Teacher’s Fired But Before Taking Off Writes Message On Board For Students That Has School Up In Arms

Jan 21, 2019 by apost team

Going to school is part of an almost everyday routine for children. From Monday to Friday, they spend several hours sitting in a classroom and learning about many new subjects and topics within those subjects. Although it’s not always the most enjoyable experience 100% of the time, many students grow to love learning more about the world around them.

What can really make a difference in a child’s life, though, is their teacher. This is the one person that they rely on for five days a week for the entirety of the school year. If the teacher shows signs of believing in their students, their students are more likely to try their hardest when it comes to assignments, even the most challenging assignments. However, if a teacher seems disinterested in a student’s work or not passionate about their own career, it can sour the learning environment.

Starting in August 2018, Diana Tirado began teaching history to the eighth grade class of West Gate K-8 School in Port St. Lucie, Florida. However, she only kept her job for one month. Tirado believed that she was fired for giving zeroes on non-completed assignments, as it’s something that goes against school policy. However, the school has explained that there is much more to the story and troubling accusations about the previous teacher have since been made. An investigation was launched following Tirado’s firing. 

Still, Tirado decided to leave one last message for her students on her classroom’s white board before walking out of their lives for good – and it’s caused quite the commotion within the school and its surrounding community.

Tirado had been working as a teacher for 17 years before getting hired at West Gate K-8 School in August 2018. “Teaching is a calling for me,” she told ABC13 Houston. However, that call ended incredibly short as she was let go from the school in September of that year.

Speaking with the news outlet, Tirado talked about how she assigned an explorer notebook project and the due date was two weeks from the day it was assigned. When multiple students neglected to do their explorer notebooks and had nothing to turn in, she was forced to give them zeroes for the assignment due to their lack of work and effort put into the task.

But something in the handbook would lead to a bigger issue for Tirado. The handbook has a policy that does not allow teachers to give students a grade of zero, with the lowest grade that a student is able to receive is a 50%. This means that even if the students do not turn in any work or make an effort to complete an assignment, they still get half of the credit.

Still, Tirado stuck to her gut instincts and decided that students who placed no effort into the explorer notebook project did not deserve half of the credit. According to Yahoo, Tirado disagreed with the school policy as she believed that grades needed to be earned. 

“I’m so upset because we have a nation of kids that are expecting to get paid and live their life just for showing up and it’s not real,” she said.

Tirado was terminated, although there was no official reason listed on her termination notice as she was in her probationary period at the Florida school. Her last day was Sept. 14, 2018.

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Tirado’s students were not aware that she was going to be fired and she was to leave immediately. But before she left, Tirado decided she had one final message to leave behind. Her message read:

“Bye Kids. Mrs. Tirado loves you and wishes you the best in life! I have been fired for refusing to give you a 50% for not handing anything in.”

KSAT reported that there isn’t any policy that prohibits teachers from giving students zeroes. In fact, a zero can be given to a student for work that was either not attempted or not completed. However, a grade marked as an “F,” or failure, would still receive 50%.

Speaking with ABC13 Houston, a parent discussed why he believed a no-zero policy was helpful for students. “You don’t know what’s going on at home,” he said. “What you see is front level…”

A spokesperson for the school district said, “Her refusal to incorporate student’s Individual Education Plan accommodations (a federal mandate) into her instructional practices was deemed defiant and put students at risk. Her dismissal was not a result of grading issues.”

The school launched an investigation into Tirado’s termination, and explained that there was more to the story. According to KSAT, a spokesperson for the district said:

“Ms. Tirado was released from her duties as an instructor because her performance was deemed substandard and her interactions with students, staff and parents lacked professionalism and created a toxic culture on the school’s campus.

During her brief time of employment at West Gate, the school fielded numerous student and parent complaints as well as concerns from colleagues. Based on new information shared with school administrators, an investigation of possible physical abuse is underway.”

What are your thoughts on this story regarding a teacher’s termination? Let us know, and feel free to pass this along to your family and friends.