Whitesville Central School District, located in western New York, said that a teacher’s remarks in a yearbook that called Adolf Hitler his “favorite person in history” were “taken out of context.”
The teacher, high school history teacher Jeff Acor, was asked in the yearbook who his favorite historical figure is. His response: “Adolf Hitler, who did many great things for Germany and their youth before the infamous Holocaust. Adolf was outed and faced hardships early in life which a lot of people can relate to. Adolf is arguably the greatest public speaker in the history of the world. Adolf made many great strides to make Germany a world superpower.”
Whitesville Central School District Superintendent Laurie Sanders said in a letter to parents that the yearbooks are being re-printed due to “several errors and oversights… including our discovery that a statement from one of our new teachers was incomplete, resulting in the description of a historical figure being mistakenly taken out of context.”
Sanders told WIVB that she thought that Acor’s comments were simply reflecting “the lens of history and not, he wasn’t applauding anything he did.” She added that Acor “never got to see the entire writing” of the yearbook post before it was published.
Sanders told the Olean Times Herald that the district investigated Acor and there won’t be any action against him. She also said that there would be tighter editing and supervision over the yearbooks from here on out.
Acor is referring requests for comment to the district, per the Times Herald.
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