District apologizes for middle school's 'trophy wife' quiz

(UPI) A Virginia school district apologized to parents after middle school students were given a quiz that included "trophy wife" and boy toy as answers.

Parents of students at Carter G. Woodson Middle School in Hopewell said children in a Family & Consumer Sciences class were given the unusual "Family Quiz" worksheet Friday.

The parents said the worksheet started with standard questions about the organization of a family unit, but ended with questions about marital infidelity and terms like "trophy wife" and boy toy.

"It was highly inappropriate for a teacher to bring this up in a family class, which was family and consumer science because it had nothing to do with the family unit that is outside the family unit," parent Tara Sample told WRIC-TV.

"No one in the schools system needs to be teaching my daughter what a mistress is or a trophy wife or boy toy. It's inappropriate for a school. Period. We send our kids there to learn math, reading, science and history not to learn this other stuff that goes on in the world that they eventually going to learn anyways," Sample told WTVR-TV.

Sample shared the worksheet with other parents on Facebook and Hopewell City Public Schools responded to the controversy Monday.

Superintendent Melody Hackney wrote in a statement posted to the district's Facebook that the worksheet was not approved by officials.

"Upon further review, we have determined that a teacher downloaded this worksheet from the Internet. This content was not a part of the current and approved curriculum for this course nor was it in any way an appropriate learning tool for middle school aged children," Hackney wrote.

She wrote the "matter has become a personnel issue and no further comment is appropriate."

The worksheet was posted to a website for English as a Second Language teachers in 2011. The creator of the worksheet posted a message on the website in 2013, saying: "Please remember that this worksheet may not be appropriate to teach to younger students and can be adapted to your own needs."