A preschool in Florida is facing backlash from the NAACP, which alleged that a 2-year-old Black girl was made to participate in a “racially unethical” Rosa Parks role play.
The incident happened on Dec. 1, when a class of 2 and 3-year-old children were learning about civil rights activist Rosa Parks, said a spokesperson at Building Brains Academy, a minority-owned and operated preschool in Osceola, Florida. The girl, who the NAACP alleged was the only Black student in the class, played Parks during a reenactment of her arrest for refusing to give up her seat at the front of a segregated bus.
Photos of the reenactment were shared to the class’ parents, which show the girl standing with her hands behind her back in one image, and being “fingerprinted” by a peer with paint, according to the preschool’s spokesperson.
The girl’s parents pulled her out of Building Brains Academy within 30 minutes of seeing the images, telling NBC Florida affiliate WESH that they were horrified. Then, they reached out to the NAACP.
“We consider the activity an inappropriate trivialization of a significant historical event, insensitive to the struggles against segregation, and psychologically harmful to all students involved, especially Black students reenacting such a traumatic moment in American history,” the NAACP wrote in a letter to the school.
In a press release, the NAACP alleged that the girl was handcuffed and fingerprinted by a White peer. But the preschool’s spokesperson Sandi Poreda said the peer was not White, and that no restraints of any kind were actually used.
“The photos of the class activity do not offer a complete or accurate representation of the full lesson about the importance of equal rights,” Paola Rosado, the preschool’s owner and founder wrote in a letter responding to the NAACP. “Our school believes in and teaches the importance of equality, of standing up for our rights, and of speaking up when we see something isn’t right.”
The role play was spontaneously planned by the class’ teacher, and is not a part of the school’s regular curriculum, said Rosado. Building Brains Academy said they apologized to parents at the school for the incident, and communicated their regrets to the NAACP.
In a letter to the preschool, the NAACP Center for Education Innovation and Research alleged that the child’s parents were initially told that the school did not apologize, and “plans to repeat the activity in the future.”
A spokesperson for the school denied that any refusal to apologize occurred.
Building Brains Academy now requires its faculty to get any deviations from the approved curriculum approved by the school administration to avoid similar incidents, said Rosado.
“We will continue ensuring our students are exposed to a curriculum that celebrates equality and diversity, and we welcome any recommendations from the NAACP on curriculum to consider for inclusion,” said Rosado.
A spokesperson for Building Brains Academy said the teacher involved in the incident apologized and now understands why the incident should not have happened.
The NAACP Florida State Conference and the NAACP Center for Education Innovation and Research said in a joint press release that the incident reflects a “broader issue of mishandling and suppressing Black history education in Florida.”