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.

Solomon has denied sending the message, insisting his phone must have been hacked - an explanation the district isn’t buying. 

'I wish Mr. Solomon was here, because I wanted to wait and look him in the eye and talk to him,' Bola Oduwole, a math teacher at Poly High, said during a board meeting held on Thursday, as reported by the outlet.

'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?' he added. 'I wonder what other stereotypes exist in your mind.'

The revelation of Solomon’s text put pressure on the Teachers Association of Long Beach (TALB), which has been trying to remove him from the union while also negotiating a new contract. 

Amid the ongoing controversy, the union appointed a three-person investigative committee to conduct an internal review.

Investigators ultimately determined that Solomon's message not only mocked disabled students, but also invoked harmful racist stereotypes about black children. 

They also found Solomon’s claim that his phone had been hacked to be 'simply not credible,' noting that several teachers in the group chat had saved his message, which came from the number he continued to use. 

Meanwhile, the fifth-grade teacher has called the accusations defamatory and says he will likely pursue legal action against the union and others he claims are spreading false information about the situation. 

But his staunch defense has done little to ease concerns among educators and the community.

Solomon has since resigned from the bargaining committee, citing 'increasing responsibilities in the classroom,' but has refused to step down as secretary of the union’s executive board.   

In his own words, the investigation is nothing more than a 'KANGAROO COURT,' according to LB Post.

The board said it has no mechanism to remove him but can recommend closing the matter entirely if he resigns - a move that has prompted a union member meeting on Thursday. 

During the meeting, members pushed to launch a recall campaign - a petition requiring signatures from at least a quarter of the union’s 3,700 members to trigger a special election to remove a board officer, according to The Long Beach Post.

Manar Totonji, a science teacher at Poly High School, revealed that when he learned about Solomon's text in July, he was 'in complete disbelief.' 

He called it astounding how something 'so repugnant and racist' had been 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.' 

In an email to LB Post, Gonzalez elaborated on the 'outrage' she felt over the incident.

'I am outraged and incredibly disappointed,' she said. 'As parents, we put our trust in schools to provide not just academics, but safe, nurturing spaces built on unity, equity, and inclusion.'

She further called on schools across the state to unite their communities, 'not spread harmful stereotypes or divisive rhetoric' - especially when 'the federal administration is pushing discriminatory deportation tactics.'

MacArthur Elementary School has declined to launch its own probe, claiming it 'falls outside their scope of authority,' according to the outlet.

As of now, Solomon remains employed as a teacher at the school.