Florida teacher Diane Tirado fired for NOT giving half credit on assignments student don’t turn in
A former St. Lucie County teacher is making headlines for presumably getting fired for NOT giving students half credit on assignments they don’t turn in.
Identified as Diane Tirado, the eighth grade teacher from West Gate K-8 School in Port St. Lucie sent a farewell message to the kids:
apple on books photo/ Michael Jarmoluk via pixabay.com
“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. Mrs. Tirado”
“What if they don’t turn anything in?” Tirado said she asked administrators. “‘We give them a 50.’ I go, ‘Oh, we don’t.’ This is not kosher.’”
“Teaching is a calling for me,” she said to WPTV.
Tirado assigned a project, which she said she gave students two weeks to complete.
When several students didn’t turn it in, Tirado found out about what she calls a “no zero” policy, which is reflected in the West Gate student and parent handbook.
Below the grading rubric, in red lettering, the handbook states “NO ZEROS – LOWEST POSSIBLE GRADE IS 50%”
Tirado was terminated on Sept. 14, but there’s no specific cause mentioned in the letter from the principal because she was still in her probationary period, according to the letter.
Tirado posted the shot of the whiteboard on Facebook where it’s been shared hundreds of times. Check it out below.
“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,” Tirado said.
In another post: “Good morning! I am reading all the posts you have written and reflecting upon them. The reason I took on this fight was because it was ridiculous. Teaching should not be this hard. Teachers teach content, children do the assignments to the best of their ability and teachers grade that work based on a grading scale that has been around a very long time. Teachers also provide numerous attempts to get the work collected so they can give a child a grade. By nature, most teachers are loving souls who want to see students succeed. We do above and beyond actual teaching to give them the support they need. Are we perfect? NO. We make mistakes like all other human beings, but I know teachers work their butts off to help children to be the best people they can be!!!”
The school district issued the following statement: “There is no district or individual school policy prohibiting teachers from recording a grade of zero for work not turned in. The District’s Uniform Grading System utilizes letter grades A-F, numerical grades 100-0 and grade point averages from 4-0.”
Check out the photo from the handbook.
Tirado said she was instructed never to give a student a zero, and she hopes she can motivate policy change.
