Editor's note: A change has been made to a quote in the sixth paragraph to read: "It's like a Trump rally in the comments on Facebook."

ANDERSON — A yard duty aide at an Anderson school who wore one of President Trump's Make America Great Again hats upset several parents who said their children were offended.

Jason Provence, superintendent of the Cascade Union Elementary School District, said Thursday afternoon he would contact parent Jennifer Zapien and apologize for the Tuesday incident.

Zapien went on Facebook and contacted the news media Thursday because she said officials at Anderson Middle School and the school district hadn't yet responded to a handwritten note she took to the district office. Zapien said Friday that Provence had called to apologize to her and her twin 13-year-old sons.

Zapien said her boys were upset when the yard aide wore the famous MAGA hat and then asked students what they thought about it.

"It caused quite a ruckus among the children," Zapien said. "We had quite a number of parents call the district and got no response."

"It's like a Trump rally in the comments on Facebook," the parent said.

Another parent, Misti Hernandez, said her seventh-grade daughter said she was offended by the aide wearing the hat.

"She said, 'Mom, that hat has so many different meanings,'" Hernandez said.

"What our kids see 'are the rallies and people saying 'build that wall' with that hat," Hernandez said.

The daughter said she felt unsafe because "I'm brown."

The issue for Zapien is not simply over a MAGA hat, but more about any action a staff member might've taken that made her sons uncomfortable.

"It could've been over a pair of sneakers," she said.

"I am offended by my children being uncomfortable with what he did," she said.

Provence said the aide didn't mean to offend anybody and he won't wear the hat again.

"He's very sorry," Provence said. "He said, 'I don't wear a hat very much. No one asked me to take if off,'"

Zapien said her sons thought it was a violation of the school dress code.

Provence cited the First Amendment and said the aide had a right to wear the hat. The superintendent said the district doesn't have a policy spelling out an adult dress code.

The student dress code doesn't allow clothing that's offensive, gang-related or disrupts the learning environment, but kids can wear hats outdoors under two circumstances: for sun protection and warmth.

Zapien thinks maybe there should be an adult dress code.

"If a student is not allowed to wear a Confederate shirt to school, (the aide) should not be allowed to wear a MAGA hat to school," she said.

Zapien said she is half-Caucasian and half-Filipino, and her husband is Hispanic.

Zapien put a poll on her Facebook page asking whether a public apology is necessary or if the issue should be ignored. As of Friday morning with 732 responses, 84 people favored an apology and 648 said to ignore the incident.

She said her intention was not to get the yard duty aide fired but to ignite a dialog.

"It was a conversation that needed to be had," she said. "I know children at that school who felt uncomfortable with the whole thing."

Zapien added she's on the receiving end of a social media backlash with a lot of negative comments.

"People are very upset that I'm making an issue about the hat," she said.

The district superintendent couldn't say whether or not any disciplinary action was taken against the playground aide, who's been with the district for more than three years, because he can't discuss those sorts of personnel issues.

Provence said the school puts the safety of students and their education as top priorities.

"We're going to do whatever it takes to make it right," Provence said. "We want to keep the peace."

More:UPDATE: Argument between roommates turns deadly in Happy Valley

More:Propane explodes in Redding trailer fire; boyfriend at burn unit

More:Red Bluff man missing for a week, tells relatives 'goodbye'; Whitmore woman still missing