Teacher Story Time: How I Was Fired in Front of My Class

[littlemissblueyes]

My school district at one point required a copy of my high school diploma for their records. I graduated from the Highschool I work at.

[brittanylopez]

When I was a kid, my favorite teacher was fired in front of us. I will always remember him crying and leaving the room. No one ever explained anything to us, and we never saw him again. I later found out the parents had demanded he be fired because he had answered a question they deemed inappropriate. 30 years later, I am still sad thinking about how they treated our teacher.

[mommieke]

Don’t we tell our kids “your poor planning does not constitute an emergency for me”? And to have the audacity to use YOUR earned sick days for THEIR mistake!?!

[jercasgav]

This sounds SO MUCH like being a nurse in healthcare! Sometimes it seems like the system is rigged against good, hard working people while incentivizing bad behavior more!

[ryanhogge]

I am not a teacher, but every single non-vocational institution of learning that I have attended has been run by some of the most hostile, nasty people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. And I was an enlisted infantryman for six years. Hats off to you teachers who put up with that.

[morrisonmm]

I had emergency gallbladder surgery on the first day of school and had complications so was out for 4 weeks. The principal was so angry! When I came back to work he had a pallet of paper boxes (25 lb each) left in the middle of my room and told me I needed to put them away. I just had abdominal surgery. That was the last straw. I quit. Best thing I ever did... Teaching is a horrible job because of administration not kids.

[seangilmore]

Most important part here: "Luckily, I was in a union."

[alberg]

on the flip side, I found out that I lacked 1/2 year of Freshman English with 2 months to go for graduation, having transferred from a school that only required one semester to my present school which required two semesters. I hurried over to the English Dept and was able to speak to Dr, Ghallar . After listening to my situation he rummaged in his bookshelf and pulled out a poem, Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold. He told me to sit down and write a critique, which I did. After reading it over he said, "you're fine, congrats on your graduation" idiot bureaucrat was he!

[janetwalsh]

I identify with your plight! My principal called me into her office before school one day. I had “bus duty” the previous afternoon. She asked me if i knew a particular 5th grade student. i did not. “ We’ll his dad called me and said you grabbed his son by the ear and threw him in the car.” I leaned back in my chair and said, “ Oh for crying out loud! When is the meeting?” She responded that there wouldn’t be a meeting. She had told the father that she would talk to me.. I said, “ Thanks for the trust and support.” I left her office and went to inform my CTA rep, in case this went any further. Keep in mind this was after 25 years as a Special Ed teacher and 9 years as a first grade teacher! It didn’t go any further but still continues to haunt, disgust and sadden me even after 12 years of retirement.

[gregor]

I quit teaching at age 45, mostly because of inept management, and described myself as an Escaped Teacher. It sure felt that way.

[weatherlady]

OMG. Totally unprofessional on their part. To get back into teaching, as a backup, I had to retake a class that I had already had in college. The district said they had updated the class to reflect modern sensibilities. Several of the videos shown in class, I kid you not, were from the 1950s, the 1970s, and 1980s. The only thing modern added was the shaming added to the end of the semester long class, which I finished in one week. I was the oldest in the class by 3 decades (or more). When I turned in a paper, of which there were 20 in total, They were not only long, well researched, and ridiculously documented with plenty of pertinent personal examples and experiences. The instructor flabbergasted that I had to take the class. Score 130/100 and I'm out $400, but the district is happy.

[AdrianaGonzalez-zqtx]

Admin: You're fired. Right now. In front of the children. Because you didn't take a class three years ago and we should have fired you in two.
Devin: ...I took that class ten years ago.
Admin: Lies! Guilty until proven innocent! Now stay fired, take two sick days to spend loads of money for something we already accounted for, and be rehired. You're welcome. Have a good day.

I have loads of stories. I'll write another post

[irmagonzalez-ramirez]

First weeks as a teacher I was told the funding for my position had ended and they would be letting me go. I did not realize that as a union member you just become displaced not fired. I drove in tears to the nearest HEB to apply to work in the grocery story but the application had no place for your certification or College Degree. When I asked where I could write in My Bachelors degree the lady almost tripped over an open file cabinet trying to get to me to offer me a position in management that started the very next day. I felt hope for the first time in hours. The school contacted me and told me that there was an overflow in another grade level and I would start in that grade the following day. I spent the rest of the year telling myself if things got hard I was wanted at HEB. HEB is always hiring!

[MikeMouradian]

I've come to your stories late but had to add mine to this document. After 30 years of teaching a class, requirements changed so I needed more credits in that subject. I had also been teaching that class at the Community College. So, I enrolled in my class to get the credits I needed. I retired the next year.

[travisstoll]

I was called into the office, chastised, and repeatedly asked the same question for what seemed like an hour but was more like thirty minutes. "Why is --'s state mandated scantron not bubbled in with answers? You know you will have your license revoked?" What was the hardest part was the smirk on the testing coordinator who reported me.

The student in question was absent the day of the test.

When the attendance clerk finally came in to confirm his absence, the tension and anger on my principal's face dissipated and he just told me I could leave. Later I found three bite- sized chocolates in my mailbox. This was the testing coordinator's apology.

[patcon]

At least the receptionist who took your paperwork didn't "lose" it. I would have demanded to hand it directly to a person who could verify that it was indeed the required paperwork and attest to that in front of witnesses including my union rep.

[hmeyer]

When I was a young teacher I was assigned to yard-duty at lunch time. As I walked past a group of guys I notice that one of them had a very large knife that he was showing to his friends. I told him he had to give it to me, and he refused. I told him he needed to take it to the office, and he refused to do that as well. I was a petite 24-year-old, and he was a large football player, and the whole thing made me quite uncomfortable. I went to the office to get back-up, and the secretary said, "I don't think there's anything in the rules about not having a knife at school; my daughter always has a pocket knife in her purse." The secretary and counselor then got a copy of the handbook and noticed that, sure enough, there is a rule against having knives at school. So they told me I had been correct and that I should go back out and tell him he had to give me the knife. Umm . . . no . . .

[donaldward]

In 2019, I retired from a school district that I had taught in for 36 years. I was one among seven other teachers who retired at the same time. Collectively the eight high school teachers that were retiring had taught over two hundred and six years. As retirement gift from the high school administration, each of us received a sack filled with the following items, a badger yeti cup, a fifteen dollar Sonic card, and a small baggy of candy! While in that school year had hired a new superintendent at the salary of $140, 000.00 (10, 000.00 dollars more than the last individual), a brand new Ford pickup truck, a clothing allowance, and remodeled his office building a private restroom complete with a shower! At the time I retired, I was was the longest tenured teacher in the district! I still feel the love!

[artwithheart]

Teachers have the biggest heart, greatest patience, unrelenting discernment, largest amount of admin and the smallest amount of time to do it all. To all of you still out there trying to make a difference, keep your head up and remember who you do it for. For those of us who have already left, we came, we saw, we taught and we loved. May you all be blessed as you bless those around you.

[rjwohlman]

I taught school for 17 years and just quit. the constant BS that teachers have to deal with is absurd.