Mountain View teacher who compared Trump to Hitler back to work

Photo: DEANNE FITZMAURICE Frank Navarro, a teacher at Mountain View High School teaches a...

The Mountain View high school teacher who compared president-elect Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler and was later suspended returned to work Monday.

Frank Navarro, a Holocaust scholar who has taught at Mountain View High School for 40 years, previously told The Chronicle the school’s principal and district superintendent put him on paid leave Nov. 10 after a parent complained about parallels he drew between Trump and Hitler in his world studies class.

The superintendent, Jeff Harding, denied that Navarro’s suspension was related to a lesson comparing Trump to Hitler in a letter sent to parents Monday. Harding did not elaborate on the circumstances of the suspension in the letter, citing it as a personnel matter.

Navarro was only absent from the classroom for a “portion of one afternoon,” according to Harding.

Harding and Navarro did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

“The administrators involved were responding to a specific parent and student complaint of a serious nature,” Harding wrote in the letter. “It is our duty to investigate such a complaint to ensure the emotional safety of all of our students.”

Navarro previously denied saying directly that Trump and Hitler were one and the same, but said he described to students similarities in how both promised to eject foreigners and make their countries “great again.”

“This parent said that I had said Donald Trump was Hitler, but I would never say that,” Navarro told The Chronicle on Saturday. “That’s sloppy historical thinking.”

The school’s newspaper, the Oracle, initially published an article late last week about the investigation, leading to outrage and fears of censorship from both parents and students.

A change.org petition supporting the then-suspended history teacher had gathered more than 35,000 signatures by Monday night, calling the administration’s decision “dangerous and disgusting.”

“I understand that the headlines around this issue are stoking some of our worst fears about censorship following the recent election,” Harding wrote. “And I am very appreciative that there are parents willing to reach out and speak up for values that are important to our democracy.”

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley