That story was all over the internet last fall; it's weird that that that website decided to publish it as if it's current news. It's a good story that feels like it could be true, demonstrating both how little control teachers have over their own classrooms and how coddled kids these days are. However as with pretty much any story where someone claims to have been punished for being a little too tough on snowflakes,
that doesn't appear to be the real story.
Instead, the school claims she was fired because she was a shitty teacher and there were numerous complaints about verbal and even physical abuse, including
putting a student in a chokehold and slapping another student on their butt. (Given that several Florida counties still allow teachers to spank students, I'm pleasantly surprised the school district even considers the latter allegation an issue. She denies this and claims to have retained a lawyer to fight wrongful termination, but "it's all lies, ima sue!" doesn't inspire confidence.
The school also claims that it has no such policy, however other sources have pointed out that
its own handbook states in big red all-caps letters: "No zero's- lowest possible grade is 50%." Leaving aside the multiple punctuation errors in that sentence, the school
clarified when pressed that the policy does not apply to students who turn work in, a minimum grade of 50% only applies to work actually attempted in order to encourage students to try. It's not at all clear from the handbook that's the actual policy, but I've has teachers with that same policy, and it seems like a reasonable policy, though I'd probably craft it as "50% on each part of the assignment seriously attempted," allowing below zero for partially completed work. The school district
also described it as a "best practice," rather than a "policy," meaning that while it exists, it's not necessarily enforceable.
Now, it's possible that school officials were annoyed by Ms. Tirado ignoring their "best practices" when it came to partially completed work or late assignments and seized on complaints they would usually have ignored to justify her firing. I had a similar experience, though substitute "annoying my immediate boss and coworker" for "ignoring best practices," and I'm no great believer in the honesty, integrity, or basic competence of public school administrators.
However because this story is so pat, so conveniently fitting a growing anti-snowflake narrative, and because she went right to "lies, I'm hiring a lawyer!" I'm very skeptical. Generously, what might have happened is someone confronted her over her grading, either misapplying the guideline or if she gave zeros to incomplete or late work. Then later, when the school told her she was being fired for being cruel to students or abusing students or whatever, she immediately jumped to this policy.
So back to the lawyer thing: if she
had already gotten a lawyer, that lawyer would have told her not to directly comment on pending litigation, which tells me she either didn't look for a lawyer, didn't find one who thought she had a case, or ignored the lawyer's advice. If she
does find a lawyer who will take her case, the outcomes could range anywhere from her being ordered to pay court fees for the school to her getting a settlement because she convinces a court she's right. However I think what's
most likely if it goes to court is tha she settles for an amount a that just about covers her legal fees in exchange for going away and shutting up (ie, an NDA), which is how most civil lawsuits I'm familiar with have ended.