FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.—Parents of fifth-grade students at a Fairfax County school learned on Jan. 12 that their children were asked to role-play as slaves and landowners during a classroom activity.
“This activity was inappropriate and not part of our approved division curriculum,” wrote Josh Douds, principal of the Centreville Elementary School. “During the activity, students participated in a simulation where they acted as slaves and a landowner,” she added.
The Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) said in a statement that the school had apologized directly to the families of the affected students for “this regretful lapse in judgment made by an inexperienced trainee teacher who was subsequently counseled on the inappropriateness of the lesson.”…