Middle school students at Science Is Fun and Awesome Academy Charter School are defending their former teacher, Jonah Cruz, who feels he was wrongfully terminated.

“The firing really does feel retaliatory,” said Cruz.

Over 200 students signed a petition to reinstate Cruz, who taught information and communications technology at SIFA until last Friday.

Cruz said he and four other teachers were terminated on Dec. 20.

“The common denominator between me and the other teachers who were fired–is that at one point or another, we had questioned the antics of the school—wether it was scheduling, or the way things were handled—we were unafraid to bring up our concerns, speak for other teachers who shared the same concerns,” said Cruz.

Cruz, who had been teaching at the school for a year and a half, believes changes in leadership at the school created a toxic work environment.

He admits he was written up twice but said he was never given due process to address the issues before his termination.

“Suddenly, it started to feel like if you weren’t going to fall in line–you were going to have a target on your back,” said Cruz.

Cruz also recounted an incident involving another teacher fired the same day as him.

That teacher, he said, was verbally berated by the school’s Chief of Student Affairs for allowing a student to opt out of a Christmas assignment that conflicted with their religious beliefs.

“She was screaming at her outside her classroom, all her students can hear it, all the students two classrooms down can hear it, she was making outrageous claims that this teacher didn’t know what she was doing,” added Cruz.

Cruz also claims he was burdened with extra responsibilities outside his teaching duties, such as creating media content for the school. When he said he could no longer handle the load, he faced pushback.

“There were talks of me being a bad employee–and they shouldn't pay me because I wasn’t holding up my end of the bargain—and I never got a job description–my offer letter just said, teacher,” he said.

He believes his termination was partly driven by personal vendettas and his willingness to speak out against what he describes as the school’s lack of organization and poor handling of school matters.

Still, despite everything, Cruz said he just wants to return to teaching.

“I have no ill-will against the school,” said Cruz.

Following is SIFA's official statement from its Chief of Administration and Operations regarding the ongoing Petition of SIFA students online.