A private school in metro Detroit is facing backlash after it assigned a worksheet that compared former President Barack Obama to monkeys.
Earlier this month, a high school biology class at The Roeper School in Birmingham was asked to identify “endangered” primate species. The former president’s photo was among the photos of primates listed on the assignment, which was entitled “An Introduction to Primates.”
Roeper is the nation’s oldest K-12 school for gifted children, according to FOX 2 News in Detroit. The outlet obtained a photo of the assignment from someone in the school’s community who was flabbergasted by the racist assignment. According to the local news station, the worksheet came from a teacher.
“We are aware of the lesson taught and continue to review the incident,” a spokesperson for the school said in a statement Tuesday (May 17). “We are not providing additional information out of respect for the privacy of our community members.”
The school released a statement to the Michigan Chronicle on the matter:
“On behalf of Roeper School’s leadership, we want to acknowledge the disturbing racial offense contained in an assignment with an upper school class last week,” the statement read. “The choice to use this piece of curriculum was completely inconsistent with our school’s philosophy and mission and we sincerely apologize for its use and the harm it has caused. While the teacher has taken responsibility and admits the mistake of not properly vetting the resource, we know that is not enough and she has been placed on administrative leave until further notice.”
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