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Palmdale School District to hold town hall meeting this Tuesday to address noose photo [updated]

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Four women, identified by parents as first-grade teachers at Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale, pose with what appears to be a noose. The women, and Principal Linda Brandts (not shown), were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, according to Palmdale School District Superintendent Raul Maldonado.

PALMDALE – The Palmdale School District will hold a community town hall meeting this Tuesday to discuss the infamous “noose” photo and the actions being taken to address it.

The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 14, in the Summerwind Elementary Multipurpose Room, located at 39360 Summerwind Drive in Palmdale.

“At our Town Hall meeting, we will be addressing the actions that are being taken to ensure these kinds of incidents never happen again. We hope to see our Palmdale community at our town hall and a special board meeting,” Superintendent Raul Maldonado said in a statement.

The photo, which made national headlines last week, shows four Summerwind Elementary School teachers smiling and pointing at what appears to be a noose. The photo was taken at the school, but officials have not said who took the photo or when it was taken.

Maldonado said the photo was brought to the Palmdale School District’s attention on May 8, and he announced on May 9 that Principal Linda Brandts and the four teachers in the photo were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

UPDATED 5.16.19: Several theories have floated around on social media, but an official explanation on the context behind the noose photo has not yet been released. At a packed community townhall meeting Tuesday night, Superintendent Raul Maldonado confirmed that the picture was taken by Principal Linda Brandts and she also emailed it to Summerwind Elementary staff. The noose was found in a storage room at the school, according to media reports. The educators are still on paid leave and the investigation into the noose photo could take up to two weeks to be completed, according to the Palmdale School District’s general counsel.

Previous related story: Principal and teachers placed on leave over controversial photo at Summerwind Elementary

 

 

 

43 comments for "Palmdale School District to hold town hall meeting this Tuesday to address noose photo [updated]"

  1. My heart is with these poor women and their families that have been torn apart by social media mob mentality. Now if that weren’t bad enough, the political agenda is now playing a part. This is the worst of human nature, and our society is being destroyed by bickering, and sowing discord at every turn. These women are not racists, but most of you that live with unstable minds refuse to wait for the results of the investigation, and delight in destroying these women. Stay strong ladies.

  3. Hey all just saw some additional information about the principal at Summerwind involved in the Noose Photo. Turns out she is under consideration to become the next District School Superintendent.

      • The superintendent said that she is not running for superintendent during his interview.

      • Openly courting the racist vote worked for Trump, maybe it will work for her too.

  4. Teachers: I can guarantee you that every one of these spiteful commenters that are calling you stupid, and racists, have a whole lot of dirty deeds in their lives that they’re not going to share with us. That includes the banner carrying so-called social justice leaders. Wow, do they have stuff in their lives they would like to keep from the public. Stay strong ladies, and your families.

  5. Blown out of proportion? Yes. Malicious intent? No.
    The mob mentality of jumping to conclusions has got to stop.

    • The dumb principal blew it. Took the picture and shared it. Who blew it out of proportion….!?? The stupid principal did and the staff she shared the picture with. Total idiots!! They should have kept their racism behind doors… morons.

  6. There are many of us that are praying for these teachers and their families. Most of you are a brood of vipers that take pleasure in ruining people’s lives, even before you know their intent. You couldn’t even wait for the facts to come out before you condemned these women. I am thankful for one of the women in this photo for trying to save Gabriel Fernandez, and showing bravery by testifying against the two people that murdered him.

  7. Shame on former President Barack Obama for having an African American attorney general whose last name is Lynch. Sarcasm for those who do not get it.

  8. Najee Ali: You do not speak for us! you are an instigator, and you have been guilty of accusing another black activist, and asking police to arrest this person on false allegations. Of course you are right in the middle of this chaos, fanning the flames of racism, as well as Dr. Coronado, and the social media mob! As an African American, and a devout Christian, we teach our children to follow Jesus’ teachings, not incite violence. I, as well as many other African Americans in the body of Christ, that have sisters and brothers of all colors are taught God’s love, His light, out to others. Praying for these teachers and their families.

  10. As an African American, I am sickened by the mob mentality shown against these teachers. I am praying for these women and their families.

  11. What they did is inappropriate, insensitive and just plain dumb. They should all be fired.

    • I agree with you. Fired this insensitive stupid educators who didn’t realize the repercussions the noose picture would create. Totally stupid decision and I am happy their behavior finally comes out. Yes. it was a staff member who sent the picture to the media. Many of us hope these insensitive monsters don’t come back to our school.

  12. Hopefully they are on PAID administrative leave. This whole thing is pathetically ridiculous. I’ll bet that armed guards are gonna be there, which is only right, but now lets explain to the children what guns can do way worse than a pitily noose or a pencil or stapler can do. Don’t teachers have nice fingernails?… ouch. Ban finger nails too. Teachers don’t have the right to look so pretty. Do they?

  13. Not suprized. My children attended Linda Verde Elementary school in the Early 90’s Maldonado was the principal and had no problem showing his racial discriminating ways. Not saying the teachers are racist but it starts from the top.

    • The real Superintendent is Nancy Smith. Retired but still in charge.

      • Psst.. the real superintendent is Nancy LOL

        Nancy Smith is white she will do a better job.. right!!?!? Psst…

  14. If Superintendent Maldonado throws these women under the bus tonight, I guess he gives all of us permission to show up at any of his schools and teach the children of Palmdale whatever we want, like Miguel Suarez-Coronado did. I actually have a great lesson on The Golden State Killer the first graders might find interesting.

