A California teacher is on administrative leave after being accused of sending a photo of a Black child in an ankle monitor in a group chat.

According to the Long Beach Post, members of the Long Beach Unified teachers union said John Solomon, who teaches at MacArthur Elementary School, texted the photo of the Black child with a caption that read, “My First Ankle Monitor.” It also said, “We need this for our runners,” referencing special needs students who may wander off.

“That image is troublesome on many levels,” one person texted in response to Solomon’s alleged text.

The screenshot also showed a response from Solomon, who maintains that his phone was hacked: “Yeah. I see that,” Solomon allegedly replied.

The teacher accused of sending an image of a Black child in an ankle monitor says he was hacked

Per the Long Beach Post, the teacher’s union appointed a three-member investigative committee, which said Solomon’s claim that “somebody else sent the text to the Bargaining Team is simply not credible.” The investigation states that multiple people saved Solomon’s message and noticed that he continued to text from the same number.

Solomon’s attorney, however, said the accusations are defamatory and his client may take legal action against the union. He has now resigned from his position as a member of the union bargaining committee, saying he’s busy with responsibilities in the classroom.

Still, Solomon maintains his position as secretary of the union’s executive board.

How are the teachers’ colleagues reacting to the inappropriate text?

Manar Totonji, a science teacher at Poly High School, said he was in shock when he learned about the inappropriate text in July. Totonji told the Long Beach Post that he was in “complete disbelief that something so repugnant and racist” was sent by “a person that we all elected, who is representing our collective interests to the district and who actually sits in a classroom himself.”

Totonji is now leading an effort to remove Solomon from the executive board: “There’s collective disgrace and shame that we need to separate ourselves from,” he said at a recent meeting.

Bola Oduwole, a math teacher at Poly High, echoed Totonji’s sentiments at the meeting.

“I wish Mr. Solomon was here, because I wanted to wait and look him in the eye and talk to him,” Oduwole said. “My question to him is: Every time you see an African American kid or an Asian kid or a brown kid is that all you see? I wonder what other stereotypes exist in your mind.”

The post California Teacher Placed On Leave Over ‘My First Ankle Monitor’ Photo Of Black Child, Says He Was Hacked appeared first on Blavity.



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