ISLE OF WIGHT, Va. – Three students who unwittingly offended folks on Twitter by using blackface in a school project were disciplined by their private school and forced to undergo sensitivity training.

The senior students at Wight Academy made a video for an assignment in their government class to explain the landmark Supreme Court case of Mapp v. Ohio, which involved black woman Dollree Mapp suing Ohio in 1961 over an illegal search of her home, WAVY reports.

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A white female student donned dark makeup to act out Mapp’s part, and presented their video in class Feb. 29. The students told the news site they were completely unaware that the makeup would cause a controversy until their teacher alerted them to the possibility after their presentation.

“We did the blackface to be historically accurate. Ms. Mapp was African-American and we wanted to be accurate. A student said this could be taken the wrong way, and so did the teacher, so we redid the video without the blackface,” one of the unidentified student told WAVY.

“For anyone who was offended we are sorry. We did not mean to be offensive. We wanted to be historically accurate.”

Alexis Isabel, a self-proclaimed feminist culture blogger, didn’t bother to include the apology or any other context to the video when she posted a screen shot and snippet on Twitter, which of course ignited an online firestorm Monday and forced officials at the private school to respond, The Virginian-Pilot reports.

Isabel also identified the students involved in the video in an apparent attempt to encourage the online community to scorn them, and launched false rumors that school officials are threatening to expel students who share the video or complain about it.

Wight Academy headmaster Benjamin Vaughan told News Channel 3 the school is “very concerned with how the reenactment occurred and the way they portrayed some of the characters involved.”

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The school also issued a formal statement:

The project was to create a video explaining one of the landmark cases that has been before the Supreme Court. This particular group chose Mapp v. Ohio, a case that dealt with evidence being admissible in court cases. One of the students portrayed herself as an African American woman, one of the principal characters in the case.

Isle of Wight Academy in no way condones the actions of the students involved in the making of the video. Disciplinary action, in line with school policy, has been taken with the students involved in the making of this video. At no time have any students been threatened with suspension or expulsion for expressing concerns regarding this video.

Isle of Wight Academy is a school that welcomes people of all races into its family.

Vaughan told WAVY the students received “not a passing grade” on the assignment because the video generated a controversy.

“They failed because of the gravity of the situation,” he said before admitting the students likely didn’t realize the blackface was offensive to some people.

“I think the student did it with all innocence, they didn’t realize the seriousness of the way they portrayed the characters and we have tried to get across to them that it was wrong and they need to accept the punishment for it, learn from it, make amends for it and then not let it happen again,” he said.

One of the students involved in the video told WAVY the experience was a harsh first lesson on blackface.

“Prior to this, none of my group members had ever heard of blackface,” the student said. “I had never been taught in school. We learned about this after all this.”