The redesign depicted an eagle above a hexagon with the letters “ES” inside, a design the district says was inspired by the eagle wings of a US Army colonel. “The new logo and marks were chosen to represent the Eagle soaring in excellence and honor the history of our great school,” reads the email to parents obtained by CNN. However, some parents took to social media to express their alarm at the design’s resemblance to a Nazi symbol depicting an eagle over a swastika. The 1920s Nazi Eagle emblem was developed by the Nazi Party in Germany and later appropriated by neo-Nazis and other white supremacists with different variations, according to the Anti-Defamation League. “We don’t want our kids to go to a school where the logo is a Nazi symbol,” parent Stacey Efrat told CNN. A mother of three, Efrat’s family is Jewish and one of her children is a second grader at the school. She learned about the logo after seeing the backlash online from others in the community and expressed her frustration on social media. “I looked at the email and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that logo looks like the Nazi symbol,’” Efrat said. “How could this happen? I couldn’t understand it, really. I still don’t understand how it happened.” Rabbi Amanda Flaks, another parent at the school, also expressed disbelief at how the logo was approved. “Among the staff, the graphic designers, the board members, whoever approved this image, I can’t imagine that there wasn’t at least one person who didn’t see what the rest of the community has seen as much as what this image evokes for so many from us,” Flax said. Flax said she and her husband immediately felt uncomfortable after seeing the new logo in the email and contacted the principal. “It reopens the wounds that many students and families carry around all the time,” Flax said of the redesign. “I think anti-Semitism or microaggressions are just part of everyday life in a Jewish community. But when it comes from our public institutions, it hurts even more.” After the backlash, the school’s principal sent an email to parents, obtained by CNN, saying they “have paused to consider these comments” and the logo is being reviewed. A spokesperson for the Cobb County School District confirmed that the rollout of the logo has stopped in an email to CNN. “This logo has been discontinued and we are immediately considering any necessary changes,” a district spokesperson told CNN in an emailed statement. “We fully understand and agree that similarities to Nazi symbolism are unacceptable. Although this design was based on the eagle wings of a US Army colonel, stakeholder input was and continues to be important to our schools.” For some parents, like Efrat, the district’s response wasn’t enough. “I don’t know where the apology is. And why are we stopping to reconsider? That sounds like you’re not sure what you’re going to do,” Efrat said. Flax also pointed out that modeling a school logo after military insignia was inappropriate in the first place. “It’s a public elementary school. Why are military insignia used to design a new logo? It’s not a military academy,” Flax said. “The colloquial recognition of this image for many people, within the Jewish community and outside the Jewish community, at first glance is a Nazi image.”
“Education is the way to attack this issue”
Georgia saw a 133 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in 2021, or 49 incidents in 2021 compared to 21 the previous year, according to data from the Anti-Defamation League, which includes both criminal and non-criminal incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault. The elementary school is across the street from a synagogue, Congregation Etz Chaim, which reached out to the principal after hearing from several upset members who are parents at the school, according to synagogue executive director Marty Gilbert. “Parents, and rightfully so, are very upset about this,” Gilbert said. “It’s just another example that anti-Semitism still exists. And people may not know all the Nazi symbols and they may not know all the different things that will upset people, but we need to be aware of that.” American Jewish advocacy groups also spoke out against the logo and called for more Holocaust education. “Regardless of intent, Cobb County Schools should have realized that the new logo for East Side Elementary bears a striking and uncomfortable resemblance to the Nazi eagle,” the American Jewish Committee said in a Tuesday Facebook post. “This just makes clear the urgent need for comprehensive Holocaust education at all levels.” The Anti-Defamation League also contacted the school and the Cobb County School District about the matter, the organization’s Southeast Regional Director Eytan Davidson told CNN. “We applaud the pause on the East Side Elementary School logo redesign,” Davidson said in an emailed statement. “While in our estimation, the new proposed design is not a Nazi symbol, it is necessary to listen to the concerns of community members, especially considering the huge increase in reported hate crimes and anti-Semitic incidents in the state and region.” The logo is the latest controversy linked to anti-Semitism in Cobb County School District schools. In September of last year, “Hail (sic) Hitler” swastikas and graffiti were found on the walls of two Marietta schools: Alan C. Pope Middle School and Lassiter High School. “There have definitely been increases in anti-Semitic incidents over the last five years or so,” Gilbert said. “And it’s definitely something we have to be vigilant about. But I think the more people are educated and informed, that’s the way to attack this issue.”
