The sight of a Nazi flag, clearly visible through the window at a Frederick, Maryland, high school prompted scrutiny, anger, and an apology from school officials.
A photo of a flag bearing the Nazi swastika was snapped Friday evening by a woman attending a basketball game at Governor Thomas Johnson High School. A Facebook post quickly drew responses of outrage that the flag was on public display in a public school setting.
School Superintendent Daniel Lippy sent an email to the community, saying the flag is used in a World War II history class and was left hanging in the window.
“We immediately responded to the concern and removed the flag,” Lippy wrote. “We share the concerns in the community about the feelings of hatred and intolerance that the flag represents.”
Lippy said, “We have taken steps to ensure that this never occurs again.”
Frederick County Board of Education president Brad Young posted on Facebook that he’d also been told the flag was being used in a class about the second world war.
“That being said, it should have been taken down after the lesson and was in very poor taste to have been left up in a window,” Young wrote, as reported by the Frederick News-Post.
Board of education vice president Jay Mason echoed the sentiment: “The flag being left on display was not a good idea at all and unacceptable.”
School superintendent Terry Alban said in a statement: “It will be important to understand what happened and I will be following up with staff … so that we can take appropriate action.”
Nazi flag seen at Frederick school; superintendent promises ‘appropriate action’ https://t.co/WTrhdEWyHO pic.twitter.com/sKcrAfqJqg
— FOX 5 DC (@fox5dc) February 10, 2020
