Should this teacher have been fired?

Well 50% is failing so I don’t know why it even matters.
Also the article gave conflicting statements, for example “There is no District or individual school policy prohibiting teachers from recording a grade of zero for work not turned in.”
This gives me a feeling that we aren’t getting the whole story.

What I will say is that if she signed a contract that specifically stated that, and she did it anyway, then yes. She deserved to be fired.

I think the argument against the policy is that it doesn’t reflect real world. In the real world, if you don’t do something, you don’t get partial credit for it. You get no credit for it.
As for where the policy comes from, the video on the link I gave says it comes from the Parent and Student handbook the school gives out. The school district says there is no such policy in the district of in individual schools. I think the school adminstrators just didn’t want to hear from irate parents. Personally, I’m not sure why the parents should be irate in the first place, but that’s me. If my kids didn’t do homework that the teacher gave them a zero, I didn’t get mad at the teacher. I went after my kids to see why they weren’t doing their homework. If there was something wrong with the assignment then I would take whatever action I felt was proper…talk to the teacher, work through the principal…whatever it might be.

I had seen this earlier in the year & I do NOT understand WHY she was fired!!! I tend to agree with @Dutchess_lll that there is MORE to the story than they have released. One thing the story said that nullifies everything…she was in her probationary period & they didn’t “need” a reason in order to fire her!!! I find it ridiculous that a child can refuse to turn in their assignment & not be given an incomplete (ZERO) for not doing the assignment!!!

@seawulf575 You corrected your children because you CARED about them & their life!!! NOT all young parents care that much. They just want their kid to have whatever it is that they want even IF it means not turning in their assignments!!! They think that their kid is above being punished by anyone!!! Kid complains, parent reacts just so they don’t have to deal with the kid!!!

It’s difficult to get upset about manufactured outrage stories about some local school district. That said, I suspect we’re about to hear how this is connected to liberals or Obama.

As an aside, I am completely opposed to homework. It’s not just that there is too much – there should be no homework at all.

Well dayum, I was looking forward to one post where there was NO politics involved & I had hoped that this was going to be it!!! Personally, I LOVED going to school & I LOVED doing homework. I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without it!!!

If it involves school you can bet it will turn political.
I loved school, loved doing projects, loved diagramming (in science, not sentences,) I enjoyed tests, I tolerated homework. If I needed help my Dad helped. Mom whined and bitched but Dad helped. It never took more than 30 minutes.
I have helped my kids and grandkids with homework. It gives me an idea of what they’re learning and how. If they buckle down you’re looking at 15 to 30 minutes of home work.
I feel sorry for the kids who have no support from home.

Well, this can be looked at two ways. If the student turns in nothing then zero makes sense since there was no effort. But, if they are going to count an F as 50–59, then that is what an F is. It’s a mathematical question, and I can understand the argument for giving at least a 50, but zero sounds more accurate. Why should zero effort be any points? Well, the problem is zero to 50 mathematically is a huge difference, and one missed homework could drastically affect the GPA, whereas a point system from 0–5 (F-A) would not. She deserves to be fired if she doesn’t understand the math. She doesn’t deserve to be fired if she was questioning how the system is set up. I doubt we have the entire story.

0’s were always given for assignments not turned in when I was in school. You could usually then turn it in late with a penalty. Anything was better than a zero, so even turning it a day late and getting an automatic C or lower was better than getting nothing. But if you don’t do the assignment, it’s worth nothing.

Dumb policy.

I agree with @Demosthenes, don’t turn it in get a zero. Turn it in late, get some kind of partial grade. I disagree with a policy, if it exists, of nothing lower than a 50 just like I disagree with being about to have a GPR higher than the maximum. What the hell use is having a GPR of 4.0 if you give out 4.2’s, 4.3’s etc. If you feel some kind of need to do that then raise the possible GPR level. I mean, if a perfect GPR is 4.0 then how can you have more than perfect?

So no, the teacher should not have been fired for that. The school board should have been drawn and quartered.ok, maybe not that extreme but something equivalent

Sorry @LadyMarissa it wasn’t supposed to be a political discussion. And I didn’t try making it one!

@seawulf575 I know that wasn’t your intention & my comment wasn’t directed toward you.

The whole point of Homework is to help you learn the material. Tests are designed to see if that happened. Giving credit for homework is to help those that don’t learn the material but try. If you can demonstrate that you’ve learned the material by passing the test, why would they want to reduce your grade simply because the material came easy to you. I’ve never been a fan of useless homework. Sounds like this teacher merely wants the work done whether it helps you learn or not. Fire her.

@LadyMarissa I know that. I was sort of affirming I wasn’t taking the bait.

The sue happy parents are the reason this kind of stupid shit happens, not the school systems.

@Jaxk I think there is a bunch of people who feel homework helps form good habits. I tend lean towards being anti-homework, especially I’m against daily homework, and most especially against it for children K, 1, and 2. So, it’s not me talking, I’m just relaying information.

To me homework is a responsibility that should be taken seriously by students and parents whether they agree with it or not.

@Dutchess_lll I tend to agree, though I will say I went to bat for my daughter when she was in 5th grade because the teacher was using homework as a cop out for being unable to engage the students. It was a history class (boring for the kids) and she was assigning a report due Monday, another on Tuesday, again on Wednesday, a fourth on Thursday with a big report due on Friday. This was week after week. On about the third week of watching my daughter spend hours each day trying to keep up with these reports I finally had a talk with the teacher. She admitted she had no idea how else to get the kids to look at the material. I asked if it was working and she said it wasn’t. I suggested she stop doing it and try turning the class into a game. At the end of the first week of this, I talked to her again. She was amazed. The students were going home to study so they could do better in the game. Her job was easier and the kids were more engaged. But none of the fact she had no idea how to engage the students excused my daughter or any of the kids from ignoring her homework assignments and not doing them. So homework needs to be taken seriously, but teachers need to think about what they are assigning and if it is doing any good. And probably most importantly, parents need to be engaged.

I agree.