There are many subjects one can make jokes about. Terrorism is not one of them. Unfortunately, a group of teachers at Anthony Aguirre Junior High in Channelview, Texas, hasn’t received this memo and recently, gave “most likely to become terrorist” awards to a handful of middle school students.
To no one’s surprise, the Junior High School has come under attack for this recent development. 13-year-old Lizeth Villaneuva, a seventh grader, is one of the students who received a copy of the “award.” She says that several other students were given the award while students and teachers “watched and laughed.”
“They just found it as a joke,” Lizeth told KHOU. “She said that some people might get offended, but she doesn’t really care about our feelings, she was laughing about it.”
When Ena Hernandez, Lizeth’s mother, found the certificate, she was stunned. This is because Lizeth is enrolled in an advanced academic program and has never been in trouble. It is her belief that the award had something to do with the terrorist attack in Manchester that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert, therefore, felt it was very disrespectful.
“I read it twice. I’m like, ‘What is this?!’ It doesn’t look good at all, especially coming from a teacher, a grown-up woman,” Hernandez said. “It doesn’t look good because everything that’s going on right now.”
Upon meeting with the school’s principal, Eric Lathan, Hernandez received an apology. “I just think it’s going to stop, it’s going to end there,” she stated.
Shortly afterward, the Channelview Independent School District issued a statement informing the public that teachers involved would be “disciplined.” No further information was given. The statement read,
“The Channelview ISD Administration would like to apologize for the insensitive and offensive fake mock awards that were given to students in a classroom. Channelview ISD would like to assure all students, parents and community members that these award statements and ideals are not representative of the district’s vision, mission and educational goals for our students. The teachers involved in this matter have been disciplined according to district policy and the incident is still under investigation.”
Lizeth isn’t sure what action should be taken but isn’t opposed to one or all of the teachers involved being fired. What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!
