Diane Tirado, a Florida history teacher, says she was fired for not following her the school’s “no zero” policy. The policy requires teachers to give at least 50% on assignments. Tirado assigned her students a homework task and, after several weeks of not receiving the assignment back, gave multiple students a zero. Tirado did not receive a specific cause for her termination in a letter from the principal because she was on probation having been recently hired.
Tirado graduated from Florida Atlantic University with degrees in secondary education and sociology. She previously taught math and reading at multiple schools in both Florida and Georgia. The thoughtful teacher of 17 years left a powerful message on her whiteboard after being fired from West Gate K-8 School.
Diane Tirado Stands Up For Teachers
The former teacher’s post has since received national attention. After receiving both praise and backlash, Tirado took to Facebook to post about why she took on this fight.
[protected-iframe id=”8bdd282dce8fc1b08606c55de357f741-860993-145255319″ info=”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fdiane.tirado.33%2Fposts%2F10216794852920609&width=500″ width=”500″ height=”363″ frameborder=”0″ style=”border:none;overflow:hidden” scrolling=”no”]
Although she was only employed at West Gate for one month she is looking into wrongful termination lawsuits. She was previously employed with the St. Lucie school board before taking a year off for personal reasons. After her year off she was reappointed, but it is unclear as to whether or not she is now off the probation time.
What Does West Gate Have To Say?
West Gate’s district published the following outline of the 10 point grading:
A= 90-100
B= 80-89
C= 70-79
D= 60-69
F= 50-59
Zero is on the scale for work that is incomplete, but in the school handbook, it is printed that the lowest possible grade is 50%.
In an interview with KSAT news West Gate responded with “Her refusal to incorporate students’ 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.”
Tirado has yet to comment.
