Since last spring, talk of masks, vaccines and mandates has dominated Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District Board Eduction meetings.
Once calm, education-centered proceedings have become extremely contentious as angry parents aggressively express opinions and demand changes the board does not have the authority to make.
The board members should be commended for their patience and efforts to manage the crowd while respecting everyone’s right to free speech.
However, the board members should not permit cruel, inflammatory and ill-informed comments about the Holocaust to go unchallenged.
At the Feb. 1 board meeting, a parent crossed the line of decency by comparing COVID protocols to the Holocaust (1:15:08 on the meeting video). The board members and the superintendent of schools did not address the comment, so I will.
Invoking the Holocaust to justify an opinion about masking, vaccinating or quarantining children is just plain wrong. It should not be tolerated.
Distorting the evils of the Holocaust to make a point is disgraceful and morally reprehensible.
The deportation of Jews to their deaths by a totalitarian, racist, anti-Semitic regime stands as an unmatched horror in modern history.
To equate the inconveniences of public health measures intended to save lives during a pandemic with the suffering of those who experienced the Holocaust is inappropriate, ignorant and demeaning.
With the frightening rise in anti-Semitism, we need to call out shameful Holocaust comparisons, racism and ignorance whenever possible.
The school board members may be required to let parents speak, but they should not remain silent about everything that is said.
Robin Nowicki
Manalapan
