NEW YORK (VINnews) — A Florida teacher was fired for giving her students zeros for missing assignments.
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Diane Tirado has been a teacher for years. Most recently, she was an eighth-grade history teacher at Westgate K-8 School in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Diane recently gave her students two weeks to complete an Explorer notebook project, but several students simply didn’t hand it in. Since there was zero work done, Diane gave them zeros.
She got fired for it, because the elementary school has a rule called the “no zero policy.”
The lowest possible grade that teachers can give students is a 50, even if they don’t turn anything in. That means that an extremely poor completed assignment is worth the same number of points as no assignment at all.
It’s a rule that Diane, unsurprisingly, does not agree with. After she was fired for disobeying, she left her students a charming goodbye message on the whiteboard.
“Bye kids. Mrs. Tirado loves you and wishes you the best in life. I have been fired for refusing to give you a 50 percent for not handing anything in. Love, Mrs. Tirado”
The scale, as outlined by the school, reads as follows:
A = 90 to 100
B = 80 to 89
C = 70-79
D = 60-69
F = 50-59
Diane later shared the story on Facebook, hoping to spread awareness about the school’s policy.
“A grade in Mrs. Tirado’s class is earned,” she said.
“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.”
Diane’s post has gone viral, and most commenters agree with her position, stating that it’s not fair to hand out grades for work that doesn’t exist.
No zero policies are common in many schools, and teachers notoriously hate them, but it’s at least worth considering why they exist. Some educators say it’s because when a student earns a zero, it’s very difficult for them to ever recover their grade in that class. In other words, it may be too harsh. Others argue that, if you don’t want a zero, don’t turn in nothing! Getting an earned zero is a great way to learn to at least try.
A follow up statement from the school stated: “Ms. Tirado was released from her duties as an instructor because her performance was deemed sub-standard 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.”
However, school representatives did not deny the existence of the no zero policy, and Tirado claims the school engaged in a smear campaign after she became a “whistleblower” on their policies. She’s currently considering legal action against the district.
Still, the debate over the grading policy rages on.
“The reason I took on this fight was because it was ridiculous. Teaching should not be this hard,” Diane said.
If you do zero work, you deserve a zero.
Enough dumbing down our kids. They don’t gain anything from being dumbed down.
The school can have a policy that if you hand in your paper afterwards, the zero goes away but you lose a certain amount of points off your assignment.
She should sue the school admin for defamation.
Stupid rule.
This story is 8 years old.
in USA stupidity reigns.
enough with teachers trying to educate our kids
Great policy for most of us.
Cuts the supply and raises the value of capable, hard working employees.
If the no zero policy was the reason why this teacher was fired, it is unacceptable. If u just take up space and contribute nothing, u deserve nothing. Students are graduating without basic knowledge of writing, reading, math and history. Grades must be decided on merit!
I give my 3rd grade and 7th grade students zeros, but that’s only if they do zero work. I give partial credit, especially in math, and sometimes even in spelling. I also drop the lowest mark when calculating their grade. It’s an unofficial policy, so the students don’t really know about it. If a student got one zero, it won’t count against their grade, but the next lowest test mark will.
Whatever happened to taking responsibility for learning the material and demonstrating proficiency? When I was in college, one student got a 2 (out of 100) on a physics exam, and he concluded that this was not the major for him. A school for district, that insists that doing nothing earns you a grade of 50 is committing a fraud on everybody who looks at the grades. Grade inflation at universities has done nothing but make it harder for students who are truly capable to stand out.
The US is going the way of Dodo.
We stand with the teacher. You may show and and insist on doing nothing; therefore you earn nothing. You deserve. a “zero”. Coddling students will not help them succeed! Our reading and math scores in the public school system are SHAMEFUL. We have become an illiterate society.
As a teacher I completely agree with her. However the school and district has their rules. I am not sure why she didn’t give them a 50 and thats it.
You don’t have to agree with it. Thats the policy.
That’s too bad. Those kids deserved a zero. Future bandits
“because when a student earns a zero, it’s very difficult for them to ever recover their grade in that class.” — So GIVE THEM A MECHANISM to recover, and NOT a free lunch.
The rule should be, you hand in an assignment, minimum you get is 50% – even if its actually worth 0. You cant have a grade for not doing anything! Once you give a grade for no work, you may as well stop teaching.
Alternatively, grade it as N for not complete, when they do the assignment they can get an actual grade that counts.
What’s wrong with an “F”?
Stupid rule but also stupid stuck up teacher
They should pay her 50% now!
This is a mean teacher. GOOD she got fired! Can’t be mean to anyone else anymore.
The rule is silly but possibly the teacher was otherwise ineffective as the school said. It is strange that she refers to herself in the third person: “A grade in Mrs. Tirado’s class is earned,” she said.