Screenshot : Fox 11 Video Parents in Palmdale, Calif., are calling for a principal and several teachers to be fired after a photo surfaced showing them laughing, smiling and posing with a noose that was reportedly discovered on campus. Advertisement Employees at Summerwind Elementary School told Fox 11 that principal Linda Brandts—who is looking to be the local school board’s next superintendent—sent two photos with the noose in them to all staff in an email that contained no message. One photo showed the noose hanging up in an office and the other showed four teachers posed with the noose, laughing, smiling and pointing at it. Brandts allegedly took the photos herself. While the student body at Summerwind is about two-thirds black and Latino , the teaching staff does not reflect the population being served. Michelle Lemaire, a teacher at the school, told Fox 11 that there are only a few black teachers at the school and the lack of teachers of color is a big issue that is not being addressed. Breyon Clemmons, a mother who has put one daughter through Summerwind and now has a younger daughter attending, told the news station that racism is prevalent at the school and she has had to address it a number of times with teachers. “I’ve requested that my kid be taken out of one classroom because that teacher, in particular, has shown prejudice and discrimination against my kid and when I requested the black teacher I got grief for that,” Clemmons said. The Palmdale School District’s current superintendent, Raul Maldonado, sent the following statement to Fox 11 News: This afternoon it has been 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. The Principal has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of the matter. Advertisement The Antelope Valley Times reports that four teachers have also been placed on administrative leave over the photo. Denise Royal, a black mother with three children at the school, told the AV Times that she was disgusted by the picture and wanted to remove her children from the school after recognizing her daughter’s teacher among those posed in the photo. Advertisement “That’s my daughter’s first-grade teacher, Miss Campos, in the picture—all giggling and laughing,” Royal said. “I want the principal fired, point blank period!” The Palmdale School District posted a statement from Maldonado on its Facebook page Thursday that said in part “... I am appalled that this incident occurred. I am committed to the Palmdale Promise’s values of equity, integrity and multiculturalism, and I know that most of the District believe in the same values the Promise upholds. We will not allow the hurtful actions of a few hold back our District’s pledge to do right by our community.”<doc-sep>The four teachers in the photo and the school's principal were placed on leave. Parents are calling for harsher punishments for four California teachers and a principal who were placed on administrative leave after a photo circulated showing the teachers posing with a noose. The Palmdale School District was notified on May 8 that “an incident involving the discovery of a noose and possibly inappropriate responses to that discovery occurred at Summerwind Elementary School,” a statement from the school district’s superintendent Raul Maldonado said on Facebook. The school's principal has been placed on administrative leave "pending an investigation of the matter," the statement said. The four teachers seen in the photo holding the noose and pointing at it while smiling were also placed on administrative leave, according to ABC Los Angeles affiliate KABC. They have not yet been identified. A parent of a student at the school told KABC that the noose was initially found hanging on a wall in the school earlier this month and that there was also a video showing the teachers making jokes about the noose. Some parents said their children would no longer attend the school because of the photo, KABC reported. One of the parents, Breyan Clemmons, told the station that the incident “hurt [her] to the core.” "It's disgusting and I'm outraged,” Clemmons told KABC. “I want to see some action done and not just this administrative leave." Another parent, Tierra Harris, explained to her daughter during an interview with KABC why she was pulling her from the school. "They use that to hang African American people. That's what they do. And kill them. And they still do it to this day,” Harris told her daughter. “I don't want you going here because I don't want you to feel like that." KABC reported that the school district is looking into the context of the photograph and who brought the noose on campus. "It makes us angry because I know that it's not a reflection of our community," Maldonado told KABC. "We don't tolerate that type of behavior in our community and our school district. We hold our employees to the highest standards with high expectations." David Cuestas, the president of the Palmdale Elementary Teachers Association, told ABC News that the union was "deeply concerned" by the photo "and the painful history it represents." "While we can't comment on specific personnel matters or an ongoing investigation, we will continue to work with our schools and members to ensure that all students, teachers and the community are supported as this matter moves forward," Cuestas said. The Palmdale School District did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment.