US teacher fired for telling students to write obituary as homework
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The teacher recalls telling the class of 35 students that “this isn’t a way to upset you or anything like that,” adding, “If you can’t talk real to them, then what’s happening in this environment?”
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Aerial view of the Dr. Phillips High School in Florida, US in 2015. (Twitter)
A Florida teacher at Dr. Phillips high school in the area of Orlando was fired for giving his students homework to write their own obituaries ahead of a scheduled active shooter drill on campus - but he has no regrets.
The psychology teacher, Jeffrey Keene, told NBC News, “It wasn’t to scare them or make them feel like they were going to die, but just to help them understand what’s important in their lives and how they want to move forward with their lives and how they want to pursue things in their journey,”
Keene learned that the 11th- and 12th-grade students have a scheduled rehearsal on April 4 on how to respond to an active shooter incident, and thought the assignment would allow them to reflect on their lives.
He recalls telling the class of 35 students that “this isn’t a way to upset you or anything like that,” adding, “If you can’t talk real to them, then what’s happening in this environment?”
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That same day, Keene said some of his students relayed to him that they were interviewed by school officials about the obituary assignments, and by the end of the day, Keene was told he was fired from his job.
A spokesperson for the school district told NBC after the school declined to reply that the employee responsible for “an inappropriate assignment about school violence” was fired.
Just what DeSantis wants
Speaking to NBC, the teacher expressed sorrow in not being qualified to join the local teachers' union since he was just hired in January this year, and he has no administrative approach available for reinstatement.
The school district noted that Keene was still completing his post-hiring probation period, which means that his firing was easier than for a teacher that finished the period. With that being said, Keene still has hope of finding a job in the teaching sector.
“I don’t think I did anything incorrectly,” Keene said. “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.”
A mere three days after the Nashville school murders and five days before the Keene was fired, Florida’s Republican-led legislature passed a vote permitting gun owners to carry around firearms and guns without a state permit - approved by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Read more: DeSantis could face lawsuit for banning African American studies class
According to the Gun Violence Archive, the mass shooting that took place a week prior at Nashville's Covenant school was one of the over 140 mass shootings in the US this year.
