Brooklyn Principal Invokes Nazis And MLK In Letter To Parents About State Testing

CARROLL GARDENS, BROOKLYN — The Department of Education is reviewing a letter written to parents by a Brooklyn principal that evoked President Trump's administration, the Nazis and Martin Luther King in backing her school's stance against standardized testing.

Brooklyn New School Principal Anna Allanbrook also suggests politics has become central to the classroom. The letter was first reported by the New York Daily News.

"Educators in the public schools are told not to talk about anything political," she wrote. "This puts us in somewhat of a bind as in the last twenty years, politicians have made school performance a political issue."

The letter adds: "This year, the opt out movement may not seem that important. Somehow what has happened nationally is more frightening and certainly more destructive than six days of standardized testing."

Allanbrook said the school chose to opt out of the tests because she's seen "children banging their heads, children throwing up, children crying."

Allanbrook opened the letter — published on the school's website Monday — by quoting King.

“When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered,” she wrote.

She then describes her experience "as the daughter of someone born in Vienna, Austria in 1924," the need to resist the Nazis with the need to stand against modern day policies.

"It is not the nineteen thirties, but it is worth remembering the years of my dad’s childhood when it was decided that he and other Jewish children would no longer be allowed to go to school with the Gentiles," she says later in the letter.

"That was not normal, and resistance did happen. As policies that are not normal are implemented today, we need to stand together as educators to do what is right for our kids."

The Department of Education said that District 15 Superintendent Anita Skop is reviewing the letter.

The school's PTA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

You can read her letter in full here.

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