Last Tuesday, a Massachusetts Montessori school teacher instructed a classroom full of toddlers to make and wear Blackface masks as a Black History Month project, NBC10 Boston reported.
The school has since issued an apology and terminated the teacher’s employment.
The incident, which occurred at IC Kids, a Montessori school in Newton, Massachusetts, came to light after one mother, Nadira Price, learned about what happened while picking up her children. She reportedly expressed her concerns to the school and withdrew them.
In an effort to alleviate the situation, IC Kids posted an apology on Facebook. The posting received heavy criticism. Since then, the school’s social media account appears to have been deactivated, according to NBC10 Boston.
“This is unacceptable and don’t really understand the concept of this project,” Pierce told the station after also posting her complaints on social media.
“The apology received was empty and then to go onto Facebook and see that apology was disheartening. I hope this is a lesson to possibly really prepare to do projects on cultures before doing them to avoid a hurtful gesture to a group of people.”
In addition to the apology, IC Kids wrote a statement regarding the “black Mask/blackface instance” and posted it on one of the institution’s windows. It stated that the daycare and preschool is now closed until further notice due to concerns about possible protests.
“To celebrate ‘black history month’, a teacher in toddler classroom at ICKids planned and carried out an activity that involved black masks ‘blackface.’ One of the parents brought it to our attention and was offended; The teacher apologized to the parent,” the statement read.
The statement went on to address the previous Facebook apology, and confirm that the teacher responsible for the “planned and executed activity” had been “released from her employment.”
“While wording of Facebook apology was not the best statement, we were trying to send a message to say that research for toddler curriculum was not executed or completed in the manner that It should have been, so we apologize to every and anyone this may have offended,” the statement continued.
There has not been any reports of protests or demonstrations at the school.
