Pennsylvania middle school apologizes after photo of a teacher taping a mask to a student's face sparks outrage

• A photo of a Pennsylvania school teacher taping a mask to a student's face went viral this week.
• In a statement, the North Penn School District said the teachers' actions were "entirely inappropriate."

A Pennsylvania middle school has apologized after a photo of a teacher taping a mask over a student's face sparked outrage among parents, according to a statement on its website.

The picture was taken at Pennfield Middle School in Hatfield and was shared earlier this week on the Facebook page "North Penn Stronger Together."

"Pro-mask or anti-mask, I hope we can all agree that taping masks to children's faces crosses the LINE. It was not a joke for the child or the parents," the post said.

The photo sparked outrage among parents and quickly went viral, appearing on the website of Fox News host Sean Hannity. It was also tweeted by the former candidate for Florida's 3rd Congressional District, Chuck Callesto.

In a statement provided to The Philadelphia Inquirer, North Penn School District 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."

"After an immediate investigation, it was determined that while the incident was isolated and no malice was intended, the actions of the teacher were entirely inappropriate and unacceptable, no matter the context," the statement said.

North Penn School District said the incident was "being addressed with the employee" but did not comment further on whether the teacher would face disciplinary action.

Mask mandates at schools have become a hot-button issue during the pandemic.

In December, a statewide mask mandate for more than 1.7 million school students in Pennsylvania was thrown out by the state Supreme Court, which led to some schools making mask-wearing optional, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The mother of the pictured student, who wanted to remain anonymous, told North Penn Now that she never wanted the picture of her son to go viral and had only agreed to share it with a private group to garner support ahead of a school board meeting.

"What has since transpired is like a scene from my worst nightmare," the mother said in the statement. "Certain individuals felt compelled to take matters into their own hands, including contacting local authorities and disseminating this image of my son to various media outlets."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported last year that school districts without a masking policy in place were more likely to have COVID-19 outbreaks.