A psychology teacher at a high school in Florida was fired after he asked students to write their own obituaries ahead of an active shooter drill on campus.
Jeffrey Keene said he was told about the drill on Monday and decided to incorporate it into his assignment to 11th and 12th-graders at Dr. Phillips High School on Tuesday. Keene told NBC News that he felt the obituaries would help the students reflect on their lives during the school shooter scenario.
“It wasn’t to scare them or make them feel like they were going to die, but just to help them understand what’s important in their lives and how they want to move forward with their lives and how they want to pursue things in their journey,” Keene said.
“If you can’t talk real to them, then what’s happening in this environment?” he said. “In my mind, I’ve done nothing wrong.”
The assignment upset some students in Keene’s first period class and by the end of seventh period he was fired.
“Dr. Phillips High School families were informed that a teacher gave an inappropriate assignment about school violence. Administration immediately investigated and the probationary employee has been terminated,” a spokesperson for the school district told NBC.
Keene said he was given the option to resign without violating his contract but he refused because he did not believe that he did anything wrong.
“I don’t think I did anything incorrectly,” Keene told NBC. “I know hindsight is 20/20 but I honestly didn’t think a 16-, 17-, 18-year-old would be offended or upset by talking about something we’re already talking about.”
Keene had just started working at the school in January, and said he was not a member of the union and had no recourse to appeal the decision. He hopes to get another teaching job and does not intend to change his lesson plan.
