated Principal Jennifer Ferrara to Maugham Elementary School, according to NorthJersey.com.
The recommendation to accept the teacher's resignation and reinstate the principal was offered up by Superintendent Shauna DeMarco of Tenafly Public Schools.
'While everyone might not agree with my ultimate recommendations, it's important to know that I have taken every piece of feedback that I have received seriously,' DeMarco said.
'I'm so appreciative of how engaged our community is around our students' education.'
A fifth-grader's 'Character Development' project on Adolf Hitler (pictured) was hung in the hallways of Maugham Elementary School in Tenafly, New Jersey for weeks, according to parents. A photo of it went viral in late May
Ferrara told the board meeting that during her administrative leave, she reflected on the decisions she made and how they impacted students, staff, and the community.
‘As a school leader, I definitely made mistakes that played a role in what happened, and for that, I take full responsibility and I'm eternally sorry,’ said Ferrara, who has been principal for nearly 11 years.
‘This experience has taught me to think more broadly about the consequences of every decision that I make.’
The online outrage began when a photo of the student's report hanging in the school's hallway was posted on social media in late May.
The teacher and principal were put on paid leave during the superintendent's investigation of the assignment.
School board President Jocelyn Schwarz said the administration will work with Ferrara to provide an easy transition and 'foster a safe and learning environment.'
The fifth-grader's one-page essay on Nazi leader Adolf Hitler (circled) hung in the hallways of Maugham Elementary School for weeks
'I personally believe the investigation into what happened was thorough, well-executed and got the answers the board needed to move forward,' Schwarz said.
The fifth grade student in question was assigned a 'Character Development project' in which she dressed up as Hitler and wrote an essay listing the dictator's 'accomplishments.'
The young girl wrote a one-page essay in Hitler's voice that described his rise to power by 'uniting a great mass of German and Austrian people behind me.'
Word spread about the project after an outraged mother posted to Facebook a picture of the 'Character Development' project essay hanging in a school hallway, saying it had been there for weeks.
The fifth-grader's project included dressing up as the Nazi leader (pictured) and turning in a one-page essay in Hitler's voice that said he rose to power by 'uniting a great mass of German and Austrian people behind me'
'This is ignorance, antisemitism and hatred taught at a fifth grade level,' Lori Birk posted on May 30.
'Shame on the parents who helped their child dress as Hitler and the teacher who has approved such hatred.'
Birk said she was informed on the project by the parent of another fifth-grade student.
The 10-year-old girl who did the assignment added in the pencil-written essay, 'I was pretty great, wasn't I? I was very popular and many people followed me until I died. My belif (sic) in antisemitism drove me to kill more than 6 million Jews.'
Birk and multiple reports also confirm that the student dressed as Hitler as part of the project. Birk questioned why any child would be made to dress as the dictator and called it 'antisemitism'.
'Antisemitism in full form right here in Bergen County,' she added. 'Mayor Mark Zinna and Governor Phil Murphy- is HATE really acceptable in the NJ public school system?'
The woman who told Birk about the project has a student in the school but in a different class.
Still, Birk told
