(Jewish Group) Chicago teacher taking indefinite leave of absence after Nazi propaganda assignment

A teacher who had assigned eighth graders to create Nazi propaganda posters as part of a Holocaust education unit, prompting complaints from the lone Jewish student in the class and her mother, is taking an “indefinite leave of absence,” according to a letter from the school’s principal.

The social studies teacher, Tiffanie Reschke, had written a letter of apology to the student, Gladys Shelby, weeks after the incident and eight days after the Forward published an articleabout the assignment and the student’s complaint. “I am sincerely sorry that I upset Gladys,” she wrote, according to a copy of the letter shared by Gladys’s mother, Scarlett Herrin. “I have spent a lot of time reflecting on ways to improve.”

On Friday, the principal of the north side school, Eliza Chappell Elementary, sent a letter to eighth-grade parents saying Reschke would not return to the classroom after this week’s spring break, though it did not specify whether the leave would be paid or unpaid, and whether it was Reschke’s choice or the school’s requirement.

“We anticipate she will return to us before the end of the school year,” wrote the principal, Joseph Peila, “although the exact date of her return has yet to be determined.”

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