Pennsylvania School District Issues Apology Following Viral Photo Of Teacher Taping Mask To Young Student

In a statement released Wednesday, the North Penn School District expressed regret after a  teacher was photographed taping a mask on a child’s face. Her behavior was deemed “unacceptable” by the district.

A statement from the North Penn School District, received by The Philadelphia Inquirer, said “An image taken in one of our classrooms last week and circulating on social media does not represent the universal values that the North Penn School District strives to instill in both our students and staff.” The school described the teacher’s actions as ” inappropriate” and “unacceptable.”

The district also said it was addressing the incident with the instructor, although it was not immediately obvious whether or not the school’s employee would be dismissed or face any disciplinary action.

The mask incident took place on Monday at Pennfield Middle School in Hatfield, North Pennsylvania.

In a Facebook Post publicizing the event by  “North Penn Stronger Together”, the caption read, “Pro-mask or anti-mask, I hope we can all agree that taping masks to children’s faces crosses the LINE. This was not a joke for the child or the parents.”

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=246620234320913&set=a.187906490192288

Nearly 600 angry parents commented on the post, calling for the teacher to be fired. At a Thursday school board meeting, outraged parents called for disciplinary action against the teacher.

On Thursday, the student’s mother made an anonymous statement to the media, stating that their family did not want to be a part of the incident. North Penn Now obtained an exclusive statement from her in which she expressed concern that the incident had spiraled out of hand and that she just intended to share the photo with a local group in order to garner support prior to the board meeting.

Stay tuned to The Scoop for any updates.