A substitute teacher in Mississipi has been fired on her first day after making a comment ‘about a student’s looks’ in a now-viral TikTok video. She had since denied this, claiming the comment was taken the wrong way.
Miata Borders, 24, documented her first day of teaching with a “day in the life” video as she is also a content creator with more than 100k followers on TikTok. At one point, she walked past one of the students in the hallway and called them “shorty,” which can mean “good looking”.
“Damn, shorty, sheesh,” she said while laughing. “Man, I gotta get up after these school kids tryna take me down.” People quickly started calling out the “inappropriate” remark in the comments, and slamming the 24-year-old out for filming minors without consent.
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“District officials informed Kelly Services today that the person is no longer allowed to be a substitute teacher for DeSoto County Schools,” DeSoto County Schools told WREG.
In an apology video shared on TikTok, Borders claimed the word “shorty” was taken out of context and she didn’t mean it in a “flirty” or “sexual” way at all. She also claimed the voice over was added after she left the school.
“What I meant by shorty in a terminology take there were the kids were going to take me down were absolutely not what you guys took them as. Those kids were smaller than me, shorter than me, younger than me. They are shorties, they are young. Absolutely means nothing with flirting,” she said. “They absolutely did not mean anything sexual.”
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The substitute teacher said the world is so “sick” for “mischaracterising” her without further context. She claimed the majority of the content in the school video was filmed while she was “alone” and she had “absolutely no idea” that she wasn’t allowed to record students or she “definitely wouldn’t have done it”.
“I went on TikTok before I worked and this is what I’ve seen, I’m by far no predator or anything close to it that is in science for you for they even to be put onto me. I truly just thought I was doing some good for the youth,” she said.
“I truly do apologize for how it may seem, but my slang and terminology is much different than yours. But none of the kids knew that were being recorded at any point and I do apologize for this once again, I truly do. But I had no idea this was prohibited. I assure you that it would have not been posted.”
In another video, Borders insisted that her “intentions were never bad” and nothing inappropriate ever crossed her mind. She also claimed she has since lost her main job as a direct support professional.
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“I feel like it’s common sense that you don’t record kids at school. I’m not a teacher but I know that,” someone commented.
Another said: “I’m sorry but as a school system employee it’s automatically told to anyone working in the school system you are NOT allowed to film kids period!!! Especially posting on social media where you know you have a following.”
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Featured image by: @thehandmade.ceo/TikTok
