Rialto Unified School Board meeting
Oyuky Barragan, 14, an eighth-grader in the Rialto Unified School District, said she didn’t think it was appropriate to make students question whether the Holocaust really happened. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Rialto School Board President Joanne Gilbert listens to public comment at an emergency meeting after eighth-graders were assigned to write an essay on whether the Holocaust happened. The assignment has been pulled. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Every seat was taken for the Rialto Unified School Board meeting on the Holocaust assignment. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Interim Rialto School Supt. Mohammad Z. Islam, listening to public comment during the emergency meeting, was unaware of the Holocaust assignment’s topic until school officials received an email about it, a district spokeswoman said. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Rialto teachers Michaeline Rentz, middle, and Hillel Schrier, right, were among those attending the emergency meeting. Teachers helped develop the Holocaust assignment, intended to help students think critically. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)