Question about Pres. Trump on Bedford Schools online quiz deemed inappropriate

BEDFORD, Mich. (WTVG) - A question on a Bedford Public Schools online quiz for students has raised the ire of some district parents and students. Now, the superintendent has released a statement, describing how the mistake happened.

A question in an online quiz asked, “This is the perception of what (President) trump hates,” with the answers available as women, black people, Mexicans, and all of the above.

The quiz was posted to a teacher’s Schoology account and has since been deleted. According to Bedford superintendent Dr. Carl Schultz, the mistake happened when the teacher uploaded the quiz from an online resource without checking the questions first.

“During the investigation, it was determined that the teacher was utilizing an available popular educational tool for creating or sharing short quizzes as an example of the types of short activities each day could begin within the classroom,” Schultz said in a statement. “This process included the teacher selecting a pre-created nationally available quiz from the program’s quiz bank on the topics of current politics and elections. Believing that the selected quiz topic would be relevant to the upcoming general election and the course content, the teacher admittedly did not read each of the fifteen questions included in the quiz and thus was not aware of the inaccurate and misinformation presented.”

Schultz said the teacher would be posting a brief statement regarding the mistake for students in the class.

The full statement from Schultz can be read below.

Bedford Public Schools are committed to ensuring that our students receive the best education possible through professional staff members and utilization of state of the art educational technology. It was brought to the attention of administration this morning that a quiz posted on a district teacher’s Schoololgy account contained multiple questions that were deemed inappropriate in nature and not at all related to our approved Bedford Public Schools curriculum. An investigation immediately took place and the quiz link has been removed from Schoology.
During the investigation it was determined that the teacher was utilizing an available popular educational tool for creating or sharing short quizzes as an example of the types of short activities each day could begin with in the classroom. This process included the teacher selecting a pre-created nationally available quiz from the program’s quiz bank on the topics of current politics and elections. Believing that the selected quiz topic would be relevant to the upcoming general election and the course content, the teacher admittedly did not read each of the fifteen questions included in the quiz and thus was not aware of the inaccurate and misinformation presented. The teacher will be posting a brief statement regarding the mistake for students in this class.
While district leadership understands that professional mistakes unfortunately can and will happen from time to time, it is important to quickly correct and address the concerns. This issue is being taken seriously and district policies and protocols will be followed to ensure that these types of incidents do not take place in the future. As BPS Superintendent, I want to reassure our community that our commitment and focus remains on providing our students with the most accurate and relevant learning opportunities at all times.
Dr. Carl Schultz, Bedford Schools superintendent

Later on, a statement from the history teacher (who has asked to remain nameless) who posted the quiz to his students was released to the school community.

Dear Students and Parents:
I am writing this morning to apologize for the most recent Quizizz I posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2020.
This quiz contained a question about the President of the United States that does not represent how I teach, nor does it reflect any personal feelings about our President. I did not create the quiz, but I regrettably shared it without properly reviewing it. I did not go back and read each question after placing in my lesson as I had planned to do. This is where I must apologize again. I am deeply sorry I embarrassed the school, my family, my church family, and myself for not reading every question thoroughly. As a member of this community for over 50 years, many of you know me, you know what I believe and stand for. The question on that Quizizz does not reflect my values, or our school’s values. It was a complete oversight. Ironically, I shared with you a video of “Famous Failures.” The video highlighted famous individuals that failed and grew from it. I want each of my students to have that growth mindset. “I hope to demonstrate that growth mindset with my “Famous Failure.” I will not grow bitter as a result of my oversight, I will grow better and stronger.
Again, I am deeply sorry for any problems this may have caused.

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