Indiana Teacher Assigned ‘Anti-Trump Homework,’ Allegedly Bullied Eighth Grader For Watching Fox News
An Indiana eighth-grader was assigned “anti-Trump homework,” and his father is none too pleased about it, The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel is reporting.
The incident happened on March 20, and quickly became a hot topic around the northern Indiana city, and then around Indiana. It is only now making the national news, Yahoo News is similarly reporting the incident.
Fourteen-year-old Jacob Hein was in Sarah “Sally” Ford’s honors Spanish class. The word of the day here is “was,” because he’s not in her class anymore – but more on that in a few paragraphs. While he was still in the class, he, like other students in the class, was assigned to pick a news story and summarize it, in Spanish. He chose to write about Air Force pilots reportedly seeing UFOs. He used Fox News as a source.
Jacob says that he was never told that any sources were acceptable or unacceptable.
However, after turning in his assignment, Ms. Ford allegedly walked over to Jacob and berated him for using Fox News as a source. She also allegedly told him that Fox News is, to use one of Donald Trump’s favorite terms, “Fake News.”
What’s more, the next assignment was to be a family tree, in Spanish. But while the rest of the class worked on that, Jacob was given a different assignment. He was to write a report, in Spanish, on Trump’s “many lies.” And of course, Fox News was off the table as a source.
ICYMI, Fort Wayne Community Schools teacher accused of bullying student over use of Fox News as source on current events report. https://t.co/3JWonPXqV6 pic.twitter.com/7eAG0yg8cx
— news-sentinel.com (@newssentinel) April 26, 2018
Once Jacob’s dad, Todd Hein, heard about this, he was not having it. A few phone calls later, and Jacob, his parents, Ms. Ford, and the principal were all in a closed-door meeting. According to the family’s report of what happened in the meeting, three things happened. First, Ms. Ford allegedly admitted to everything as Jacob described. And second, Ms. Ford was asked to leave the meeting because she “wasn’t being helpful.” The Heins say the teacher watched the rest of the meeting through a window. Third, when the parents described what happened to Jacob as “bullying,” Ms. Ford allegedly barged through the door to protest, before being ordered out again by the principal.
In a statement, Fort Wayne Community Schools spokesperson Krista Stockman said that, if the Heins’ allegations are true, then the teacher was out of line.
“Fort Wayne Community Schools does not condone the kind of behavior detailed by this parent.”
However, matters of teacher discipline, both at Fort Wayne Community Schools and indeed, most public schools, are kept confidential. So what, if any, discipline Ms. Ford faces will be kept confidential.
Jacob Hein, for his part, has dropped the honors Spanish class in favor of a creative writing class.
