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Plainview 5th grade health teacher removed after giving students ‘age-inappropriate’ questionnaire

School officials say health teacher Mandy Bieder gave the questionnaire to her students on Monday, Sept. 11.

News 12 Staff

Sep 13, 2023, 4:30 PM

Updated 464 days ago

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Some parents in Plainview are outraged over a homework assignment they say was in poor taste, and the teacher who assigned it has been pulled from the classroom.
School officials say a fifth grade health teacher at Howard B. Mattlin Middle School has been removed from the classroom after she gave the questionnaire to her students.
The question says an unknown enemy has launched a nuclear strike against Long Island and there are 20 minutes to get to a fallout shelter. It says you can choose six people to be in the shelter with you, and then gives 10 choices.
News 12 has learned some of those choices are a police officer with multiple charges of brutality, a 38-year-old retired prostitute and a 31-year-old homosexual architect.
School officials say health teacher Mandy Bieder gave the questionnaire to her students on Monday, Sept. 11.
“I think it's inappropriate. There's no need to ask children who they'd let die in a situation and also to put their sexual preference, their charges against them. They're talking about weapons, they're talking all these different types of things that shouldn't be brought in the classroom,” says Mike Salmon, of Plainview.
School officials issued a statement saying in part, "Our school, and our district as a whole, do not approve nor support assignments that are age-inappropriate, out of alignment with the curriculum, and fall outside of New York State standards. This assignment violated all of these criteria, and has no place in our classrooms."
School officials say an investigation is underway and that a substitute teacher will teach Bieder's class.