Teachers at a Texas junior high school have been disciplined after a Grade 7 student received a mock award naming her ‘Most likely to become a terrorist.’
Speaking with Houston’s KHOU News, Lizeth Villanueva, 13, said she was handed the certificate on Tuesday during a mock awards ceremony at Anthony Aguirre Junior High school, just outside of the Houston area.
“They just found it as a joke,” Villanueva told the news station. “She said that some people might get offended, but she doesn’t really care about our feelings.”
The teen told KHOU News that other teachers were present at the time when she and other students received the certificates.
“She was laughing about it,” Villanueva said.
Speaking with NBC’s KRPC News, Villanueva’s mother said she was surprised by what her daughter brought home from her advanced learning program.
“When she first showed me the paper, I’m like, ‘What is this?’ I read it again, and I’m like, ‘What is this?’ That’s when my daughter told me it was supposed to be a joke,” Ena Hernandez said. “It doesn’t look like a joke to me.”
The student was named ‘Most likely to become a terrorist’ less than two days after a terrorist attack at Manchester Arena in the U.K., that killed at least 22 people and injured scores more.
The school’s administration issued an apology for the “insensitive and offensive fake mock awards that were given to students after the official school awards ceremony had concluded.”
https://twitter.com/AguirreBulldogs/status/867232327969234949
“As principal, I want to assure all students, parent, and community members that these award statements and ideals are not representative of the Aguirre vision, mission, and educational goals for its students,” reads the statement. “An investigation will be launched into these events.”
Hernandez said the principal apologized to the both of them during a meeting at the school.
“We’re really upset about it coming from a teacher,” Hernandez told KRPC News. “That program is supposed to be for advanced kids. It is kind of hard to believe that she’s doing that. Being a teacher–giving this to a 13-year-old. How is she going to feel when she grows up later on?”
The Channelview Independent School District issued a statement saying: “The teachers involved in this matter have been disciplined according to district policy and the incident is still under investigation.”
The school district did not say what punishment the teachers received.
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