Teacher Suspended for Comparing Trump to Hitler

A high school teacher in California was placed on paid leave after comparing President-elect Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler, the man responsible for the slaughter of 6 million Jewish people.

The teacher has been allowed to return to work after a brief suspension.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Mountain View High School history teacher Frank Navarro, who is described as a Holocaust scholar, reportedly made the comparison “in an effort to show students that the 2016 election is a reflection of the past.”

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A parent reportedly complained about the parallels Navarro drew, which resulted in the school’s principal and district superintendent asking him to leave on Thursday in what they described as a “time out” as they investigated the incident.

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The Chronicle notes that Principal David Grissom and Superintendent Jeff Harding made the decision to place Navarro on temporarily leave, fearing the lesson may have been inappropriate .

However, a Mountain View High alumnus reportedly started a Change.org petition two days later demanding Navarro’s leave be revoked and asking the principal to apologize “for attempting to intimidate a respected educator.”

The petition had garnered over 17,000 signatures as of Sunday evening.

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