school daze

Substitute Teacher Fired for Asking Kids for Relationship Advice

There’s a certain type of person who can’t stop themselves from sharing their romantic problems with anyone who will listen, a tendency that has led to countless awkward situations throughout history. Take, for example, Cassandre Fiering, who was fired from her substitute teaching gig with New York’s Department of Education last June after she asked some students for advice about her love life.

According to a report from the Special Commissioner of Investigation for New York City Schools, Fiering told a small class of fourth graders at the Bronx’s P.S. 189 that she was having trouble choosing between two men she was seeing. Investigators say that she also “acted out scenarios in which the kids were her and she was the boyfriends,” “complained that the younger boyfriend, a mechanic in Rhode Island, didn’t return her phone calls,” and “hugged one student, tapped another on his shoulder and touched the thighs of two other students.” Fiering’s behavior struck the kids as notable enough to share with school officials, who apparently did not approve. 

When reached by DNAinfo Fiering, a sometimes actress who says she has worked as an educator for “decades” without trouble, said that the whole thing had been blown out of proportion, though she admitted to having “crossed a line.” She stressed that her conversation with the kids had been “G-rated” (“I certainly wasn’t talking about sex or anything”) and said that she continued talking the students about dating because “They were excited to have me listen to their advice … They were saying all kinds of things, trying to help me because this guy was being a jerk to me.” Later, Fiering told Gothamist that the weird role-playing  bit wasn’t true. “I never had anybody pretend to be me and boyfriend,” she said. She also claimed that the DOA invited her to teach again after the incident, and that investigators had “interrogated” her in a car without a union representative or lawyer present.

But, back to the interesting stuff — what happened with the dudes? Fiering told DNAinfo that one, “Still calls and still likes me. He’s very sweet, but not really right for me.” Meanwhile, the other one “was just a weird guy and I never really figured it out. He was very strange and it upset me. He gave a lot of mixed messages. I think I just had to give up.” Problems that no one — adult or elementary school age — can really solve.

Teacher Fired for Asking Kids for Dating Advice