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A social media user named Jania Ashay recently claimed she was fired from her student teaching position after she was reprimanded for dancing with her sixth-grade students on TikTok.
Ashay, an ESL teacher, took to TikTok this week to open up about the “traumatizing experience.” According to her post, Ashay was fired from her position last year after she recorded a TikTok video dancing to an edited version of Nicki Minaj’s hit song “Beez in the Trap.” The young teacher filmed the innocent dance video at lunchtime with her students after they asked her to join in.
“Mistake number one, they weren’t supposed to have their phone out at lunch, but we were just chilling,” Ashay admitted in the 3-minute-long post.
The next day, the video exploded across the social media platform, gaining over 190,000 views. Ashay said her students were pulled into the principal’s office and asked to delete the post. Allegedly, the principal asked the kids “not to tell Ashay why she would be called into the office later,” Insider reported.
According to Ashay, the principal treated her “like a child” and called her “unprofessional” when she came into the office. The angry school official then took her to human resources, where she was fired on the spot.
“This was a simple little dance, it was to Nicki Minaj, but the edited version,” she explained. “I’m a dancer, I wasn’t shaking nothing, it was so PG.”
While working at the suburban school, Ashay claimed the principal in question and some staff members exhibited “microaggressions” toward her and other students of color.
TikTok users support Jania Ashay’s frustrating story
Eventually, one of the students who asked her to be in the video apologized for what happened.
“I truly am sorry about what’s happening,” the student wrote in a letter, according to Ashay’s follow-up post about the ordeal. “I really need you to stay. You have always made sure I’m okay before I sometimes do; you even made sure I’m okay when I should’ve been asking you the same question.”
Although Ashay was fired, she was still under contract by the school and could have finished out the remaining month and a half left of the school year. The former teacher, who now works as a travel advisor, said she holds no hard feelings about the mishap and is ultimately happy she was let go.
“In conclusion, I’m not even mad at the principal. If you’re watching this, I’m not even mad at you cause you were just doing what needed to be done,” Ashay shared on TikTok. “God was just using you as a vessel to take me to the next level,” she added.
In the comment section, TikTok users rallied behind Ashay, questioning why the school punished her so harshly for the dance video.
“It’s crazy cus you can go anywhere, and teachers do these exact same things and get applause for it,” one user noted. While another person asked:
“So it’s a problem to participate in a tiktok now? my highschool was a creative arts. Ik these kids upset!”
Who do you think was in the wrong here? Tell us down below.
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