Newton School Closed Indefinitely After Allowing Blackface

NEWTON, MA — A Newton Montessori school has closed indefinitely after parents learned the school allowed young children to make and wear blackface masks as a project during Black History Month.

The Montessori school says the closure is due to ongoing protests and "safety concerns" at the school, saying the "children are at risk." It is closing the day care, adding that "families will be provided with a list of child care centers in the area so that they can immediately receive care for their child/children."

This closure follows what some parents called a "half-hearted apology" from the school, starting with the phrase: "To all who are offended..." on its recently removed Facebook page.

"THIS is not an apology," one person wrote. "'To all who are offended' is not having accountability for the school's actions. 'We are sorry about it and we mean it!' -- You were better off addressing it at all."

The incident, which occurred in a classroom last Tuesday, involved a teacher having toddlers make faces on paper plates using black paint. The school came under fire after it posted photos of the "activity" to its now-deleted Facebook page.

Patch has reached out to the school for comment.

Following the Facebook post, the school posted a statement to its window, which NBC10 obtained a picture of.

"To celebrate 'black history month', a teacher in toddler classroom at ICKids planned and carried out an activity that involved black masks 'blackface,'" the statement reads. "One of the parents brought it to our attention and was offended; The teacher apologized to the parent."

The statement also acknowledged the original Facebook apology: "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 school said.

The teacher responsible for the incident has also been "released from her employment," the statement said, but there is a possibility the school could reopen its doors.

"In the event that we reopen our doors all staff will be trained in Diversity and creating curriculum for the birth to 5-year-old age group," that statement said. "We would also aim high for a more diverse staff with strong child care background knowledge and experience. Multicultural issues in child care and other mandated professional development will be done continuously through the year."