Massachusetts teacher fired, school closed indefinitely, after “blackface” project

A Montessori school in Massachusetts has closed indefinitely after a school project has caused controversy.

IC Kids of Newton had toddlers put paper plates on their face last week that had been painted black and then posted the photos on social media to celebrate Black History Month.

The school initially issued an apology after the uproar from parents and the public.

“To all who are offended, we sincerely apologize for what happened with one of our classroom activities: black face. Our intention was to celebrate Black History Month. Unfortunately, we didn’t do enough research on black history and carried out a wrong activity. We are sorry about it and we mean it!”

The apology then caused more complaints from parents feeling that the apology wasn’t sincere.

NBC 10 Boston obtained a statement the school left on their front door which reads as follows.

“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.

“Director was aware of said incident which occurred on Feb 8 and this was immediately addressed. The activity was removed from the classroom and the teacher reprimanded for such actions. Management was made aware of activity circulating social media by a parent who brought it to our attention on Feb 11, 2022 that “black face” associated with the daycare was going around on Facebook.

“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 staff member who planned and executed the activity has since been released from her employment at IC Kids. Hearing of protests happening at the center will put the children and staff at risk. We are forced to close the ICKids daycare at this time for safety concerns.”