GEORGIA, Vt. – A long serving substitute at Vermont’s Georgia Elementary & Middle School was relieved of duty last week after she allegedly led a third-grade class in a Nazi salute as they marched to lunch.

“The children were standing with their arm out in front of them and the teacher was modeling the position,” Franklin West Supervisory Union Superintendent Ned Kirsch wrote in a letter to parents on Thursday, according to Seven Days.  “She then raised her arm slightly and said, ‘And now we say Heil Hitler.’”

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Kirsch wrote that the incident involving the unidentified “long-term substitute” occurred as he led students to the cafeteria.

“I’m at a loss on the whole thing,” Kirsch told the news site Friday. “People are shocked. People I’ve spoken to are at a loss for words.”

Kirsch wrote that the female teacher was “immediately relieved” and banned from teaching in the school ever again. The substitute was covering for a teacher out on maternity leave that was scheduled back on Monday, he said, adding that school officials have never had an issue with the substitute in the past.

“It’s not a pattern; (I) never had a report about her, nothing,” he told Seven Days. “No one can quite understand what happened.”

Kirsch would not discuss the teacher’s motivation for the Nazi salute lesson with WCAX.

“Parents we spoke with Friday morning hadn’t heard about the incident, which at the time we had not yet confirmed. A number of those parents got on the phone and called the school,” the television station reports. “They were told an incident did take place but that the school had taken care of it.”

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The salute was allegedly witnessed by a parent from the school’s parking lot, and the parent immediately contacted the office. The substitute allegedly admitted to the salute session.

Kirsch told the Milton Independent that school principal Steve Emery and guidance counselor Mike Malinosky spoke with students involved in the incident on Friday to ensure they “are feeling safe and secure.”

“They all seem fine today,” he said Friday. “Most of the kids – they’re in third grade, I don’t know if it really registered like it might have for an older kid.”

The superintendent also assured parents in his letter that officials “are dedicated to ensuring a safe learning environment for all students and families.”

“This incident was completely unacceptable, and I apologize,” Kirsch wrote.

“We have an amazing community,” he told the Independent. “This isn’t Georgia.”