Sub Fired for Acting Out Dates With 4th Graders, Asking for Love Advice

It’s true that children can be very wise. Sometimes they’ll just give you nuggets of wisdom when you least expect it. For instance, the other day a small girl told me that no one would ever marry me because I’m too loud. She might be right, but I didn’t press. A substitute teacher in New York, however, made the mistake of talking to her students about her love life and asking them to act out scenarios that would help her choose between two men in her life. Good dilemma to have, bad course of action to solve it.

Cassandre Fiering was fired from her post at P.S. 189 when it came to light that she had acted out dating scenarios with her fourth grade students. During the activity, Fiering had the students act out the important role of one of the men she was dating. Fiering told the children that she was interested in two men in their 30s and needed help deciding which one to choose. Help her out, fourth graders! Love is on the line! This is just like every romantic comedy I’ve ever seen! (Except no one gets fired in those type of movies.)

Reports also allege that Fiering asked the children to toilet paper one of the men’s houses and touched some of the children on the thighs and shoulders. Fiering denies any wrongdoing and says the kids were excited to help her.

From The Huffington Post:

“The kids were saying, ‘Oh, we’re your counselor,'” Fiering recalled. “They were excited to have me listen to their advice….They were saying all kinds of things, trying to help me because this guy was being a jerk to me.”

It’s like she has no insight or self-awareness. The guy was being a jerk to you? Definitely tell some 9-year-olds. They’ll definitely have a helpful and measured response.

Fiering is appealing the termination. She claims her situations were theoretical and that she was in the room with the children for seven hours without a lesson plan. Only four children were present during the incident. Everyone else was on a field trip. Oh, okay. That makes it totally cool, then.