Officials in an upstate New York school district have issued a public apology following a social media post of a muddy snowman and three students that many online users are describing as culturally insensitive.
The post referred to the grit-and-snow-mixed creation as “diverse as our students,” a statement that was interpreted by many to equate skin color with dirt.
Many took to social media to express offense to what the district claims was a way to celebrate students using creative expression, as with the snowman design.
On Tuesday, Jan. 31, a representative for the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District posted a photograph featuring the students standing next to the snow creature on its Facebook page with the caption, “Today’s CE Fourth Grade Playground Fun! This snowman is just as diverse as our students.”
The post has been removed from the page, with the district saying the use of the word “diverse” was in no way a reference to the snowman’s appearance of dirt mixed in with the white snow.
A statement from superintendent Randy Squier appeared the same day on the district’s website.
“The post was a picture of three kids standing next to the snowman they had created during recess,” the statement read, adding that the use of the word “diverse” was supposed to highlight “how every kid can make a snowman differently and this variety of creativity should be celebrated. When it was commented that this could be interpreted about race the post was taken down.”
Squier, who is white, wrote, “We want to apologize and reiterate it was never intended to be hurtful.”
The educator shared that the “families of the students in the picture have already been contacted personally,” and promised to have the district’s social media policies and procedures reviewed as an effort to ensure all in the community feel as though they belong.
Social media comments on the post include ones such as that of Kyle…
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