Port St. Lucie teacher fired for failure to give partial grade? (West Palm Beach: credit, schools)

[WRnative]

What is the local reaction to this story?

A probationary teacher in Port St. Lucie claims she was fired for refusing to give students a 50 percent grade on an assignment the students never turned in to her. Doesn't the public support her???

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/flor...215918726.html

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by WRnative

What is the local reaction to this story?

A probationary teacher in Port St. Lucie claims she was fired for refusing to give students a 50 percent grade on an assignment the students never turned in to her. Doesn't the public support her???

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/flor...215918726.html

Quote from the article says there is no policy not to give 0s in that county so not in that school either.


Getting fired 4 weeks into the school year, is very unusual. To fire a teacher a principal would have to present it to the school board and get the go ahead to let her go. The letter would be from the board, since they hired her. She would be informed that a discussion was on the agenda and allowed to present her side. I am thinking there is more to this story than the grading system. It said many students did not turn in the homework? That is not normal . Usually maybe 1 or 2 don't complete an assignment not many. There must be a failure to communicate with her classes. As a teacher if too many in your class are failing, a teacher is the one who adjusts what she/he is doing to help the students understand better. You reevaluate your plans. You ask other teachers to give some advice.

She also complained about the school having no discipline, but you are the person who must keep control in your classroom. Kids need to be treated with respect to earn respect when you teach.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by Rabflmom

Quote from the article says there is no policy not to give 0s in that county so not in that school either.


Getting fired 4 weeks into the school year, is very unusual. To fire a teacher a principal would have to present it to the school board and get the go ahead to let her go. The letter would be from the board, since they hired her. She would be informed that a discussion was on the agenda and allowed to present her side. I am thinking there is more to this story than the grading system. It said many students did not turn in the homework? That is not normal . Usually maybe 1 or 2 don't complete an assignment not many. There must be a failure to communicate with her classes. As a teacher if too many in your class are failing, a teacher is the one who adjusts what she/he is doing to help the students understand better. You reevaluate your plans. You ask other teachers to give some advice.

She also complained about the school having no discipline, but you are the person who must keep control in your classroom. Kids need to be treated with respect to earn respect when you teach.

As I read the story, nobody challenged the teacher when she said she was dismissed for not giving a partial grade to those students who had not turned in the assignment.

Probationary teachers likely can be dismissed with no action by the school board. it sounds as if this teacher was fired by the principal, as there apparently has been no official comment by the superintendent or the school board.

https://www.tampabay.com/cg/news/flo...edit-20180926/

Sometimes schools have unwritten policies that are strictly enforced, especially policies designed to keep kids from failing, repeating classes, etc. This is well known.

What I was wondering is if the local media is investigating this issue? Have any other parents been interviewed? Has anybody shown up at the school board to ask about the policy? Has the state board of education decided to research the issue? Or is this policy just an accepted practice in Port St. Lucie and perhaps the rest of Florida???

Again, I would expect outrage about such a policy, whether official or not. Is there any?

Is it also true, as this Newsweek article claims, that in most of Florida, no student receives a failing grade as long as assignment, whether a weak attempt or not, is turned in.

https://www.newsweek.com/teacher-cla...ts-who-1137573

This no failing policy may be the norm in other states as well. It's just news to me, and seems very disastrous if any priority is being given to prepare students for the real world.

[DanielAvery]

The local news here has done stories on this situation. Like others have stated, the reporting seems to be rather one-sided. It was all very sympathetic to the teacher, showing her with her teaching materials in her home. The official from the school that they interviewed had his hands tied to some extent because they can't discuss an HR situation (one which might become a legal situation) in the open, so there wasn't much pushback from the BoE, either.

No one asked the teacher either of the key questions in my mind: Why did she leave that "I've been fired, have a nice rest of the year" note scrawled on the marker-board in her classroom? And why didn't she go to the teachers' union or the professional standards-type associations to ask for clarification of the so-called No-Zero policy prior to running to the press?

Writing that good-bye note (saying she'd been fired) to the kids had to be traumatic/distressing for the kids, and frankly it stinks of "poisoning the well". Kids being kids, she had to know the story (her version of it) would spread like wildfire. She didn't need to involve the kids in her situation, or should I say she ought not have involved them like that. I guess if she was a probationary teacher, she might not have joined the union yet...but the unions usually will stick up for teachers who aren't even members in situations like this. If she reported this so-called No-Zero Policy to a professional standards group as a new hire looking for "clarification", they may have kept this from becoming a media event. That is, unless she wanted to make her losing her job into a media event.

Also, one has to keep in mind that the "local news" outlets are headquartered in West Palm Beach, and coverage of the Treasure Coast isn't as extensive as it is for Palm Beach County. The story might get mentioned, but the story won't likely get the in-depth coverage of something happening in PBC.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by DanielAvery

I guess if she was a probationary teacher, she might not have joined the union yet...but the unions usually will stick up for teachers who aren't even members in situations like this. If she reported this so-called No-Zero Policy to a professional standards group as a new hire looking for "clarification", they may have kept this from becoming a media event. That is, unless she wanted to make her losing her job into a media event.

1) Teacher unions do NOT represent teachers in legal disputes if they are not members, nor if they join the union after the legal issue was raised. Many teachers gamble and don't join unions and pay dues expecting that they will never have a problem; the dues aren't cheap.

2) Your blame-the-teacher attitude is not uncommon among Americans, and, obviously deflects the discussion from the most important issue -- is there such a policy; if so, why? And does such a policy have any educational merit?

Hopefully, we'll learn more about this case, but only if the Florida media and the public give a damn about it.

Apparently this was a published school policy that the teacher found objectionable and ignored as a matter of principle. The school's handbook, she said, states that no zeros are allowed and that the lowest possible grade is 50 percent.

https://wlos.com/news/nation-world/t...2018-134627104

Perhaps she doesn't need the job and decided this policy was so detrimental to students that she could not abide by it.

[aridon]

Many districts in SE FL have minimum grades now. If not on assignments specifically on quarterly grades or however they break up their calendar.

Have to get those school grades up for $$$ so why not grade on a massive curve?

Note: I'm all for helping kids that help themselves. Do the work, I don't really have a problem with a minimum of 50. Not doing any work for half the year and then being able to still pass because of academic welfare isn't teaching kids anything useful.

[Mt.Hope]

Can you imagine going to work and not participating and getting 1/2 pay anyway? I hear bad things about Florida schools. Aridon I agree, but couldn't give you another rep. Sadly the teacher has the right idea, but was still probationary.