A teacher's TikTok video has gone viral because in it, she tells her class that she is leaving her job because she isn’t earning a livable wage.
Alyssa Aponte, on TikTok @mividamahalia, posted multiple videos — her first video features her explaining to her class that she would not be returning after winter break, and another video features her going into a deeper explanation of the issues surrounding her finances.
She was teaching eighth-grade social studies. She began teaching only after the year had started, and so was receiving a prorated salary. But Albuquerque Public Schools only pay teachers on a 12-month salary plan, unlike other districts that allow teachers to choose whether to be paid over 9 months or 12 months.
She explained in her video: “Because my salary is very very much smaller than what it would normally be because I didn’t start at this school in the beginning of the school year, because I just moved, they are taking that smaller salary and still stretching it all the way to next August. So I’m not asking my district to pay me anything extra, I’m asking them to change the pay schedule so that way every month, every pay period, my checks are more than $1,100.” That makes her monthly income just $400 more than her $1,800 rent.
Here is how a local TV station reported this, followed by some of Alyssa's TikTok videos on the subject.
Photo: Getty Images