An Alberta school division has apologized after a staff member at a Christian school wore blackface while dressed up as a member of the British band Spice Girls.

Elk Island Public Schools said in a statement Monday that it is taking immediate action with the employee to address her conduct.

鈥淲e do not condone behaviour that would be offensive or hurtful to any student, employee or member of our school community,鈥� said the division.

It added that an apology was also going home to parents.

鈥淚n the days ahead, EIPS will seek out resources in order to further educate employees, both at this school and throughout the division, about the need to be respectful of all races and cultures.

鈥淚t is our intention to ensure that an incident of this kind is not repeated.鈥�

Edmonton activist Bashir Mohamed said a friend who is a teacher sent him a link to the photo from a Facebook group. He then put the picture out on Twitter with several comments and asked how a black student at the school might feel about it.

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The photo shows a woman wearing dark face makeup while dressed up as Mel B, otherwise known as 鈥淪cary Spice鈥� with the 1990s all-girl band.

She is standing with other adults posing as celebrity judges in a talent event at Strathcona Christian Academy in Sherwood Park, just east of Edmonton.

鈥淟ook who鈥檚 here for SCA鈥檚 Got Talent! Meet the judges: Simon Cowell, Mel B, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel!! All the best to our competitors!鈥� said a caption of the photo from SCA Elementary.

Mohamed said he didn鈥檛 put out the photo to get the employee fired. He wanted it to act as a teaching moment.

鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a lot of opportunity for there to be education where they can understand why this is an issue and learn from it,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ecause at the end of the day, this person is an educator and they are responsible for students.鈥�

He added that most people are likely to understand that blackface is wrong, but they don鈥檛 understand why, or realize that it has roots in Canadian history as well as in the United States.

Education Minister David Eggen said even though the matter is being dealt with, he finds it disturbing.

鈥淚t鈥檚 inappropriate behaviour that doesn鈥檛 belong in schools,鈥� Eggen said.

鈥淚t sets a bad example.鈥�

Marisa Peters, an Edmonton blogger who uses the Twitter handle Stream and Stone, said she is a former student of Strathcona Christian Academy鈥檚 secondary school.

鈥淚n musical theater we were asked to fake tan and wore dark makeup to dress as Puerto Ricans for 鈥榃est Side Story,鈥欌�� said her tweet. 鈥淏lackface has a history at this school.鈥�

Laura McNabb, a spokeswoman for the school division, said officials would not be commenting further.

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The Canadian Press

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