Diane Tirado was let go from West Gate, a Port St. Lucie public school in Florida, for refusing to give students a 50 instead of a zero on work not turned in.
She had been a teacher for 17 years prior to starting this school year working at West Gate K-8 as an eighth-grade social studies teacher. According to the school's policy, and others in the district, the lowest grade they could receive if a 50.
After the firing she wrote a note to her students on her final day on her classroom whiteboard that read:
“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. Mrs. Tirado.”
-Posted an update on her Facebook page Tuesday morning, saying, "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.”
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Here are the social posts in order that started this viral discussion: