A US school teacher was recently fired after an investigation found that students were pressured to participate in classroom skits involving kissing, with some students saying they felt uncomfortable but went along with the assignments because it affected their grades.
Jennifer Honka, a French language and culture teacher at Northeast Early College in Denver, was terminated by the Denver Public Schools Board in a unanimous vote on May 20. The district wrote incompetence and neglect of duty as the reasons for terminating her job.
The skits were held regularly and counted toward students’ performance grades.
One student told investigators that she was uncomfortable with being asked to kiss a classmate but participated anyway. Another student refused to take part and said she received a zero for the assignment.
Students also described a classroom rule that the “answer is always ‘yes,’” which they said was used in connection with participation in the skits. One student reportedly left the classroom after being asked to take part, while another told a staff member that she had been asked to kiss three other girls during a skit.
The skits reportedly included titles such as “The Neighbors Saw Everything” and “The Boring Kiss” and involved characters portrayed as being in relationships.
Honka disputed the characterization that she forced students to kiss. During the investigation, she said students who were uncomfortable could use alternatives, including pretending to kiss, blowing a kiss, or using a fist bump. One student also confirmed that pretending to kiss was allowed.
The controversy first came to the school’s attention during the 2023-24 school year. After a third student reported the kissing incidents, the school’s principal filed a report with Denver police. No criminal charges resulted from that report. The independent review also found that no staff member directly witnessed the alleged kisses.
The case has since drawn wider attention after the US Department of Education opened an investigation into Denver Public Schools.
The federal inquiry is examining the allegations involving same-sex kissing assignments, including whether parents were properly notified about the sensitive nature of the student evaluations and whether the school district appropriately handled complaints.
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