A TikToker and former ESL teacher named Jania Ashay went viral after telling her story about how TikTok got her fired from her job a year ago for dancing with her students to an edited version of Nicki Minaj’s “Beez in the Trap.”
She gives her story in three parts, the first one being posted on June 28.
@heyniaa_ #stitch with @itslexilarson dont worry sis theyll regret it real soon!! #firedfromtiktok ♬ original sound – Jania Ashay
She began the first video by stating she didn’t regret anything that happened and would do everything all over again. But it was hard for her to share her experience for a while because of how traumatizing it was, but she healed and became ready to share.
“They don’t call it a ‘For You’ page for no reason, and I hope this lands right on your timeline because it is time for you to hear my side of the story,” Ashay said in the TikTok video. “And you know who I am talking to.”
She dove deep into providing a little background on the school’s toxic environment.
“So, I am an ESL teacher, and to get my degree and my license, we had to do student teaching,” Ashay said. “And the school that I did the student teaching at is in the same district and has the same attitude, and I should have ran when I was done with that—But I had no clue what was coming up.”
Ashay said in the video the school was a suburban school, and the staff treated her poorly. Her mentor, the one that got her the teaching gig, would insult her and would act as though she was oblivious to the harmful words.
The enthusiastic educator taught sixth graders and implied that she was close with her students because she would travel with them to their classes and help them learn English.
“So, two of the girls that are in the ‘general education (ed)’ ask me if they could come in my classroom one day to eat lunch,” Ashay said. “I am a cool teacher, so of course, I am going to say yes. And while they are in there, they ask me if we could do a little TikTok or whatever.”
According to Ashay, the students weren’t allowed to have their phones out at lunch, but because they were eating lunch with her, she didn’t see a problem with it. The day after, the girls got called into the principal’s office. After demanding that they take the video down, the principal instructed the girls to avoid telling Ashay anything about the matter.
“She wanted me to come in there blindsided,” she said.
But the girls told her,, and the teacher was called to the office and said she recorded their conversation.
“Y’all, she was talking to me like I was a child,” Ashay remarked. “Talking so down on me and telling me it was unprofessional, this, that, and the third. We are going back and forth. She takes me to HR that day, and of course, they have her back. And that’s it. I was fired.
She explained in part two that she was under contract with the school and had to finish out the school year to continue getting paid.
“So, even though this happened on a Thursday, I took off Friday—because I had to get my thoughts together,” Ashay explained. “I did not want to come on Monday, but this is where the true testimony of faith is because if I had gone ahead and quit, I still had about a month and a half left. If I would have quit, then I would not have gotten paid, and then I would have had to go and find another job.”
@heyniaa_ Reply to @tori3o03 ♬ original sound – Jania Ashay
Ashay shared how, before teaching, she used to travel. But teaching prevented her from doing it, so after she was fired and finished the school year, she traveled to Miami for a girl’s trip and flew to Jamaica afterward. She doesn’t regret what happened because her current job as a travel adviser enables her to do the thing she loves. She said in the second part that she doesn’t have ill feelings towards the principal because God was using her “as a vessel to take [Ashay] to the next level.”
In part three, Ashay shared words one of the students in the TikTok video wrote in an apology letter. No one asked her to write it, but the student felt bad.
“This whole situation is mostly my fault because it was my idea to make the video,” the letter read. “I know this whole situation has taken a toll on you, but if it makes you feel any better, I just had two mental breakdowns yesterday. I truly am sorry about what’s happening.”
@heyniaa_ Replying to @chellymellow ♬ original sound – Jania Ashay
