Joyce Quiller, a former high school math teacher in Jacksonville, Fla., will likely get her job back after she was sacked in February over allegations that she constantly cussed out her students — and unfairly failed nearly 80 percent of them.
Quiller, 51, taught 10th- and 11th-graders in The Bridge to Success program at Ribault High School. The program is for students who are at least two years older than they should be for their grade levels.
Duval County School District officials gave Quiller her walking papers after finding that she routinely used obscenities in class.
For example, the investigation found that Quiller asked a student who failed to bring a pencil to class: “What is the point in coming to the motherfucking class if you do not bring materials?”
The math teacher allegedly told another student to “shut the fuck up.” (RELATED: Meet The Florida Math Teacher Who Constantly Cusses Out Her Students)
Still another student charged that Quiller, who is black, “criticizes him and calls him” the n-word.
Specifically, notes the Daily Mail, she allegedly scolded a group of male students who walked into class late by saying: “You all are some lazy n*****s for coming to class late.”
Those actions weren’t enough to constitute grounds for termination, though, according to a judge who ruled in Quiller’s favor last month.
“Quiller was placed in an almost untenable situation,” the judge wrote, according to The Florida Times-Union. “She did not have all the tools needed to work with the students, and her classes were too large. Nevertheless, she was expected to maintain her composure and professionalism.”
In a 21-page ruling, the judge expounded that the school district should have suspended the teacher without pay based on stipulations in her union contract, notes Jacksonville television station WJXT.
Quiller’s union-provided lawyer, Stephanie Schaap, had no comment for the local press because, she said, the case is not yet fully resolved.
Investigators said the math teacher also proclaimed which students were getting “F” grades in front of the entire class. In addition, she gave grades of “F” to just over 77 percent of her students. The rest of the students didn’t fare much better. Overall, 90.7 percent of Quiller’s students received a grade of either “D” or “F.”
She was also allegedly in the habit of sometimes refusing to accept students’ completed assignments or even answer questions about math.
In her own defense, Quiller submitted a written statement saying that she is “appalled and disturbed” at the allegations students and parents leveled against her. She said she believes students have a vendetta against her.
Whatever the case, this investigation isn’t Quiller’s first rodeo when it come to ribald language.
In 2001 and 2013, the teacher received verbal reprimands for allegedly saying inappropriate things. Highlights of her prior troubles include an incident when she used the phrase “your mammy” and an incident when she told a student to “get out of my fucking class.” Another time, she told a student: “Pull your damn pants up.”
Quiller was still undergoing counseling because of prior allegations when the current investigation began.
When Quiller was fired, The Times-Union provided the complete (but somewhat redacted) investigation into her behavior.
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