Photo Bomb! IG post of four white teachers smiling with noose results in outrage
Parents are pissed!
Parents are demanding a school principal and four white women teachers from an L.A. school be fired after a photo was posted on IG and emailed showing them smiling with a noose. In the photo, one of...
Four white female teachers in a Los Angeles-area school have been suspended after their principal shared a photo of the group smiling as they pointed toward a noose, Yahoo News is reporting.
In the photo, one of the educators is seen holding up the noose as she wears sunglasses and smiles while her three colleagues seemingly laugh and point toward it. Linda Brandt, principal of the Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale, California, shared the photo of the women with the noose in a mass email and also on Instagram.
She also shared a second photo of a noose hanging in an office, Fox 11 reported.
Raul Maldonado, superintendent of the Palmdale School District, quickly issued a statement.
“Yesterday, it was brought to the Palmdale School District’s attention that an incident involving the discovery of a noose and possibly inappropriate responses to that discovery occurred at Summerwind Elementary School,” said Maldonado.
“The principal and the personnel involved in this matter have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of the matter. We will follow process and procedures to conduct the investigation.”
A former teacher and administrative consultant told Yahoo that she was shocked to see that the teachers in the photo resumed leading lessons on Thursday, prompting her to pull her 6-year-old niece out of the school.
“They had the audacity to show up today,” Shaka Phillipps told Yahoo. “The integrity of the school is completely compromised. To the Black community, a noose is a weapon, a symbol of slavery and lynching.”
Other parents told Fox 11 that race has been an issue at the school.
Breyon Clemmons told the news organization that in the past he’s asked that his child be removed from one teacher’s classroom because of discrimination. Clemmons added that when he requested a Black teacher, he “got grief for that.”
“We want her gone from this school and that’s just it,” parent Darrin Harper told Fox 11 of the principal, who is also reportedly running for the school superintendent seat. “We want her out of here.”
