When Petty Meets Policy: A 504 Plan, a Teacher, and the Pettiest Battle on Canvas
Picture this: You’re cruising through online school, minding your own business, when suddenly your teacher decides it’s time to play hardball—over your legally mandated 504 Plan. What starts as a simple request to unlock a practice test turns into a digital game of cat-and-mouse, complete with minute-by-minute deadlines and some deliciously petty revenge.
In a story that could only unfold in the hallowed halls of r/PettyRevenge, Redditor u/ObviousMonkie shares their saga of accommodation, escalation, and a classroom showdown that had the entire comment section buzzing. Grab your popcorn and get ready to dive deep into the surprisingly complex world of school accommodations, teacher power plays, and the fine art of well-timed assignment submissions.
The 504 Showdown: When Policy Gets Personal
Our protagonist, OP, is upfront: teachers are heroes, but even capes have their off days. OP has a 504 Plan—an official document granting students with disabilities certain accommodations to level the academic playing field. In OP’s case, the critical accommodations were the ability to redo assignments without penalty and a two-week extension on locked assignments. Sounds reasonable, right?
Well, not to Mrs. B, the teacher in question. When OP politely requested an assignment extension per their plan, Mrs. B pushed back, claiming, “504s usually only allow up to 2-3 times the assignment due date.” OP, channeling their inner lawyer, reminded her (professionally, of course) that 504s are individually tailored and hers very much did allow it.
That’s when things got spicy. Instead of a cooperative truce, Mrs. B retaliated by enforcing the two-week extension down to the literal minute—setting deadlines on Canvas so precise they’d make a NASA engineer sweat. But OP wasn’t about to let this slide. If the teacher wanted to play by the minute, so would they: “I started submitting the assignments at the last few minutes,” OP recounted, ensuring Mrs. B had to grade their work separately from the rest of the class. A small inconvenience, perhaps, but a victory in the grand tradition of petty revenge.
The Comment Section: Where Policy Meets Public Opinion
The Reddit crowd wasted no time weighing in, with reactions ranging from sympathetic to skeptical to downright hilarious.
One of the top comments by u/DissociativeSilence captured the frustrating reality for many students with accommodations: “So rude of that teacher. Once in college I asked a professor for an extension, as my accommodations allowed, and he said ‘If I give you an extension, I’ll have to give everyone an extension.’ Um, no? That’s not how it works?” The chorus of agreement highlighted a common misconception—accommodations aren’t a free-for-all, but individualized rights.
But not everyone thought OP’s pettiness was a winning strategy. “Putting someone in a bad mood every time they grade your work is not a well thought out strategy,” cautioned u/gbiypk. Another, u/phase2_engineer, warned, “Fighting petty with petty and putting a target on yourself ain’t all that smart. Just turn in the assignments like normal and move on.” It’s a fair point—sometimes revenge is a dish best not microwaved at the last possible second.
And then there’s the technical side. Several commenters, like u/bitchohmygod, pointed out that Canvas (the online school platform) lets teachers set due dates to the minute with no manual “counting” needed. “She has to do no work besides type in a time. This is how so many assignments are due at 11:59 without teachers having to stay up until midnight.” In fact, some argued OP’s strategy only delayed the whole class’s grades, not just Mrs. B’s workflow—collateral damage in the war of pettiness.
Accommodations 101: 504 vs. IEP, and Why It Matters
If you left this saga still wondering what a 504 Plan even is, you’re not alone—one commenter simply asked, “What’s a 504?” The community delivered a crash course. “The name comes from Section 504, which is a section of the Rehabilitation Act in the US that specifically grants rights to disabled students to get an education,” explained u/tonicella_lineata. The difference? An IEP (Individualized Education Plan) often involves changing the curriculum, while a 504 Plan adjusts the how, not the what, of assignments.
u/Significant-Flan-168 offered a memorable analogy: “Think of a 504 like a stepstool in a kitchen that allows a short person to reach the ingredients...An IEP would be for a person who has a gluten allergy. They need a different cake, so reaching the ingredients with an accommodation isn’t going to help them.”
And as u/BrunetteMoment clarified, 504 Plans can follow students into college, while IEPs typically do not—an important distinction for any student (or parent) navigating the maze of educational support.
Drama, Doubts, and the Real World
Of course, no Reddit thread is complete without a little drama and a lot of opinions. Some worried that OP’s actions might come back to bite them. u/JeffTheNth wrote, “Be careful with things like this...waiting until the very literal last minute may give them a victory by default if your login doesn’t work, server’s down, time is wrong, etc.” Others questioned whether OP’s plan was too lenient, with u/patheticpamela (living up to the username, as many pointed out) lamenting, “This is the most insane 504 I’ve ever heard of...I have a feeling the real world will be hard for you.”
But OP set the record straight: “There is in fact only 2 times I have exercised my full 2 week [extension]...The key words there are ‘up to’”—not every assignment, just when life genuinely warrants it.
And as for the teacher’s “calling out” OP’s accommodation in front of the class, opinions were mixed. Some felt it was a violation of privacy, while others, like u/bitchohmygod, argued, “the teacher said ‘if you have a 504 or IEP, don’t do xyz’ not ‘OP has a 504 and isn’t allowed to do xyz’. You’re allowed to make a general statement to the class about a possible 504/IEP.”
The Final Bell: Lessons in Petty and Policy
In the end, did anyone truly win the Battle of the Canvas Countdown? Maybe not. But the story sparked a valuable conversation about how accommodations work—and, more importantly, how misunderstandings and power struggles can turn a simple policy into a petty standoff.
So here’s the real lesson: If you’re a student with accommodations, know your rights and use them responsibly (and maybe don’t risk missing your own deadline in the name of revenge). If you’re an educator, remember that flexibility and empathy go a long way—sometimes further than a perfectly timed due date. And if you’re just here for the drama, well, there’s always another thread on r/PettyRevenge.
Have you ever witnessed (or waged) a petty battle over school policies? Sound off in the comments—just don’t submit your reply at the last minute!
Original Reddit Post: My teacher called me out for my 504 Plan