A psychology high school teacher was fired in Florida after recently asking his students to write their own obituaries ahead of an active shooter drill.
Speaking with Fox 35 Orlando, Jeffrey Keene recalled that there was going to be an active shooter drill at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando one day, and thought he could somehow tie it into his psychology lesson. However, part of what the teacher came up with was that his junior and senior classes could pen their own obituaries. Keene explained to the outlet that the lesson plan was to teach them how to stay safe during an active school shooting while also helping them reflect on their own lives:
“If they died 24 hours from now, what would they do differently than they did yesterday? And that’s to get them to get rid of all the fluff and show them what’s important in the world. It wasn’t to say, ‘You’re going to die, and let’s stress you out.’”
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But Keene said one of his students had gotten upset over the assignment and asked to speak with a counselor, prompting him to include a disclaimer in the lesson:
“I put a disclaimer on the bottom of the lesson saying this is in no way to upset you.”
Despite adding the disclaimer, the educator, who was hired by the school in January, received a notice from the school district that his employment was being terminated shortly after the assignment:
“When they said you have the option to resign without violating your contract, I said, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong.’ I said, ‘If I did, tell me what it is.’ They said, ‘We can’t do that.’ I said, ‘In that case, since I don’t know what I did wrong, you can go ahead and terminate me without cause.’”
The Orange County School District said in a statement to NBC News that they’d received complaints from families about the assignment, which they determined to be “inappropriate”:
“Dr. Phillips High School families were informed that a teacher gave an inappropriate assignment about school violence. Administration immediately investigated and the probationary employee has been terminated.”
Ultimately, Keene told the outlet that he does not regret giving the assignment and plans to appeal the termination:
“If you can’t talk real to [the students], then what’s happening in this environment? In my mind, I’ve done nothing wrong. I don’t think I did anything incorrectly. I know hindsight is 20/20, but I honestly didn’t think a 16-, 17-, 18-year-old would be offended or upset by talking about something we’re already talking about.”
What do YOU think, Perezcious readers? Do you think Keene should have been fired over the assignment? Or do you believe he took things too far by having students write an obituary for themselves? Sound OFF with your thoughts in the comments below. You can also here more details about the situation (below):
[Image via Fox 35 Orlando/YouTube]
