Teaching about the Holocaust should be a non-negotiable thing in the public education system, not just because it’s important to learn history for history’s sake, but also because students need to learn from the past, which hopefully will ensure the horrible parts of it never happen again.

While Holocaust history is indeed taught in the Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) system, Cooper Middle School has given parents of students the option to opt them out of attending a presentation to be made by a Holocaust survivor on Monday, March 18th on grounds that “We understand that all students have different experiences.”

Adele Scalia, a former attorney who is the wife of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s son, Christopher, posted on Twitter Thursday about an email she received from their son’s school regarding the upcoming presentation:

A Holocaust survivor is coming to speak to my son’s 7th grade History class on Monday. Wonderful. What’s less than wonderful, though, is the opt-out for this lesson because “We understand that all students have different experiences.”
What does that even mean? pic.twitter.com/FEDldcu1hi

— Adele Scalia (@AdeleScalia) March 14, 2024

If the email had said “We understand that some students are very sensitive and Mrs. X’s stories may be disturbing and traumatizing to them…” I would have given the benefit of the doubt. But it didn’t and so I am drawing different, less charitable (but more likely) conclusions.

— Adele Scalia (@AdeleScalia) March 15, 2024

Incredibly, when contacted for comment, a spokesperson for the FCPS issued the following statement claiming it was actually done so Jewish students who might have felt uncomfortable sitting through the presentation didn’t have to:

“Some Jewish students have previously expressed discomfort while engaging in dialogue around this visit. For that reason, school leadership makes every effort to partner with families of these students, who are 12 and 13 years old, to keep them informed,” the statement read. “This opt-out allows the family the opportunity to make the best informed decision on behalf of their student.”

That is, however, hard to believe considering not only Fairfax County’s notorious woke history but also because it has become a “hotbed of Muslim extremism” according to The Daily Wire:

Fairfax County contains a hotbed of Muslim extremism. A mosque there, attended by several 9/11 hijackers as well as the Fort Hood terrorist, was presided over by the father of Abrar Omeish, who until this year was a member of the Fairfax County school board. Omeish voted against an FCPS resolution offering a moment of silence for victims of 9/11 and another for victims of October’s Hamas attacks on Israel, said the decisive World War II victor at Iwo Jima was “unfortunate,” and gave a graduation speech encouraging students to “remember your jihad” and reject capitalism.

Jennifer Katz, a founding member of United Against Anti-Semitism and a Jewish parent of two FCPS students, told The Daily Wire that hearing from a Holocaust survivor is supposed to be emotionally difficult, and is part of gaining a full understanding of the tragedy.

After Scalia posted about her experience, others weighed in with similar stories:

My kids’ school does an 8th grade trip to DC every year for the entire grade. They removed the Holocaust Museum from the schedule permanently because….parents complained. 💔

— Stacey E. Burke (@StaceyEBurke) March 15, 2024

Ugh. My kid’s teacher said something like “No genocide is worse than any other genocide” in their discussion of the Holocaust.

— Twice-Killed Catherine ✡️ (@2xKildCatherine) March 14, 2024

Fairfax County allows children to opt out of Holocaust education.

Children cannot opt out of slavery or civil war education in Fairfax.

This is also the same county that announced they will be suspending students for using the wrong pronouns for trans classmates. https://t.co/c58HWWobse

— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) March 15, 2024

Others wondered what would happen if there were opt-out options for other types of presentations:

Imagine if the school had a civil rights figure come give a talk and offered to let kids opt-out because the students “have different experience”… https://t.co/DOt8AQUSwG

— AG (@AGHamilton29) March 15, 2024

If you’re keeping score at home:

Parents opting out of drag queen story time: bad.

Out of hearing from a Holocaust survivor: “Different experiences”#Priorities https://t.co/1Xfh3Tq2Xd

— Mitch “The Wałęsa Project” Berg 🇺🇸 (@mitchpberg) March 15, 2024

The world has gone crazy. It truly has.

— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —

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