Abby Connolly
In late August, Stephen was informed by his school’s human resources department that he would be put on administrative leave with pay while they “investigated” his TikTok videos.
“I had a grown man ask me today, ‘Mister Taylor, how many times do you think you’ve crop dusted a student since you’ve been in this district?’ and I had to say none,” recalled Stephen in one of his videos about the incident.
Stephen tried explaining to his bosses and the school board that the videos were not meant to be taken seriously and that he would never do such a thing to his students. He felt the investigation was especially silly given his excellent track records with his students and no reports of crop dusting in his classroom from any of them.
Eventually, Stephen’s former school board gave him the option to either delete his TikTok videos and resign from his teaching position or get fired. He chose the latter.
At a board of education meeting following the incident, Stephen made a public statement about why he believed his firing was wrongful.
“You are going to vote at the end of this to fire a teacher who has incredible evaluations, great relationships with students, and cares deeply about their success,” he told his school board.
“I am that teacher, and this is all because of TikTok.”
Stephen has had a lot of support since getting fired from his teaching job, as his supporters have donated to a GoFundMe page created to keep him afloat. He also announced a stand-up comedy tour, which had people flocking from different cities to hear him joke about the situation in person.
Good luck with all your new endeavors, Stephen!
@formerlyfatstephen so about last week… #goodteacher #badstudent #teachersoftiktok
