Name of California Schools Official Who Proposed "Did the Holocaust Really Happen?" as a Debating Topic for His 8th Graders: Mohammad Z Islam

What does the "Z" stand for? Zealous? Zany? Zion-loathing? We may never know. We do know, however, that Charles C W Cooke of the National Review thought it a topping topic for debate, and that Laura Rosen Cohen and Mark Steyn do not. Here's Steyn on the subject:

The California schools superintendent who wanted his Eighth Graders to turn in essays arguing that the Holocaust didn't happen is called Mohammad Z Islam. That's why they got the assignment, not because they wanted to turn themselves into the Oxford Union. As Laura Rosen Cohen pointed out, there are all kinds of lively topics Mr Cooke might propose for our schools: Did Mohammed exist? What's the deal with his nine-year-old bride? But in the real world even mild questioning of whether Islam is a "religion of peace" is beyond the pale, and across the Continent the Holocaust is disappearing from school curricula.

In its place, let's all do the interfaith fandango (because all religions are more or less the same, right?).