UPDATE: Spanish teacher who quizzed middle schoolers over ‘privilege’ resigns
April 15, 2016
By Victor Skinner
TAMPA, Fla. – A Tampa middle school Spanish teacher who incited parental outrage with a student questionnaire about “privilege” resigned on Thursday.
First year teacher Yoselis Ramos, 23, asked her seventh- and eighth-grade students at Monroe Middle School last week to fill out an assignment titled “How much privilege do you have?” that inquired about sexual orientation, race, gender identity, mental illness and other personal information. The assignment asked students to circle the terms that apply to them, and provided options including “queer gender,” “pansexual,” “cisgendered,” and “asexual,” The Tampa Tribune reports.
priviligeformParent Regina Stiles raised concerns about the assignment after her ADHD daughter circled “mental illness” under the disability category.
“She has ADHD and apparently the teacher said there are some kids in class that have ADHD, and ADHD is a mental illness, and that’s why she circled that,” Stiles told WTSP. “To me ADHD is not a mental disability. It’s something she has.”
Stiles also took issue with the questions about sexual orientation and gender, and said her daughter was unsure what some of the terms meant.
“She’s 12,” Stiles said. “Some of these things should be taught at home.”
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Stiles and other outraged parents confronted Monroe principal Peter Megara about the assignment, and Megara suspended Ramos with pay pending and launched an investigation.
District officials said the assignment was not a district form, and the district doesn’t collect or track students’ personal information. Hillsborough County Schools spokeswoman Tanya Arja said Ramos wanted to teach students about equality.
“The investigation by the school district found that (Ramos) had caused a disruption, was teaching something that was not part of the district’s curriculum, and offended families by her lesson plan,” WTSP reports.
Ramos resigned Thursday during a follow up meeting with the school board.
The teacher was not immediately available to comment about her situation, the Tribune reports.
“Ramos started working with the school district in August at a salary of $38,001 a year. She previously worked as a news reporter with WUSF-FM radio and as a high school tutor through the University of South Florida, according to her LinkedIn online business network page,” according to the news site.
Many folks who commented online were clearly not sad to see Ramos go.
“Liberal is a mental disorder,” Eric Johnson posted in the Tribune comments. “Enjoy flipping burgers!”
“That questionnaire had nothing to do with Spanish class, and everything to do with pushing her white guilt agenda,” Elmore James added. “One more wasted class that could’ve been spent teaching what the kids were there for: Spanish education.”
“Crap like this is exactly why the US (which is supposed to be the greatest country in the world) isn’t even in the top 10 when it comes to education,” Ryan Hoad posted.
“Something is wrong with this woman,” Jeff Gagnon wrote. “I’m sure this will wind up with her getting some $$.”
