A Georgia school district was forced to apologize following outrage from parents after it approved a new logo for an elementary school that resembled the infamous Nazi eagle crest.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Cobb County School District claimed it stopped using the new emblem for the East Side Elementary School, which is next to a synagogue, after receiving complaints that it looked suspiciously like Nazi symbolism.
After the new logo was unveiled earlier this week, parents and community people quickly demanded a modification. Local mother and rabbi Amanda Flaks expressed disbelief that the design had ever been given approval.
‘I thought, ‘That looks off. That makes me uncomfortable,’ she told WSB 2 of the moment she saw the new design. ‘I came back to it a few times and I felt more and more uncomfortable and sick each time.’
The school district claimed it was not immediately aware of the similarities and had based the design off US army symbols.
Parents, however, said the way the school’s initials were positioned on the eagle silhouette looked much too similar to the Nazi eagle crest design than any design from the US military.
The district said in a statement: ‘We understand and strongly agree that similarities to Nazi symbolism are unacceptable.
Although this design was based on the US Army colonel’s eagle wings, stakeholder input has been and continues to be important to our schools.’
