Presidential hopeful Donald Trump is at the forefront of yet another controversy in education this week.

Earlier in the week, a national survey revealed that 40 percent of teachers are hesitant to discuss the presidential election in the classroom for fear of isolating students negatively affected by Trump’s rhetoric (namely Mexican-American and Muslim students).

Following that survey, Trump made headlines in the public school sphere once again after the president of Maryland’s teachers unions demanded that the candidate be banned from rallying at a public high school in the state.

Now, Trump is once again at the forefront of a public school debate after a New Jersey teacher was reportedly forced to resign for showing students a segment from HBO’s "John Oliver's Last Week Tonight” that focused on criticizing the polarizing candidate.

According to NJ.com, at least one complaint from a parent led to the resignation of high school history teacher Joseph Ventre; an online petition calling for a reversal of the decision has 2,182 supporters at the time of this article.

The petition was started by one of Ventre’s students, who said:

Mr. Ventre "is an honor to have as a teacher. He is one of my role models and losing him would negatively effect mine and many other students' lives.”

In addition to the petition, NJ.com says parents have spoken out in his support, packing subsequent Board of Education meetings to be heard.

School administration is unwilling to comment on the issue at this time as it is a legal matter.

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Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

4/22/2016