Teacher on leave after assignment depicts Barack Obama next to monkeys

An assignment depicting Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president, next to monkeys and other animals prompted a private school in Michigan to place a teacher on leave.

The incident occurred at The Roeper School, which advertises itself as a school for gifted students from throughout the region.

The school has campuses in Bloomfield Hills, which is about 25 miles northwest of Detroit, and another in nearby Birmingham. The teacher works at the Birmingham campus, the school said Friday in a statement to NBC News.

NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit reported the teacher, who was not named, asked students in an assignment: “Which of the following are primates?"

The evolution schoolwork depicted Obama alongside several animals including monkeys.