Staff at Carter G. Woodson Middle School in Richmond, Virginia have found themselves in the middle of a controversy after an assignment given to students was deemed inappropriate by the parents.
The worksheet, which was distributed in a Family and Consumer Sciences class, contained a quiz that asked students questions relating to extramarital affairs.
What in the world? OK parents and teachers — Tell me what you think about this worksheet apparently assigned to students at one local middle school class.
Posted by Scott Wise - WTVR CBS 6 on Monday, November 13, 2017
The "Family Quiz started with basic questions about family structure like "What do you call your father's father?" but as it progressed, some of the questions asked "What do you call a married man's girlfriend?" and "What do you call the much younger boyfriend of an older woman?" reports the Associated Press.
The teacher allegedly downloaded the worksheet, which the students answered with words like "Trophy Wife" and "Boy Toy" from the internet.
"I couldn't believe that an educator would be giving something like that to an 11-year-old," Tara Sample told WTVR. "No one in the school system needs to be teaching my daughter what a mistress is or a trophy wife or boy toy."
The school's superintendent later confirmed that the assignment was not part of the approved curriculum, and addressed their next step in a statement.
In the statement posted on the Hopewell City Public Schools' Facebook page, Superintendent Dr. Melody Hackey said that they weren't aware of the teacher's actions until the quiz was posted on Facebook that evening.
"We were made aware last evening of the Facebook coverage of the assignment given to students in the Family and Consumer Sciences program at our middle school. We immediately began to investigate," she said.
Good Afternoon, here is the statement related to the worksheet that was distributed at Carter G. Woodson Middle...
Posted by Hopewell City Public Schools on Monday, November 13, 2017
"Upon further review, we have determined that a teacher downloaded this worksheet from the Internet," she continued. "This content was not a part of the current and approved curriculum for this course nor was it in any way an appropriate learning tool for middle school aged children. This assignment was also not included or referenced in the teacher's weekly lesson plans that are reviewed and approved in advance of instruction."
As soon as the statement went up, parents wasted no time in sharing their thoughts and feelings in the comment section.
Here's some of the things they had to say:
However, there were a lot of parents who came to the teacher and the school's defense.
The school board has classified the incident as "a personnel issue," adding that "no further comment is appropriate."
Do you think the teacher had a lapse in judgement or did she do it on purpose? Sound off in the comments!
