A staffer at the Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts allegedly told a group of black students who were on a field trip to the institution, “No food, no drink, no watermelon”.

30 honor students from the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy, who are still in the seventh grade, visited the Boston Museum of Fine Arts last week as a reward for their academic excellence, but instead of enjoying the trip, the group faced racial insults.

Marvelyne Lamy, an English teacher at the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy, said, “It’s sad that although our students are well behaved and our teachers are well educated, that we are still seen as less than and as criminals.”

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts apologized for the incident in an open letter, they said that the incident does not reflect “who we are or want to be”, and added that the staffer who greeted the grade 7 students claimed to have said “no food, no drink, and no water bottles.”

Matthew Teitelbaum, the director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, released a statement about the incident, he said, “These young people left the museum feeling disrespected, harassed and targeted because of the color of their skin, and that is unacceptable.”

He added, “This is a fundamental problem that we will address as an institution, both with immediate steps and long-term commitments. I am deeply saddened that we’ve taken something away from these students that they will never get back.”

The Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy is a public charter school and is also a tuition-free school, which is located in Dorchester, Boston.

The Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy also says that 99 percent of the school’s students and 94 percent of its staff are people of color.