A substitute teacher’s first day in a Mississippi classroom ended in termination and viral backlash after a TikTok video drew criticism for what viewers called an inappropriate comment toward a student.

The creator, 24-year-old Miata Borders, had hoped to share a “day in the life” clip with her 100k followers. Instead, the post sparked concern from parents and educators online.

Borders filmed herself walking through a school hallway, faux-teaching a class when students weren’t in the classroom, and more.

At one point, students were doing something of a mini parade through the halls, and in a voice-over, Borders reacted to some of the students by saying, “Damn, shorty, sheesh… Man, I gotta get up after these school kids tryna take me down.”

Viewers quickly flagged the phrase “shorty,” which can sometimes refer to someone “good looking.” Many commenters accused her of crossing a line and recording minors without permission.

Substitute teacher fired after TikTok comment

Shortly after the clip began circulating, DeSoto County Schools confirmed that Borders would not return. According to a statement to WREG, the district said, “District officials informed Kelly Services today that the person is no longer allowed to be a substitute teacher for DeSoto County Schools.” This decision came not long after her first day of substitute teaching.

Additionally, TikTok users flooded the comments of Borders’ videos with criticism. They argued that school workers should know not to film students. One person wrote, “You didn’t realize you couldn’t record minors???? Like what??”

Another said, “What do you mean you didn’t know you couldn’t record the students? You can’t record someone else’s child period….u can’t record nobody without their consent that’s law.”

Moreover, people on X joked about the original video’s tone. One user tweeted, “A lunchable and Skittles talmbout a lil breakfast lmaooooooooooo,” while another added, “one of the funniest videos i’ve ever seen lol.”

Borders denied wrongdoing and issued apology videos

Borders responded with a series of videos explaining her perspective. She insisted viewers misunderstood the slang and her intentions. 

“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,” she said. “Those kids were smaller than me, shorter than me, younger than me. They are shorties, they are young. Absolutely means nothing with flirting.”

Furthermore, she argued that she added the voice-over after leaving campus and filmed most of the clips while alone in the classroom. She said she did not know that recording students was prohibited, adding, “I had absolutely no idea […] I assure you that it would have not been posted.”

Borders also expressed frustration at online reactions. She insisted she never acted in a “flirty” manner. “I’m by far no predator or anything close to it,” she said. “I truly just thought I was doing some good for the youth.”

@thehandmade.ceo1 Part 1 #explore #trending #relatable #fyp #substitute ♬ original sound – Thehandmade.ceo

In a follow-up, she said her main job as a direct support professional was also let go. Even so, she maintained that “my slang and terminology is much different than yours” and that her “intentions were never bad.”

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The post “Thought I was doing some good for the youth”: Substitute teacher fired after viral video shows her making controversial comment about students appeared first on The Daily Dot.

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