BROOKLYN — FDNY ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER Michele Maglione has resigned over leading a group of mostly Black students in a “cotton-ball relay race” at a Brooklyn high school, following concerns that the activity, which involved students sticking cotton balls to their faces with petroleum jelly, was evocative of the legacy of slavery.

Maglione, 57, who headed FDNY’s Youth Workforce Development program, had posted footage of the August game online, according to the New York Post .

FDNY recruiters sounded the alarm, prompting her removal and investigation. Maglione chose retirement over discipline.

Mayor Eric Adams called the incident “terrible,” while Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said it was “insensitive.”

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