When some of Diane Tirado's eighth grade students didn't turn in an assignment, she gave them zeroes. But, according to Tirado, the Port St. Lucie School District mandates that the lowest
possible grade is 50 percent, apparently just for showing up.
But Tirado refused to give out any percentage points if the students did nothing, so she was fired on Sept. 14, she said.
She told Inside Edition the firing did not surprise her.
"I spoke up and I bucked the system," Tirado said. "The children know it and I had a child look me right in the eye and cross her arms over and say, 'You have to give me a 50 and I don't have to do anything.'"
Tirado said she wasn't allowed to say goodbye to her students in person, so she left them a note on the whiteboard instead.
"Mrs. Tirado loves you and wishes you the best in life!" the note read. "I have been fired for refusing to give you a 50 percent for not handing anything in."
The school district said it does not restrict teachers from giving out zeroes for incomplete or unsubmitted work and added that Tirado was fired because her performance was deemed substandard.
For her part, Tirado hopes to find workas a teacher in another school district.
