Jacksonville school responds to controversial homework assignment

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A private Christian school is responding after an investigation into a second grade homework assignment and a student being removed from the classroom.

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Action News Jax told you two weeks ago when a second grade student brought home a homework assignment that read, “send a picture of you doing reading homework in the bath tub.”

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The school put out a statement on the situation.

The school’s statement said the assignment “urged reading for students, encouraging them to read ‘under a tree,’ ‘a non-fiction book,’ ‘in the park,’ ‘for an hour straight,’ ‘before breakfast,’ ‘in a bathtub,’ ‘under the stars,’ ‘under a blanket fort’ and 12 other possibilities.” Misty and Christopher’s Dunham’s assignment only stated “send picture of you doing reading homework in bathtub.”

Dunham reached out to her daughter’s teacher about the assignment, explaining it could be interpreted wrongly. In a letter, the pastor of the school said the teacher sent out a message to clarify within minutes. She stated, “they are supposed to be in their PJs, play clothes, or uniform while reading their homework in the empty bath tub.” Dunham said it still didn’t sit well with her, and she decided to file an incident report with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

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“We second-guessed that they were going to do what they’re supposed to be doing and actually taking steps to fix it,” Misty Dunham said.

Dunham’s daughter was removed from the school. The paperwork sent to the family stated it was an “administrative withdraw.”

Action News Jax reporter Meghan Moriarty reached out to the school by email and phone call to get an answer as to why the student was removed from the classroom.

In a written statement, the pastor said, “We have no further comment about the situation. You can refer to our latest statement posted on our website. As is our general policy, we do not discuss specifics about the status of students.”

“The homework assignment was wrong. Her withdraw was wrong,” Dunham said. “This situation we are being put in is wrong.”