According to a report from the Daily Mail, a veteran French teacher at a Denver high school has been terminated following student complaints that she directed girls in her class to kiss during graded performance skits, raising serious concerns about classroom boundaries and student comfort.
Jennifer Honka, 50, was unanimously fired by the Denver Public Schools Board of Education on May 20 from Northeast Early College (NEC), a grades 9-12 school, after a lengthy investigation and legal process.
The board cited incompetence and neglect of duty. Honka, who had 24 years of teaching experience including eight at NEC and strong prior evaluations, was placed on leave in February 2025 after complaints emerged.
Students in a class of 16 — seven boys and nine girls — reported feeling pressured to participate in biweekly French skits that involved kissing scenes. Despite the gender mix, they said Honka consistently selected girls for roles requiring kisses and did not recall her choosing boys for those parts.
One skit, “The Boring Kiss,” featured multiple kissing moments between characters portrayed as dating. Another, “The Neighbors Saw Everything,” reportedly included directions for students acting as animals to “groom one another by licking,” alongside human kissing.
“The student was very uncomfortable and did not know what to do. She went ahead and kissed another student at [Honka’s] direction,” an independent review by Administrative Law Judge Keith Kirchubel recounted from student testimony.
Students indicated they were not physically forced but felt compelled because the skits were graded, with some receiving zeros for refusing or walking out. One student’s attendance reportedly dropped sharply afterward.
The review also highlighted Honka sharing deeply personal details with students, including childhood physical abuse that resulted in broken bones and the conception of her now-14-year-old son through IVF using sperm from her uncle (her aunt’s husband, not blood-related). One student left the room in tears after Honka described an urge to “drive in front of a semi-truck” to end her life.
Despite the termination, Honka had been working as an English language development teacher at Malley Drive Elementary School in the Adams 12 Five Star Schools district in northern Denver until her profile was recently removed from the school’s website. It remains unclear if she is still employed there.
In her defense during the hearing, Honka maintained that students were not required to kiss and could opt for alternatives like blowing a kiss or fist bumps. She described her classroom rule — “the answer is always yes” — as applying to matters like respect and phone use, not the skits.
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