Students Told To Make Slavery Escape A Game In Ashburn

ASHBURN, VA—Earlier this month, parents of children at Madison's Trust Elementary School on 42380 Creighton Road in the Brambleton community received quite the disheartening missive from the school's principal. Seems students in the fourth, fifth and six grade had been instructed to pretend a gym class obstacle course exercise represented the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes slaves used to escape into free states.

"The lesson," principal David Stewart said in the letter that followed a school board meeting, "was culturally insensitive to our students and families (and) I extend my sincerest apology to our students and community." Stewart, according to the Loudoun Times-Mirror, later said the material will be re-taught to students, and that the school plans to form an advisory committee of parents and staff to prevent repeat occurrences of such things.

Michelle Thomas, president of the NAACP's Loudoun chapter, told BuzzFeed News that "(slavery) was never a game, and it should never be taken lightly. It's sickening (and) racist."

Loudoun County Schools spokesman Wayne Byard told the Washington Post the exercise followed a lecture about the Underground Railroad. Students were divided into groups of six and were told to overcome physical obstacles such as moving through plastic hoops without disturbing them.

"It trivializes something that is important," he said, adding that slavery is not a game.

Thomas, a pastor, said she initially heard about the class Feb. 5 when the parents of a black student said he told them had played a runaway slave in class.

Byard said privacy laws prevented releasing any information about whether the teacher or teachers were disciplined.