A Lexington middle school principal apologized after some Arab, Muslim, Palestinian and Lebanese students and families objected to a lesson about the Holocaust and antisemitism.
William Diamond Middle School Principal Johnny Cole sent the apology letter to families after some people objected to the lesson.
The lesson was taught to seventh-grade students.
The Holocaust was the genocide of about 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II.
In the letter, Cole said some students felt their own history, identity or community had been "left out or erased" by the lesson.
"We are working ... to build something better – a way of learning about hate, prejudice, and justice that includes all of our communities and all of our histories," Cole wrote.
The social media account StopAntisemitism also posted screenshots of the letter and criticized the school.
Critics say schools should teach students about the Holocaust without acting as if learning about the genocide harmed other groups of students.
"Since when is teaching historical fact something that requires an apology?" the StopAntisemitism X account wrote. "And why is a school principal validating outrage over Holocaust education instead of defending it?"
Hot Air columnist David Strom added, "How, exactly, teaching about a historical event of tremendous significance erases the history of other historical events is unclear to me."
Diamond Middle School dealt with antisemitic and racist graffiti earlier in the school year, according to the Lexington Observer.
The graffiti included a neo-Nazi symbol and a racist anti-black slur.
The Lexington Public Schools district has not announced any plans to stop teaching students about the Holocaust.
But the apology raises a basic question.
Why would a Massachusetts public school apologize for teaching seventh-graders about the Holocaust — one of the worst crimes in human history, carried out by the Nazi regime that caused the deadliest war the world has ever seen?