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>Educators at Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale, California posed with a noose in a photo. (Screenshot: Fox 11) Four educators who smiled for a photo with a noose are all suspended, along with their principal, who reportedly shared it in a mass email. Linda Brandt, the principal of Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale, California, allegedly emailed the photo to her staff, attaching a second image of the noose hanging in an office, according to Los Angeles television station Fox 11. Other parents found the photo on Instagram. Palmdale School District Superintendent Raul Maldonado tells Yahoo Lifestyle, “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. 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.” According to Fox 11, Brandt is in consideration to become the next district superintendent. Shaka Phillipps, a former teacher, administrator, and educational consultant, tells Yahoo Lifestyle that she pulled her 6-year-old niece from Summerwind on Thursday morning, shocked that all four teachers had resumed their daily lessons, despite their alleged suspensions. “They had the audacity to show up today,” she says. “The integrity of the school is completely compromised. To the black community, a noose is a weapon, a symbol of slavery and lynching.” A photo of a noose at Summerwind Elementary School in California was reportedly emailed to staff by the principal. (Screenshot: Fox 11) Randy Randle, Jr., the founder of a non-profit organization called Pivotal Role which rewards children for earning outstanding report cards, explained the impact to his little sister, whose once-trusted teacher stands in the photo. “I showed her the picture of her teacher and of someone hanging from a tree,” Randle Jr. tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “She’s sad and shocked that her teacher would hold a torture device.” Another parent named Darrin Harper told Fox 11 of Principal Brandt, “We want her gone from this school. And that’s just it. We want her out of her. I do, personally.” Story continues Breyon Clemmons told Fox 11, “I’ve requested that my kid be taken out of one classroom because that teacher, in particular, has shown prejudice discrimination against my kid and when I requested the black teacher I got grief for that,” she said. A teacher named Michele Lemaire, told the news station that a mostly-white teaching staff is a “huge issue” at the school. Phillips’s niece will stay home from Summerwind until the school enacts new policies and an appropriate discipline plan. She also wants assurance that her niece won’t be punished for missing school during the investigation. “I’m now questioning the education that my niece and every student of color, has received in this class,” says Phillips. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.<doc-sep>Four California first grade teachers who posed with a noose and their principal have been suspended. The school district will also conduct an investigation into the incident, Palmdale School District Superintendent Raul Maldonado told Yahoo Lifestyle. "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," Maldonado said, the news outlet reported Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT "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," he added. The photo caused outrage among parents, according to Los Angeles TV station Fox 11. Employees told Fox 11 that Principal Linda Brandts emailed the photo to all staff with no text. Parents told the TV station the principal of the Palmdale, Calif., elementary school was under consideration to be the district's next superintendent. It was unclear if that was still true following the alleged incident.<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>
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.