Parents support school staff who wore offensive costumes

Parents rallied around a suspended principal at a school board meeting held by a district where 14 staffers were placed on administrative leave after donning costumes depicting racial stereotypes and a “border wall.”

The Middleton School Board meeting on Monday was the first one since the teachers and staffers at Middleton Heights Elementary School were placed on leave two weeks ago for the inappropriate costumes, worn as part of what officials said was a team-building exercise held after classes were dismissed. Photos that were temporarily posted to the district’s Facebook page showed some teachers and aides wearing caricatured outfits depicting Mexican people and others dressed up as a U.S. border wall.

Many of the more than 50 attendees at Monday’s meeting were there to ask officials to reinstate Middleton Heights Elementary Principal Kim Atkinson, the only person who remains on administrative leave.