A Georgia school was forced to scrap its newly redesigned logo after complaints that it resembled a German wartime symbol.
The Cobb County School District in Georgia, USA, backed down on a new logo for its East Side Elementary School featuring an eagle design, after parents and local Jewish groups complained it resembled to a Nazi”war eagle» symbol.
“The implementation of this logo has been stopped and we are immediately reviewing the necessary changes.the district said in a statement released Tuesday. “We fully understand and agree that similarities to Nazi symbolism are unacceptable. While this design was based on the US Army colonel’s eagle wings, stakeholder input has been and continues to be important to our schools.”
The district added that it would be “immediately review the necessary changes” to design.
The offending logo featured a stylized gray eagle with the letters ES contained in a hexagon within its body, along with the school’s founding year of 1952 and its location in Marietta, Georgia. The district originally posted the images with the explanation that the logo was “chosen to represent the Eagle soaring toward excellence and to honor the history of our great school!”
The Cobb County School District said Tuesday it has halted the rollout of East Side Elementary School’s new logo after critics said it resembles Nazi imagery and is offensive. https://t.co/p0g7NKFKap
— Atlanta Journal-Constitution (@ajc) July 20, 2022
East Side mother Stacy Efrat, who is Jewish, told local media that she wanted the school to not only get rid of the logo, but to issue a “direct apology to our community. Not just the Jewish community but the entire community..” The school mustapologize immediately and delete” the offending logo, as well as admitting its similarity to the Nazi war eagle, he said.
The rabbi and another East Side mother, Amanda Flaks, told local media that she was “very hurt on many levels” for the redesigned school emblem and called the principal demanding an apology, which she received. The school also sent him pictures of what the new East Side Elementary logo was supposed to be based on.
The Nazi war eagle emblem also features a stylized eagle facing to the right. However, instead of the letters ES inside its body, the bird has a swastika on its claws. The colonel’s wings have a slightly more rounded design than the Nazi or East Side version, with individual feathers and other details not found on the school district’s canceled new symbol.
Cobb County schools have recently seen an increase in students flirting with Nazi imagery. A group of high school students were disciplined after they were seen making fascist salutes and sporting homemade armbands on social media earlier this year. Last year, a student vandalized a bathroom at Pope High School with swastikas and the (misspelled) phrase ‘Hail Hitler.