Swastikas at School: Guess who Gets Disciplined

“One teacher had walked into her classroom, where a small group of students were speculating on what occurred. She decided to talk to the students and was punished. The other teacher talked about the situation with her colleagues, as well as one student during a private conversation.”

Last November, a student at Stoughten High School (Massachusetts) was suspended for creating a swastika out of masking tape in school. However, the school has also disciplined three teachers who spoke out about the incident. One of them rescinded a letter of recommendation she had written to a  college on behalf of the student. Apparently, the school feels that the student was “targeted” by the teachers, based on complaints by his parents. The teachers are getting an outpouring of support and the school is getting a lot of criticism.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/teacher-suspended-swastika_us_5894b999e4b040613136a1af

http://stoughton.wickedlocal.com/news/20170201/fallout-continues-over-handling-of-stoughton-high-swastika

One of the teachers, Stella Martin, is also getting support from the Louis Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under the Law

http://brandeiscenter.com/news/news_full/ldb_urges_stoughton_public_schools_not_to_punish_teachers_for_speaking_out

To me, while I side with the teachers based on what I have read, there seems to be something missing in this story. Not only is the school superintendent, Marguerite Rizzi, seemingly putting the obvious issue of anti-semitism in the background, but I get the impression that there are legal considerations and political correctness going on here. I don’t want to jump to conclusions or go out on a limb, but I think there is more to this story.