Elementary school teachers spark outrage after dressing up as Trump’s border wall for Halloween

MIDDLETON, IDAHO — The superintendent of the Middleton School District in Idaho was making the apology rounds this Friday morning after a group of teachers dressed up as President Trump’s border wall for Halloween, a local NBC affiliate reported.

Teachers at Heights Elementary School posted pictures to the school’s Facebook page showing them posing behind pieces of cardboard painted to look like bricks with the words “Make America Great Again” emblazoned across the front. Other pictures showed them dressed up as Mexican stereotypes. The pictures have since been deleted, but not before people took screenshots and circulated them around the internet.

On Friday morning, Superintendent Dr. Josh Middleton posted a video to Facebook apologizing for the incident, saying that the matter was under investigation by the district.

“I was shown those photos and was deeply troubled by the decision by our staff members to wear those costumes that are clearly insensitive and inappropriate,” Middleton said. “Our time right now is going to be devoted to investigating those events and those poor decisions that were made.

Via WCNC

“I want to say that we are better than this,” he continued. “We embrace all students, we have a responsibility to teach and reach all students, period.”

The teachers who wore the costumes have not yet been publicly identified. In one photo, a woman can be seen wearing a sombrero with the word “Mexican” emblazoned across the front. It’s not yet known what kind of discipline, if any, the teachers will face.

As WCNC points out, about 9.5 percent of Middeton’s population of around 7,400 people are of Hispanic or Latino origin.

According to the superintendent, he didn’t think there was any “malicious intent” in what the teachers did.

“Was there a poor judgment involved? Absolutely,” he declared.

“Now our work begins in looking into this matter and learning from this and changing, and again, being the school we can be, the school district we know we can be, rather than what was displayed on Thursday.”

Watch KTVB.com’s report on the story below:

Featured image via WCNC

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.