An occasional teacher in Ontario's Peel Region is being investigated for posting a photo on Instagram that smacks of anti-black racism, school officials say.
The post appears to mock a young black student's hair. It shows a picture of a small child in a classroom next to a picture of a character from the 1996 parody movie, "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood." The character, played by Marlon Wayans, is brandishing a gun.
The post's caption reads, "Who rocked it better? LOLOLOL."
The Peel District School Board said school officials became aware of the post after a concerned member of the community tweeted about it on Saturday.
The PDSB has not released the name of the teacher who posted the picture, and the account responsible for the post has since been closed. CityNews reports the photo was taken at a Brampton elementary school, where the substitute teacher taught kindergarten. The teacher will not be permitted to teach or to contact staff or students while the school conducts an investigation, according to the Brampton Guardian.
"We were made aware of an inappropriate Instagram post made by one of our staff members when it was sent to the Peel District School Board Twitter account yesterday," PDSB spokesperson Carla Pereira said in a statement. "As the post shared is considered anti-black racism, we became concerned as this behaviour is simply unacceptable."
Pereira added: "We don't yet know how long the investigation will take or what the outcome will be, as we're just getting started, but want to assure our community that this matter is being taken very seriously by senior leadership of the Peel board."
The teacher is currently assigned at home and could face discipline ranging from a verbal reprimand to sensitivity training or even termination, the board said.
With files from Lisa Yeung.
