A California principal and four teachers have been placed on administrative leave after an image circulated showing them smiling as they posed with a noose.

Linda Brandt, the principal of Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale, reportedly shared a photograph of showed four teachers smiling as they posed with a rope tied into a noose.

After the photo leaked, another emerged of a noose hanging from a wall within the school.

While some suspect the photo may be have been a 'back-to-school necklaces' – an insider joke among educators that suggests they want to kill themselves just thinking about returning to their job after the school break – the picture has been slammed as insensitive or outright racist by others.

All the teachers, and Brandt, have since been suspended. One of the educators did not had her first year contract renewed prior to the scandal breaking.

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Four teachers have been placed on administrative leave after an image circulated showing them smiling as they posed with a noose

The principal reportedly shared offensive images in an email sent to all teachers earlier this month and it quickly spread on social media

'They had the audacity to show up today,' Shaka Phillipps, a former teacher, administrator, and educational consultant, told Yahoo Lifestyle as she protested them still having their jobs Thursday. 'The integrity of the school is completely compromised. To the black community, a noose is a weapon, a symbol of slavery and lynching.'

Her niece attends the school and she said she is 'now questioning the education every student of color has received in this class'.

The older brother a student at the school explained how let him know the image is an offensive reminder of a time when slavery was prevalent among African Americans. 'I showed her the picture of her teacher and of someone hanging from a tree,' Randle Jr. told Yahoo Lifestyle. 'She's sad and shocked that her teacher would hold a torture device.'

Teacher Michele Lemaire opined a 'lack of people of color' teaching at Summerwind is a 'huge issue'.

She said a third of the students there are black and another third Hispanic but there are only a few black teachers.

Teachers at Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale were told to go home on Thursday after protests from parents

Linda Brandt, the principal of Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale, shared the photograph in an email to all teachers earlier this month. She was placed on leave Wednesday

Parent Breyon Clemmons said that one of the teachers in the image has been the subject of racial controversy before.

Clemmons said her younger daughter is now having issues with a teacher at the school.

She 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.'

According to a teacher at the school who didn't want to be identified, all the unidentified teachers pictured look after first grade students.

The Palmdale School District didn't immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

Clemmons let her fourth-grade daughter skip class Thursday as they held a protest.

'You hate them little black babies. You hate them little Spanish babies. All them little minorities,' upset Darrin Harper expressed

Teacher Michele Lemaire called a 'lack of people of color' teaching at Summerwind a 'huge issue'. She said a third of the students there are black and another third Hispanic but there are only a few black teachers

Parent Breyon Clemmons said that one of the teachers in the image has been the subject of racial controversy before. Her daughters were taken out of class

'I don't want to come to school because I feel like they're going to hurt me or do something with the noose that they're not supposed to do,' 10-year-old Camille Clemmons told Antelope Valley Press.

Prior to the scandal Brandt was being considered for a promotion to Palmdale School District Superintendent.

Brandt was the first to be placed on leave on Wednesday evening after the incident 'involving the discovery of a noose and possibly inappropriate responses to that discovery' were brought the attention of the district that afternoon.

Superintendent Raul Maldonodo said they are investigating the matter

'The Principal has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of the matter,' Current Superintendent Raul Maldonodo said in a statement Thursday morning.

'Our Palmdale Promise to our students and community is to ensure the following: EQUITY for all our students, schools, and communities as reflected in outcomes and opportunities.

'Facilitating and supporting every student's achievement by BUILDING ON THEIR STRENGTHS, CULTURES, LANGUAGES, and experiences to create new successes. MULTILINGUALISM and MULTICULTURALISM as individual, community, national, and global assets in the 21st century. INTEGRITY AND COMMUNITY based on trust and the common purpose that empower individuals and communities.'

As parents protested Thursday the teachers were sent home.

'You hate them little black babies. You hate them little Spanish babies. All them little minorities,' Darrin Harper expressed as he spoke of his upset to Fox 11. 'You hate them just of where they're from. Because of the color of their skin you hate them? They're innocent. My babies.'

The Superintendent said he didn't know the context of the noose image.

Two teachers were recently fired from a New York middle school where a collage depicting nooses labeled 'back to school necklaces' was displayed for several months.

The nontenured staff members, who had been employed by the district for two to three years, were dismissed by the Roosevelt Union Free School District board.

Parents had become outraged after learning of the collage, which showed a pair of nooses jokingly dubbed 'back-to-school necklaces'.

The classroom collage also included a pink smiley face sticker, and the words 'ha ha' and '#yes.'

It was apparently in reference to an insider joke among educators that suggests they want to kill themselves just thinking about returning to their job after the school break.

According to Urban Dictionary, the phrase 'back to school necklace' is another name for a noose.

'This is due to the utter despair you feel when school starts back up again,' the entry for the term reads.