MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Who is Alissa Piro? California teacher asks parents to come at her in Zoom rant, says Whites 'get everything'

Exasperated teacher slams parents who demanded schools reopen, says she is sick of 'parents trying to tell educators how to do their job'

An angry California teacher's rant has gone viral on social media after she slammed parents over demands that schools reopen. The video was first posted on Facebook, before being picked up by the Twitter account Reopen California Schools. The teacher, Alissa Piro, can be heard berating students and slamming parents for unfairly criticizing teachers and in the clip she can be heard telling students she dares their parents to speak to her over issues surrounding virtual classes.

Tweeting the video, the account said, "Newly released video of a @SanMarcosUSD HS teacher going off on students and their parents over distance learning and other issues. Originally posted to FB. Apparently this is a common occurrence." Here's everything we know about her. 

READ MORE

Arizona middle school staff ends up using N-word while asking students not to use the racial slur

Texas teacher live-streams Derek Chauvin trial, parents furious for making students watch George Floyd death

Who is Alissa Piro?

Piro is an English teacher at San Marcos High School. Since the incident, she has taken down her Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook profiles so not much is known about her through social media. The school's website is also currently unresponsive. We did manage to find a Weebly website that belongs to her, however. According to the CV posted on the website, Piro graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communication from Pepperdine University in 2002. She then went on to graduate with a Master of Arts in Education in 2004 from the same university.

Since her graduation, she has been a teacher in various schools in California. Between 2004 and 2007, she worked at George Ellery Hale Middle School in Woodland Hills. She then taught for a year at Del Mar Heights Elementary School. In 2010, she moved to San Marcos to teach humanities to grade 6 and 7 at High Tech Middle North County. In 2014, she moved to Madison Middle School in Oceanside before returning to San Marcos in 2016. Throughout her career, she has taught English, history, social studies and math. 

In 2020, Piro received a Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Capella University. She also has a number of other certificates listed on her CV. Her website says she was born and raised in Northern California. While pursuing her Bachelor's degree, she met her husband. The website says "Mr. Piro is also an educator, teaching 8th grade Language Arts at San Elijo Middle School." The couple has eight-year-old twin girls named Siena & Kara. We were able to find a website for Pasquale Piro to corroborate these claims. 

Piro's website also lists her hobbies like travelling and reading, and she is a fan of 'Harry Potter, 'Doctor Who', 'Agents of Shield', 'Star Trek', and 'Parks and Rec'. The website also has an extensive list of details about classwork, projects and resources for Piro's students. CalSalaries reported that she made  $110,401 in 2019, reportedly 13% higher than the average teacher salary. 

Piro caught slamming parents

The video was recorded by one of Piro's students and uploaded to a private Facebook group. Fox News reported that a student's mother bought the videos to the attention of the school's principal Adam Dawson. "Dawson agreed that Piro's behavior was "inexcusable" and vowed to address it, but failed to follow up" Fox reported. Another parent Fox spoke to claims Piro was fired from High Tech Middle and has "gone downhill" since then. 

In the video, Piro tells students, "If your parent wants to talk to me about their profession and their opinion on their profession, I would love to hear that. However, if your parent wants to come talk to me about how I'm not doing a good enough job in distance learning based on what you need as an individual? Just dare them to come at me". She added, "because I am so sick to my stomach of parents trying to tell educators how to do their job."

In another video, a student asks "Where is the white student union?" To this, she responds, "You don't need a white student union, you get everything." The aggressive language has caught the attention of many online, who are calling for her resignation. 

San Marcos Unified School District interim superintendent Tiffany Campbell said in a statement to USA TODAY said: "We are deeply concerned about the recent videos that have surfaced regarding one of our employees; this is a matter that we take very seriously and it is receiving our highest scrutiny," Campbell said. "The employee has been placed on administrative leave and will be afforded due process and privacy rights."

Piro's video comes days after a group of parents in North County sued the state for unfairly prohibiting local school districts from reopening. Despite President Joe Biden's massive bill providing more funding for schools, reopening has become a controversial topic due to a rapid rise in Covid-19 cases. Some private schools have returned to in-classroom education, while public schools are still waiting on guidelines from their respective Board of Education.