CONTROVERSY

Florida Teacher Fired After Having Students Write Their Own Obituaries

Jeffrey Keene said that, despite the outcome, he would still give the assignment again.

A Florida high school teacher was fired by his school district after he instructed 11th and 12th graders to write their own obituaries as part of a lesson ahead of that day’s active shooter drill. “It wasn’t to say, ‘You’re going to die, and let’s stress you out,’” Jeffrey Keene told Fox 35 Orlando. Rather, he explained, it was to help them gain a new perspective on life: “If they died 24 hours from now, what would they do differently than they did yesterday? And that’s to get them to get rid of all the fluff and show them what’s important in the world,” Keene said. The Orange County School District, meanwhile, called the lesson “an inappropriate assignment about school violence.” Keene told Fox 35 Orlando that, despite the outcome, he would still give the assignment again.