Toronto, North York, ON – students at a Toronto public elementary school have performed the Hitler salute in class, this time targeting a Jewish teacher in a Grade 6 classroom.
The latest incident occurred Thursday at Pleasant Public School in North York, Ont. The victim, a substitute teacher who regularly works at the school, was approached in the classroom by two male students who performed the salute and kept their arms raised for a lengthy period despite the teacher’s request to stop.
teacher with 12 years experience said the way she views “her career” and “education in the Toronto District School Board” has changed after she was subjected to the “Nazi salute” by two Grade 6 students on Thursday.
The 35-year-old who asked that Global News identify her only by her first name, Sarah, said she was substituting at Pleasant Avenue Public School, in a classroom with children she had taught before, when two 12-year-old boys performed the salute and left their hands up for a long time. She said she had no idea they knew she was Jewish.
“I had to just immediately walk out of the classroom. I could no longer be in that environment,” the teacher told Global News. “At that moment in the classroom, I mentioned ‘your hands are up in an interesting position and a very long time.’ I was not sure, ‘do I scold these children right now? I’m thinking at that moment, I’m feeling so hurt inside, I can’t even act or know what to do in that situation.”
Last week, a similar outrage occurred at Valley Park Middle School, which is also part of the TDSB and describes itself as “Canada’s largest middle school.” On that occasion, three Grade 8 students surrounded a Jewish teacher, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, and performed the Hitler salute. Antisemitic graffiti was also found at the school.
