Two mothers of students in the class, Kimberly Cobene and Evangeline Garcia, reported the extra credit assignment to school officials after they learned about it from a counselor at the school. Cobene and Garcia told the local CBS affiliate, KPIX, that high school administrators suggested that the teacher might have been joking. However, at least one student apparently took the assignment seriously and showed a photo of his finds to other students in the class as a model.
The district has refused to name the teacher in question, who is apparently still teaching. Cobene and Garcia have asked that he be fired, but so far, the Alameda Unified School District is still investigating and refuses to comment on the specifics of the case. However, Susan Davis, the senior manager of community affairs for the Alameda Unified School District, told Mashable that the district takes such allegations seriously:
When we hear a story like this or get a report like this, we take it very, very seriously because of course we care deeply about our students. And because we take these things so seriously we’re taking the time to do a complete and in-depth investigation. We know that people are upset about this story, and we know that it’s really hard for the public, and especially for parents, to hear that we can’t talk about the details of this kind of investigation in public, but that information has to be kept confidential.
The district expects to conclude its investigation by mid-June.