Teacher Allegedly Fired After Posting Viral Video About Her Classroom Being Covered In Mold After Summer Break—And People Are Furious

Back-to-school season is upon us, and in the United States, teachers have begun their "teacher prep days," during which they prepare their classrooms for the upcoming school year and do their final coursework prep.

When teacher and TikToker @alyssamia11 returned to her classroom, however, she was unable to begin her prep.

In a video that she posted on TikTok, she appeared in a comfortable outfit of leopard-print overalls, a bright red-orange tank top, and a ponytail, ready to prepare for the year. Instead, she told her audience that there was a health-hazard-level "plot twist."

She took an exasperated breath and said:

"Happy day one of classroom setup, except my entire room is covered with mold, and everything is ruined."

According to the elementary school teacher, the A/C had been turned off in the school for at least part of the summer, and thanks to moisture that commonly gets trapped in school buildings, paired with record-high temperatures this year, the teacher's entire classroom setup was covered in mold.

From all of the posters and artwork hung on her classroom walls, to the bin that she kept extra tissues and other hygiene items in, to the book collection she kept for her students, to the doors and inside paneling of all of her cabinets and drawer systems, to the entirety of her desk chair, everything needed to be thrown away.

After giving a tour of the classroom, the teacher turned the camera back to herself, visibly emotional.

"This is the reason that nobody gets into education."

"We're the ones who have to fund our classroom in the first place, but since there was no A/C all summer, everything that I poured my money into is ruined."

"I love my job with my whole heart, but we do not get paid enough for this."

"It's ridiculous, for a room that I kept clean all year, only to come back to it and see it destroyed."

The teacher has since taken down the TikTok video and has either deleted or hidden her account.

To make matters worse, the teacher was also allegedly fired for making the video and likely revealing a larger health concern of the entire school.

TikToker @tgjn988 also posted a copy of the video, along with her commentary, and a fellow TikToker chimed in in the comments, claiming that their cousin was one of the teacher's students and that she had, in fact, been fired for the video.

@tgjn988/TikTok

The video was reposted on TikTok by other accounts, as well as on X by X user @cecegkh.

X user @cecegkh pointedly said:

"Teacher posts video of mold destroying everything she paid for in her classroom… and gets fired for it."

"She was not complaining about the school’s budget. She was showing the damage to items she paid for with her own money so kids would have a decent classroom."

"This is the system. Teachers spend their own paychecks to make rooms livable, then face consequences for documenting when the building itself is unsafe."

" Parents deserve to know what their kids are walking into. Teachers should not lose their jobs for saying it."

You can watch it here:

Viewers were furious on the teacher's behalf, whether or not the rumors were true that she was fired.

Anyone who has worked in education will not be surprised to find out that the teacher was reprimanded for posting the video. Allegedly being fired might be an extreme example, but teachers have been silenced and punished in more subtle ways for speaking out or for running their classroom differently than their fellow teachers.

There's probably a safety concern in that school right now, because it's unlikely that one teacher's classroom would have this much mold without it impacting other classrooms.

Hopefully they'll be honest with the teachers and parents so that they can make informed decisions regarding their students' health, safety, and educational needs.