A fifth-grade teacher accused of holding a mock slave auction in which white students bid on black students has been placed on indefinite leave.

The principal of the private school in Bronxville, New York said a third party will conduct an independent review. Faculty and staff will receive sensitivity training and students impacted will receive mental health professional support, he said in a statement.

Chapel School Principal Michael Schultz apologized for the incident.

"The reported racial insensitivity is unacceptable and we do not condone any action that demeans anyone," Schultz said.

The mother of a student at the school said her son was asked to pretend to be a slave as part of a history lesson.

“I’m getting teary eyed about it because it’s like, how could somebody do this to my son," Vernex Harding told TV station PIX 11.

Harding said the teacher asked three black boys to raise their hands and then they were led to the hallway where they were asked "to put imaginary chains along our necks and our wrists, and shackles on our ankles."

No slave auction held?

Cuddy and Feder, a White Plains-based law firm representing the fifth-grade teacher, Rebecca Antinozzi, disputed claims that there was a mock slave auction. The statement, obtained by The Journal News, said the portrayal of the history lesson was out of context and inaccurate.

"Ms. Antinozzi loves her students and is beloved by them," the statement said. "To the extent anyone took offense to a small portion of the overall lesson that day that was used solely to emphasize the tragic injustice of slavery, it certainly was never intended. She looks forward to continuing teaching with the same dedication, sensitivity, and passion that she has always shown."

Now the New York state attorney general is involved.

Attorney General Letitia James issued a statement to multiple media outlets.

"The reports of racist ‘lessons’ by a teacher at The Chapel School are deeply troubling,” James said. “My office is monitoring this matter closely."

This isn't the first time a teacher sought to bring early-American history to life with a slave auction.

In 2011, a Norfolk, Virginia, fourth-grade teacher similarly segregated her students by color and held a slave auction.

At that time, a school spokeswoman said that "appropriate personnel action" was taken but no details were provided.

Reporters Matt Spillane and Michael P. McKinney contributed to this story.

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