<doc-sep>Four teachers and a principal have been placed on leave after a photo of the educators posing with what appears to be a noose circulated on email and social media. The circumstances around the origin of the noose at Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale and the response afterward are under investigation. The photo shows four teachers smiling and holding a noose and was shared online without caption or context. Some parents who learned about the image said it was taken and distributed by the school’s principal, longtime educator Linda Brandts. The Palmdale School District, which is investigating the incident, was not immediately available for comment but issued a statement: Advertisement “I am appalled that this incident occurred,” Supt. Raul Maldonado said. “I am committed to the Palmdale Promise’s values of equity, integrity, and multiculturalism, and I know that most of the district believe[s] in the same values the Promise upholds. We will not allow the hurtful actions of a few hold back our district’s pledge to do right by our community.” Outcry among parents and others in the community followed the discovery of the photo. Breyson Clemmons, a parent at the school, told the Antelope Valley Press that she kept her 10-year-old daughter home from school afterward. Some parents at Summerwind Elementary in Palmdale have pulled out their students in response to a photo of teachers holding a noose. pic.twitter.com/99nTx9pkDl — mollenbeck (@amollenbeckKFI) May 9, 2019 “We are disgusted. Absolutely disgusted,” Clemmons said. “We drop our kids off with the idea that we are sending them to a culturally competent institution for learning. We think that we’re sending them to a school; they’re safe. Never do we think we’re sending them to a plantation where they got nooses hanging up, and holding on to nooses. Taking pictures and smiling, where’s the humor?” There has been a dramatic increase in hate incidents in grades K-12 across the country, said Cyndi Silverman, the Anti-Defamation League’s director for the Santa Barbara and Tri-Counties region. colleen.shalby@latimes.com @cshalby<doc-sep>A photo of four elementary school educators in Southern California smiling as they pose with a rope fashioned into a noose has led to their and the school principal's suspension and sparked outrage among some parents. The image of the educators at Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale, 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, was originally emailed by the school's principal, Linda Brandts, and was shared hundreds of times on email and social media, NBC Los Angeles reported. Palmdale schools superintendent Raul Maldonado said all five educators have been put on administrative leave, pending an investigation by the district. "The Palmdale School District holds all employees to the highest standards and expectations," Maldonado said in a statement to NBC News on Friday. "We will not stop until we find out exactly what did occur. We will not tolerate this type of behavior in our schools." The picture of four women, laughing and posing with the noose, was sent by Brandts in an email to all Summerwind staff at 3:50 p.m. on May 1, according to a message reviewed by NBC News. There was no text inside the email, but the subject line read: "Room 223 score." It wasn't clear what was meant by that phrase. Parents of some African American children at the school told the NBC station they were troubled by the educators' apparent insensitivity about the association of nooses with Jim Crow-era lynchings. “I feel like he’s not safe here," Misty Evans said of her son, a student at Summerwind. "It brings you back to slavery days." Another parent, Juan Dillard, said the educators involved should lose their jobs. “My son is leaving today, and he’s not coming back to this school until they are fired," Dillard said. The city of Palmdale is majority Latino, according the most recent census data, at 58.6 percent; whites make up 22.1 percent, and blacks 12.5 percent. NBC News could not immediately reach members of the Palmdale school board or representatives of the teachers' union for comment on Friday. State Assemblyman Tom Lackey, a Republican who used to sit on the Palmdale school board, said the noose pictures are "inconsistent with the culture encouraged" by the school district. "I am saddened by the negative impacts associated with this," Lackey tweeted. "I am confident the Palmdale School District will investigate this matter and follow-up with the appropriate actions."<doc-sep>
Four elementary school teachers in Southern California were placed on administrative leave this week after a photo of them smiling while holding a noose circulated on social media. The school’s principal who reportedly took the photo is also on leave. One parent claimed, according to KABC-TV of Los Angeles, that the noose was hung from a tree on the grounds of Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale earlier this month. She also claimed that someone shot video of the teachers laughing and joking about the noose. CALIFORNIA MAN WHO FAKED SUICIDE TO AVOID CHILD ABUSE CHARGES FOUND IN FLORIDA NEARLY 3 YEARS LATER An investigation into the photo and the origin of the noose is now underway, district officials said. Some parents were so upset about the photo that they either temporarily or permanently pulled their kids out of the school Thursday, KABC reported. "Do you know what they use that for? They use that to hang African-American people -- that's what they do -- and kill them,” parent Tierra Harris explained to her daughter, according to KABC. “They still do it to this day. I don't want you going here because I don't want you to feel like that.” "It hurts. It absolutely hurts me to the core. It's disgusting and I'm outraged, and I want to see some action and not just administrative leave,” parent Breyan Clemmons said about pulling her child out of the school. “We think that we’re sending them to a school; they’re safe. Never do we think we’re sending them to a plantation where they got nooses hanging up, and holding on to nooses,” she told the Antelope Valley Press. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The superintendent of the Palmdale School District issued a statement on Facebook, which read in part: “I am appalled that this incident occurred … I am committed to the Palmdale Promise’s values of equity, integrity, and multiculturalism, and I know that most of the district believe[s] in the same values the Promise upholds.”