Members of Congress in Washington, D.C. Elementary pupils were allegedly asked to replicate the Holocaust, including playing Adolf Hitler and choking in gas chambers, according to public schools.
Kimberlynn Jurkowski, a librarian at Watkins Elementary School, is accused of assigning the lesson. They further accuse the school librarian of informing children that the Holocaust occurred because Jews ruined Christmas.
The employee has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the lesson plan investigation.
According to The New York Times, the librarian has had previous problems with another institution, having been forced to quit former employment in New Jersey following a tutoring scheme in which she was convicted of cheating a school system out of $24,000 in 2013.
“Last week, we received a report of a classroom of students receiving a lesson that included portraying different perspectives of the Holocaust. Students should never be tasked with acting out any atrocity, especially genocide and war,” D.C. Public Schools said in a statement.
“Additionally, there were allegations of a staff member using hate speech during the lesson, which is unacceptable and not tolerated at any of our schools.
“This was not an approved lesson plan, and we sincerely apologize to our students and families who were subjected to this incident,” D.C. Public Schools said.
The principal of Watkins Elementary School sent home informing parents that students were “asked to portray participants from the Holocaust like Adolf Hitler, digging ditches to serve as mass graves, and simulated shootings.”
It’s now being looked into how the librarian was able to get a job despite her past.
“We do a thorough background check on all of our employees when they’re hired, and we’re doing an investigation into the hiring process, specifically, to this staff member,” D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Dr. Lewis Ferebee said.
Parents are furious, claiming that their children are struggling to understand the lesson and that the child assigned to impersonate Hitler is “not doing well at all.”
“My husband picked up our child after school, and there was a lot of sobbing and crying and distress,” one mother said.
“They are traumatized. One parent said that their child was worried the teacher in question was hiding at their house,” an anonymous mother told Fox5 DC. “Children are having nightmares and generally having a very hard time.”
Watkins Elementary has offered to help pupils who have been affected by the traumatic lesson.
