The principal of Houston's top private school has stepped down after the education institution got caught in a scandal over a student's Palestine poster.
Jonathan Eades had been leading the Kinkaid School since 2020, but on Wednesday, he quit the role, which had a salary of $500,000.
Although the educator said he was 'under no duress or pressure to resign,' his farewell comes after the school was blasted online by activist group Stop Antisemitism over a student's Palestine poster, the Houston Chronicle reported.
An unidentified student displayed the poster, which featured the Palestinian flag and information about subjects such as local foods, at the school's Culture Fest on March 31.
The school has been hosting the event since the early 2000s, the outlet reported.
'I am proud of the well-defined legacy I will leave behind,' Eades wrote in a letter to students and faculty.
'Simply said, I’m leaving Kinkaid better than I found it.'
Stop Antisemitism took issue with the student's poster, which showed the 1946 map of Palestine, before the UN's partition plan to establish Israel after World War II. Israel declared itself a state in 1948, with the US being the first country to recognize it.
Jonathan Eades stepped from his role at Kinkaid School in Houston on Wednesday
His farewell comes after the school was blasted online by activist group Stop Antisemitism over a student's Palestine poster
'At its school-wide Culture Fest on March 31, Kinkaid permitted a "Palestine" booth displaying a map that erased the world’s only Jewish state, Israel,' the nonprofit wrote on X.
'Not only was this anti-Israel, anti-Jewish propaganda allowed, it was rewarded. A faculty committee awarded the booth second place!' it claimed.
It went on to say the school was 'failing its Jewish students.'
In a statement to students after the controversy, Eades said the school 'will not tolerate antisemitism.'
'These posts and their associated comments go against everything that Kinkaid stands for and how we teach our students civil discourse,' he wrote.
He pushed back on Stop Antisemitism's claims that the school showed a lack of responsibility, stating: 'Nothing could be further from the truth.'
The nonprofit had been tipped off about the poster by 'concerned parents and community members,' it told the Houston Chronicle.
The school has hosted Culture Fest since the early 2000s. In a statement to students after the controversy, Eades said the school 'will not tolerate antisemitism'
Texas Senator Ted Cruz also weighed in, writing on X: 'This is deeply disappointing.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to the school for comment.
Eades joined the school in 2020 from San Antonio's St Mary's Hall. He led the school through the pandemic, a student suicide, the death of two other students, and the floods that devastated Kerr County.
He also helped fundraise $200million for the school to help modernize its facilities. It was the largest fundraising event in the school's history.
The Board of Trustees accepted his resignation, saying in a statement that the educator left for 'personal reasons.'