Furor over swastika at elite Riverdale school

Controversy over the way an elite Riverdale school handled a student’s drawing of a swastika-like symbol has reportedly led the school to add more education about the Holocaust.

The Ethical Culture Fieldston School has reached out to Holocaust education experts to hold a series of events and will overhaul its middle school curriculum to include more information about the Holocaust, according to Rubenstein Communications, which the school hired to handle inquiries about the matter. Fieldston officials declined to answer any questions themselves.

The moves come after The New York Post reported that at an assembly, the swastika was described as a symbol of peace — overlooking its use by Nazis — after a student made a drawing resembling a swastika in a sixth-grade art class. The Post also quoted a parent who said a notebook had been found on the middle school campus with the words “Hitler rocks” written on the cover.

According to The Post, the assembly focused on the swastika’s use as a symbol denoting peace in several cultures, but barely mentioned its more recent history as a symbol of Nazism.

The Rubenstein spokesman said that while the school had some lessons that touch on the Holocaust, Fieldston educators realized they need to do more. In the short term, the school will host a series of events, including screening a documentary from the Museum of Tolerance and an assembly featuring a Holocaust survivor.

“We will use this experience to consider whether our curriculum should be enhanced to incorporate these lessons and values earlier in our students’ educational experience to ensure greater awareness and sensitivity,” Head of School Damian Hernandez and Board of Trustees Chair Caryn Seidman-Becker said in an email to parents.

The school will maintain its partnership with both the Museum of Tolerance and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which partly focus on educating people about the Holocaust and its legacy, and faculty will work with staff from the center to incorporate lessons about the Holocaust and Nazi Germany into its curriculum, the Rubenstein spokesman said.