  15. Fire all on the picture and/or boycott the school by taking your kids off the school. This is why Betsy Devos should nail public schools, public school teachers feel entitled and should know their place.

    • I have a question. WHOS THE MOLE? Stupid principal sent it to her staff. Somebody in her staff sent it to the media and to other people. Someone in her staff was not happy with the picture. Who was is it? A teacher or teachers were not happy with the picture. So who gave the picture to te media. Stupid teachers and principal in the picture. They deserve to get fire. Maybe they’re not racists but they’re sure a bunch of stupid educators.

  16. Thank goodness Dr. Coronado and Hearns came to the rescue. What would be do without them. We sure could have used them when Rex was smearing an African American candidate running for office. Maybe they were busy.

  17. This is so sad, but we should celebrate the fact that Gabriel’s killer was sentenced to death. That poor child was tortured and killed. That teacher tried to protect him and I’m sure she feels guilty for nothing being done about it. We need to forgive it was a stupid mistake posting the noose. I pray that these teachers will be ok. I truly believe this was not rascist.

  18. Lord, have mercy on our souls today, and what we have become. Mob justice fueled by social media that permeates our society. I hope these women and their families will be able to turn to God for strength to get through this terrible event, because He is full of mercy and loving kindness.

  19. This meeting is going to devolve into a chaotic mess. These poor teachers probably need 24 hr. guards to keep these so-called social justice warriors from issuing death threats. This is what people do these days. May God have mercy on our souls.

    • This is a freak show and shows how inept the Palmdale School District has become. They are however good at spending our bond money and giving raises to teachers they cannot afford. The entire board is too close as friends and there is nobody to challenge the status quo. We the voters are to blame.

      • Yes. They are totally succumbing to the pressure. The superintendent’s post today on the district’s FB page can be interpreted as saying they are guilty.

        • Guilty of what?
          Please copy and paste the statement since I am not on FB
          As far as I can tell they are guilty of doing something dumb and that is it. Nothing sinister.

          • Isn’t that enough? Anyone so stupid that they couldn’t predict the fallout from posting a “lynch mob joke” is far too stupid to hire as a teacher.

  20. Exactly people blow things way out of proportion… not knowing the meaning behind it , exactly what social media does .

    • Social Media will be the end of us. I feel like I am in an episode of Black Mirror with all of this happening. Remember when people could make a mistake and then learn from it? Now it is trial by fire via social media.

      • Sue, I do remember when people could make mistakes and then learn from it. I believe it is going to get much worse, because now these so-called social media justice warriors can find out where people live, taking the law into their own hands.

        • If they haven’t learned “lynch mob jokes will get you into trouble” by now they aren’t likely to learn it any time soon. I dunno if they are racists pretending to be totally stupid or if they are really just totally stupid, but either way they shouldn’t be teachers.

    • Yes! A lot of parents of young children at our school are upset because that activist took away the parent’s choice of whether or not they wanted to discuss this with very young children.

      He was in front of the kindergarten pick up yesterday trying to stir up drama. He was yelling at a very nice man from the district office and recording, in hopes to get a rise.

      I don’t know why he is allowed on campus.
      And when I say the children are scared, let me tell you the demographics of our school so you don’t think I’m saying all the white people are clutching their pearls. Our school is about 65% Hispanic, about 20% Black and 10% white. All ethnicities are frustrated with this.

  21. Activists shouting in front of the school scaring the kids, and the cops being there every day only shows that irresponsible adults are always the problem.

  22. That meeting is going to be a [removed] show. I wish they wouldn’t have it at our school. We already have activists shouting in front of the school and many kids are afraid. The cops have been there every school day since this happened.

    I can tell that this is an older photo based on the decorations in the teacher’s lounge. I’m not sure why the teacher in the first video waited to send it to the news. But I do know that her teaching contract was not renewed because she was failing most of her 4th grade class. They shouldn’t have been posing with a noose to begin with though. This whole thing is dumb.

    I don’t think a racist would email the whole staff a photo, they would be evil in secret instead. That’s what makes me think this isn’t racially motivated. But this is still a weapon and inappropriate. Let’s hope this meeting doesn’t cause MORE problems for our students.

    • Look how stupid and foolish and Fake News racist this makes us look like in Palmdale to the outside World. The teachers should be paid compensation and the Superintendent should be fired for not supporting the teachers and standing up for Palmdale. Radical liberals only think about is themselves and publicity not about the harm to the community or our country. This might of just caused Palmdale and AV to lose thousands of jobs from companies that were thinking of moving here now and in the future. We are a laughing joke of LA County. We are our worst enemies in AV. No wonder LA County treats us like step children/second class morons. We let them give us peanuts in taxes and resources. And they take our tax money without giving us our fairshare. We are stupid in AV – This is just another prime example of Failed Leadership of the Schools and Cities of AV!

      • Remember the series of off color racial remarks by the Palmdale Mayor? He is now being watched closely but the NAACP leadership playing politics, let him slide. The settlement required annual sensitivity training for the entire elected City Council. Maybe that same training should be required for the Palmdale School Board and Staff.

    • These so called activists are harassing kids, and turning parents, teachers and community members against each other. One of this so-called activist is buddies w/ the 3 amigos from the AVUHSD board that are now about to be recalled and they are also BFFs with the gentleman with a failed brand new charter school that is sitting there empty. All these city and school officials were bought off with dirty money, none are looking out for the best interest of the students. Follow the money, these people have public Facebook accounts, when you figure out who is their friend in common, you will hit the jackpot and figure out where all this chaos and discontent is coming from. Money talks!