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 A history teacher at Mountain View High School has been placed on paid leave after drawing parallels between Republican President-elect Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler in his lesson plan. 
 
 Frank Navarro, who’s taught at the school for 40 years, was asked to leave midday Thursday after a parent sent an email to the school expressing concerns about statements Navarro made in class. Mountain View/Los Altos High School District Superintendent Jeff Harding confirmed the incident Friday but declined to describe the parent’s complaints. 
 
 Navarro, an expert on the Holocaust, said school officials declined to read him the email and also declined his request to review the lesson plan with him. 
 
 “This feels like we’re trying to squash free speech,” he said. “Everything I talk about is factually based. They can go and check it out. “It’s not propaganda or bias if it’s based on hard facts.” 
 
 Though Navarro said school officials originally told him to return on Wednesday, Harding said he could return as early as Monday. 
 
 “We are interested in getting Frank back in the classroom…we’re just trying to maintain our due diligence,” he said. “We have a heightened emotional environment right now with the election. It’s always a challenge to maintain a line in a classroom.” 
 
 Tensions have run high throughout the Bay Area after Trump’s victory, with many protesting in the streets and hundreds of students staging walkouts. Navarro’s suspension came on the same day Milpitas High School Principal Phil Morales was placed on administrative leave for using a profanity about the president-elect during a student walkout in protest of Trump. 
 
 Though he said he regretted the language he used, Morales stood by his actions and said he would continue advocating for his students. 
 
 The Oracle, Mountain View High’s independent student newspaper, said some of Navarro’s students alleged his lessons were one-sided and that Navarro said things about Trump that his supporters would find offensive. Other students defended Navarro. A change.org petition calling for his return had more than 1,200 signatures as of Friday evening. 
 
 Meanwhile Navarro, who also teaches special education, argues his lesson plan was not based on personal opinion, but historical facts. The 65-year-old was named a Mandel Fellow for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1997 and has studied at the International Center for the Study of the Holocaust in Jerusalem. Hitler’s persecution of Jews and rise to power has “remarkable parallels” to Trump’s comments on Latinos, Blacks and Muslims in his own bid for power, he said. 
 
 “I said (to school officials), ‘I’m not pulling these facts out of my hat. It’s based on experience and work and if I’m wrong, show we where I’m wrong.’ And there was silence,” he said. 
 
 Navarro, who is Mexican-American and was raised in Oakland, said he’s concerned for many of his students during this political climate. 
 
 “I’ve had Mexican kids come and say, ‘Hey, Mr. Navarro, I might be deported,'” he said. 
 
 “Is it better to see bigotry and say nothing? That’s what the principal was telling me (during our conversation). In my silence, I would be substantiating the bigotry.” ||||| A Bay Area high school teacher was put on paid administrative leave this week after comparing President-elect Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. 
 
 Frank Navarro, a history and special education teacher at Mountain View High School, was asked to leave during school hours on Thursday after the administration received an email from a parent concerned about statements he made in class, the Mercury News reported. 
 
 Navarro, who has taught at the school for 40 years, told the Mercury News that his lesson plan was based on historical fact and that Hitler’s persecution of Jews and rise to power has “remarkable parallels” to the president-elect’s statements about Latinos, Muslims and African Americans during his bid for the presidency. 
 
 He said he told school officials: “I’m not pulling these facts out of my hat. It’s based on experience and work, and if I’m wrong, show me where I’m wrong. And then there was silence,” the Mercury News reported. 
 
 Navarro is an expert on the Holocaust. He was named a Mandel Fellow for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1997 and has studied at the International Center for the Study of the Holocaust in Jerusalem. 
 
 Navarro also is Mexican American, according to the Mercury News, and has had Latino students come up to him and say they worry they will be deported because of Trump. 
 
 Mountain View-Los Altos High School District administrators said Navarro was placed on leave until Wednesday but could possibly return as soon as Monday. During the presidential campaign, Trump called for a wall to be built along the U.S.-Mexican border, an increase in deportations of people in the country illegally and a ban on Muslims from entering the U.S. 
 
 In an interview with Mountain View High School’s student newspaper, the Oracle, Navarro said he made connections between Trump and Hitler but did not equate them. 
 
 A senior in Navarro’s Civics and Economics class told the Oracle that Navarro asked students to find racist quotes from Trump and read them aloud. 
 
 “I do agree with some of [Trump’s] policies, and when I try to talk about it, [Navarro] just told me to shut up or said something super rude,” the student told the Oracle. 
 
 Navarro denied telling any students to shut up. 
 
 A change.org petition calling for Navarro’s return had more than 6,700 signatures as of Sunday morning. 
 
 Navarro’s suspension came on the same day another Bay Area high school administrator was placed on leave for comments about Trump. 
 
 Milpitas High School Principal Phil Morales was placed on leave for shouting expletives about Trump during a walkout of about 250 students protesting the president-elect, according to the Mercury News. 
 
 Morales shouted, “… Donald Trump” in a speech recorded by a student and shared on Twitter. Morales told the Mercury News that as a Latino, he was scared by Trump. 
 
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 hailey.branson@latimes.com 
 
 Twitter: @haileybranson
– A California high school teacher is on administrative leave after a parent complained about him drawing parallels between Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler. Frank Navarro, a recognized academic expert on the Holocaust at Mountain View High School, tells the Oracle student newspaper that he was not equating Trump with Hitler. But he said Hitler's persecution of Jews has "remarkable parallels" to Trump's views on Latinos, African-Americans, and Muslims, reports the San Jose Mercury News. "I’m not pulling these facts out of my hat," Navarro says he told school officials. "It’s based on experience and work, and if I’m wrong, show me where I’m wrong." Mountain View/Los Altos High School District Superintendent Jeff Harding says the district is exercising extra caution in the charged post-election atmosphere. “We are interested in getting Frank back in the classroom. ... We're just trying to maintain our due diligence." One student tells the school newspaper that he tried to offer a counter-argument in class, but Navarro told him to "shut up," a claim Navarro denies. The Los Angeles Times notes that Navarro was named a Mandel fellow for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and has taught at Mountain View for more than 40 years.