'Absolutely pathetic': Teacher allegedly blasts second-grader's 'sad' math drill — and a petition is calling for her firing

A Pennsylvania teacher allegedly wrote on a second-grade student's quiz that it was "absolutely pathetic" and "sad" that the student finished only 13 subtraction problems in three minutes, Fox News reported — and now a petition sporting nearly 17,000 signatures as of Monday afternoon is calling for the teacher's firing.

Chris R. Piland noted the issue on his Facebook page, saying his son's teacher "has been so rude to him and myself all year" and that he's "beyond frustrated that someone would write this on a child's work."

What does the school district have to say?

Superintendent Rose Minniti of the Valley View School District in Archibald — which is just north of Scranton — became aware of the issue last week, the Associated Press said, adding that officials met with the teacher, Alyssa Rupp Bohenek, and are investigating the incident.

"It's a personnel issue, and the results of that are not going to be dictated by social media," Minniti told the AP. "It's going to be dictated by the facts and evidence." The outlet said attempts to reach Bohenek were unsuccessful.

The school board and solicitor are aware of the situation but cannot discuss personnel issues, the AP said, adding that a school board member noted that Valley View "takes any kind of a situation like this very seriously."

Bohenek was hired as an elementary school teacher in 2013 and earned $50,544 in the 2016-17 school year, the outlet said.

"As always with everything, we're going to try to do what's best for the students and what we need to do for the employee under investigation," Minniti added to the AP.

What else does the petition say?

The petition says Bohenek "thinks it's OK to bully and talk down to her students, and needs to be removed." Petition signers were quite clear about where they stand:

• "My daughter attends Valley View school[;] if a teacher were talk to or write something like this on her paper I would be out for blood. I don't speak to my kids like that[;] over my dead body with someone else."
• "I'm so ashamed[;] I'm an alumni. She needs to be FIRED! The is unacceptable to write on a child's paper. Period."
• "I don't even have a child and this is sickening to me. This is so beyond unprofessional and just wrong."

A counter-petition is out there, too

A counter-petition wants Bohenek to stay on the job and has attracted more than 800 signatures. Some of the comments include:

• "The parents should be ASHAMED of themselves. Do they think they have no part in helping to elevate their child's education[?]"
• "I'm sick and tired of these kids being coddled these days. She didn't call him stupid, dumb, etc., she called it what it was — pathetic! We need more teachers like her!"
• "She was just doing her job. That snowflake parent couldn't handle the truth. What a melt. It would be unjust for the teacher to lose her job. She deserves her job. Suspend the kid instead."