Posted on 10/03/2025 3:16:00 AM PDT by Morgana
Educators and a top California lawmaker are demanding an investigation into an elementary school teacher who shared a photo in a work group chat showing a black toddler wearing an ankle monitor.
John Solomon, a fifth-grade teacher at MacArthur Elementary School in Lakewood and a prominent leader in the Teachers Association of Long Beach, is under fire after a colleague shared the distasteful message he sent about their young students in May.
In the text to the 11-member group chat, Solomon included a photo of a cartoon black toddler smiling while wearing an ankle monitor on one foot, according to the message obtained by The Long Beach Post.
The image was styled to resemble a 'Little Tikes' toy package, with the mock toy labeled 'My First Ankle Monitor.'
'We need this for our runners!' Solomon wrote alongside the screenshot.
One team member quickly spoke out against the disturbing post, responding, 'that image is troubling on many levels.'
Rather than backtracking, Solomon instead replied from his number with a simple, 'yeah. I see that.'
According to several teachers, his use of the term 'runners' was a pointed, mocking reference to their special education students, who are more likely to wander off than other students, as reported by the outlet.
Shortly after the group chat was exposed, state Sen. Lena Gonzalez issued a statement urging the union to remove him entirely.
'Racist disparaging comments about any child in our Long Beach schools should never be tolerated,' Gonzalez said in a public statement.
'But learning about the racist text and photo shared by an LBUSD teacher, who is supposed to have the trust of colleagues, students and parents, is horrendous,' she added.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
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Gotta give it to the teachers for their honesty, they know what is coming with these kids.
So which is it - racist or ablist? Can anyone confirm that the term “runner” refers to a Special Ed student? To me it seems more likely it refers to students from low-discipline families who try to escape from school, hence “runner” and not “wanderer” or something similar.
That the teacher is evidently trying to use the “I was hacked” excuse tells you about his character and he probably shouldn’t be teaching anyway.
His main mistake was not understanding what a humorless intolerant group he was sharing with. The image does have a racist tone to it, but after reading the story, I think the guy shared it cause they have an issue with special needs kids wandering away (”runners”).
It’s funny. But it has no place at work.
People have no sense of propriety these days.
Thats hilarious!
So it’s a real product?
He was talking about keeping track of their impaired students not their purported criminal futures.
He was racially blind enough not to see there would be a problem with the picture in the minds of others.
It’s probably a gag. Read the bottom left sentence on the box referring to house arrests.
The saddest part of all this is that the issue escaped the group and is in the national paper and that we are commenting on 2 cent possible faux pas.
Trivialities as life
The saddest part of all this is that the issue escaped the group and is in the national paper and that we are commenting on 2 cent possible faux pas.
Trivialities as life
Oh, the outrage! Over nothing. If the location monitor was on a white baby nobody would’ve said anything. These people are so accustomed to watching TV commercials where the white guy is always the criminal or stupid and a black female is always smart, hard-working, inefficient.
“He was talking about keeping track of their impaired students not their purported criminal futures.”
I picked that up when I read it. The only reason it offended people was because the truth hurts.
In my day they were called speds or spazzes. There were other names, but I’m only mentioning the harmless ones.
CC
Great meme. I’ve used it before myself...it’s funny.
No, it’s AI.
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Yes it is a nothing burger.
But if the monitor fits.
Hurt butts can never take a joke always reading into..
Productive pruning of the hate is what’s required, dogooders.
I support his right to call’em like he sees’em
I saw that meme spreading around well more than a year ago. It’s hilarious - “Fisher Price - My First Ankle Monitor”
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