The incident happened at the Georgia Elementary & Middle School on Thursday, a school with around 650 students in Georgia, Vermont. While a long-term Substitute Teacher was speaking with her third-grade students after class and on the way to the school cafeteria, she demonstrated the controversial Nazi Salute, leading to her instantly losing her job. The school district is shocked at the incident, saying there is nothing in the teacher’s long history with the school to point to this kind of behavior in the past.

Teacher demonstrates Nazi salute

As reported by the New York Daily News, Ned Kirsch, the Franklin West Supervisory Union Superintendent, wrote in a letter to parents that the teacher was a regular substitute at the school and was talking to her students on the way to the cafeteria.

Suddenly the students were seen to be standing with one arm raised in front of them, while the substitute teacher was seen to be demonstrating the Hitler Salute position. Kirsch said the teacher then raised her arm a little more, saying the words, “And now we say, Heil Hitler."

School authorities at ‘at a loss for words’

Seven Days quotes Kirsch as telling them on Friday that he was “at a loss” about the whole incident. Declining to identify the substitute teacher involved in the Nazi salute incident, he said everyone at the school is shocked and that people he has spoken to about the incident are also totally “at a loss for words.”

Kirsch said the substitute teacher confessed to making the salute and saying the controversial words before she was immediately fired by the school.

He added the teacher had substituted at the school for several years and that nothing like this had occurred in the past. He said there was no pattern to the behavior and he had never received any kind of report about the teacher, adding that no one understands what happened. The unidentified teacher had reportedly been substituting for a teacher who was on maternity leave and who returns to work Monday.

Teacher’s behavior ‘completely unacceptable’

Kirsch told parents that the principal, along with a guidance counselor, was visiting the class on Friday to speak to the students.

He said that the school is dedicated to making sure that the students and their families have a safe learning environment. Kirsch added that the incident with the substitute teacher was “completely unacceptable” and apologized to parents.
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