A dad has spoken out after seeing feedback on his son's homework, where a teacher said the youngster's efforts were 'absolutely pathetic' and 'sad'.
Chris Piland, from Pennsylvania, United States, took a photo of son Kamdyn's maths homework and posted it to Facebook, writing: "My son Kamdyn's teacher has been so rude to him and myself all year.
"He comes home with this and I am beyond frustrated that someone would write this on a child's work. Such great motivation."
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His son, who attends Valley View Elementary School, returned home from school with notes on his homework that allegedly said: "Absolutely pathetic. He answered 13 in 3 min! Sad."
The post soon went viral, and it wasn't long before an online petition surfaced, urging the school district to fire the teacher.
"Alyssa Rupp Bohenek is a teacher for the Valley View school district that thinks it's ok to bully and talk down to her students, and needs to be removed," the campaign said.
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"Fire Alyssa Rupp Bohenek."
However, it seems not everyone feels the same way as Chris, as a counter-petition on Change.com has now also been set up in support of the teacher, saying her actions - while 'wrong' - shouldn't lead to her dismissal.
The petition's description reads: "It's a petition in support of Alyssa Rupp Bohenk from The Valley Wiew School District to keep her job. What she wrote on the students paper may have been wrong to do, It is something she should reprimanded for but certainly not fired over."
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So far the petition has more than 600 signatures of the 1,000 goal.
"I think her comment was aimed at the parents and perfectly warranted. Get off of social media and practice with your child!!" one person commented.
"Social media should not be used as a source for unhappy parents. They're calling her a bully, and what are THEY doing to her now?"
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Another supporter said: "I'm sure you've all said some shitty things to your kids. You're just mad because someone else said it."
Chris has since posted an update to say the school board is investigating, writing: "Thanks to all the efforts and support of the dedicated people who signed and shared this petition, I'm happy to announce that the teacher in question is currently being investigated by the Valley View school board."
School superintendent Rose Minniti said: "It's a personnel issue and the results of that are not going to be dictated by social media.
"It's going to be dictated by the facts and evidence.
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"As always with everything, we're going to try to do what's best for the students and what we need to do for the employee under investigation."
Featured Image Credit: PA
Topics: US News