OHIO TEACHER FLUNKED COMMON SENSE TEST

Hilliard teacher resigns over controversial 10th grade morality quiz

By Jim Woods

The Columbus Dispatch
September 11, 2018

An English teacher at Hilliard Bradley High School has resigned after being placed on paid administrative leave last week because some questions in a quiz that she gave to students triggered a storm of controversy.

The Hilliard Board of Education accepted the resignation Monday night of Sarah Gillam, 35, who had been with the district since 2007.

She did not respond to a phone message from The Dispatch seeking comment.

Gillam acknowledged that her resignation was connected to a quiz given to her sophomore Language Arts class, said Stacie Raterman, a spokeswoman for the district. The test involved provocative and thought-provoking scenarios — including about sex and odd behavior — and students were asked which were acceptable and which were not.

“The circumstances that led to the resignation are disappointing, as she has recognized. While the district’s approved curriculum and educational materials encourage students to think critically, several items in this online quiz were simply inappropriate and inconsistent with established classroom resources,” the school board said in a written statement.

“This should never have been given. The district works hard to earn the respect and support of students, parents and the community at-large and we regret any mistrust this may have caused,” the board statement said.

Gillam was placed on indefinite paid leave Thursday, after district supervisors became aware of the situation through a Facebook post from parent Todd Sandberg, who had a student in Gillam’s class.

The 36-question quiz asked students to respond on a seven-step scale from “Not OK” to “OK.” The quiz’s website, called IDRlabs.com, has numerous quizzes that measure narcissism, typology, feminism, level of agreement with President Donald Trump’s statements and fascism.

Some of the more disturbing situations posed in the quiz included: “A man kills a baby rabbit with a knife on a live TV show.” “A brother and sister decide they want to sleep with each other — just once, to see what it would be like, but use a condom and the pill.” “Sarah’s dog has four puppies. She can only find a home for two of them, so she kills the other two with a stone to the head.”

Sandberg said he made the Facebook post so other parents were aware of it, not to hurt the district. He told The Dispatch last week that he thought the questions were more appropriate for a college-level Philosophy class than for 10th-graders.