BAY COUNTY, FL (CNN) – A Florida high school teacher didn’t just give her student an “F” – instead, she wrote “WTF is this?” on a paper to signal he would be getting a zero.
His mother is calling for the school to take action against the teacher.
Melinda Smith says she was shocked when her son handed her his science homework and “w-t-f is this?” was written across the top.
“Just seeing ‘WTF’ what is this?’ you know, basically is this there’s no credit, it wasn’t anything about not getting the credit, it was more so the language about what the writing to students,” Smith said.
“That was very inappropriate and not acceptable for a teacher whatsoever.”
And now she’s calling for the teacher to account for her actions.
“I think for sure she needs to be reprimanded. I believe that something should be placed in her file,” Smith said.
The school’s principal, Coy Pilson, says they are taking the necessary steps to deal with the incident, and does not want to release the teacher’s name at this time.
“Once we were notified, I notified district officials and our HR has been involved and they’re currently investigating the situation,” Pilson said.
Pilson says he has spoken with the teacher regarding appropriate classroom conduct. “She was apologetic, and it was a mistake on her part.”
And he says he wants the community to know one thing about Rutherford High School: “All the teachers at Rutherford High School are caring, loving teachers and we’re also human and so we make mistakes, but we understand that we are called to a high professional standard and when we make mistakes we try to correct those mistakes and move forward.”
It’s unclear if any action will be taken against the teacher at this time.
The teacher in question does not want to respond publicly to the situation.
