Several South Carolina elementary school staffers were canned after photos emerged showing employees posing as Border Patrol agents and wearing stereotypical Mexican clothing at a school event this week, officials said.
Staff members at Royall Elementary School in Florence donned the offensive outfits for an “Olympic Parade” event on Wednesday — a professional development day before students’ first day of class.
Photos from the event posted to the school’s Facebook page showed two employees wearing sunglasses and gray shirts with “US Border Patrol” posing in front of a hand-made brick wall display.
In another picture, several staffers wore bright-colored sombreros in front of a sign that said Royall “Cantina” — Spanish for “bar.”
Dozens of parents and community members took to social media to condemn the images as racist and unacceptable, WCIV reported.
“There were so many other ways to represent Mexico in the “Olympic Parade” Neither Border Patrol actually has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with “Back to School” or the “Olympics” in case yall did not know! And a “Cantina” is also an inappropriate representation of the Mexican culture,” posted one mother of a Royall student, who wished to be anonymous.
The mom’s post has gone viral with backlash pouring in from all over the country, calling the teachers’ actions “insensitive,” according to WCIV.
Annette Fling, a Mexican-American mother who has children in the district, called the stunt “a disgrace.”
“As a Mexican American, as an Hispanic woman, as a mother of biracial Hispanic children in the Florence 1 School district. I’m highly offended, highly offended,” Fling told the outlet.
“These are educators with degrees that should have known better. Out of all the things they could have done to the culture, community, country of Mexico, they chose to use the U.S. Border Patrol,” she continued. “And Royal Cantina, which is a Spanish word for bar. Inappropriate, racial. Just all around flat out a disgrace.”
School District Superintendent Richard O’Malley contacted parents and said that several employees were fired over the controversy.
“I wanted to inform you that, due to the serious nature of this incident, several employees are no longer employed by the district or have been placed on leave by the district’s administration. As superintendent, I will not tolerate anything of this nature in our school district,” O’Malley said in Friday email, obtained by the Post and Courier.
It’s unclear which, if any, of the employees pictured were among those let go.
The school also offered an apology saying the post showed “an insensitive disregard for the current challenges our Hispanic population faces.”
The Post has reached out to school and district officials for comment.
The Racial Justice Network released a statement and accused the district of having a “habitual past of displaying discrimination” and blamed the teachers for pushing “Trump’s agenda,” WPDE reported.
“There was a lot of work, time, effort, and thought put into this display. There was no regard for the students and how some would feel and what message they were sending to others,” the organization said.
“We would like to know what the motives behind this were and what did the school hope to gain from this. The only thing they would gain would be to push Former President Trump’s agenda. School is no place for racism and politics,” they said.
