DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) _ District officials say a West Des Moines sixth-grade teacher has been disciplined for making a racially insensitive remark.

According to The Des Moines Register, parents say Karla Snodgrass walked into an unlit classroom in May and asked her class, “What's dark and scary.''

She flipped on a light switch and said, “Oh, that's just Bedale.''

The boy's mother, Rachel Naba, told the Register that Bedale is of mixed white and black parentage.

West Des Moines Superintendent Tom Narak would not confirm the name of the teacher or otherwise discuss the incident. He did say “some discipline'' for the teacher was involved.

Naba says her son was not in the classroom when Snodgrass apologized last week.

A public phone listing for Snodgrass could not be found.