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An Albuquerque teacher has gone viral online after sharing the moment she told her students it would be her last day, citing lack of liveable wage as the reason.
Teacher and TikTok user @mividamahalia, Alyssa Aponte, posted the video three days ago and has already gained over 400,000 views. In the video, Aponte documented herself informing her students that the next day would be her last at the school.
Aponte decided to leave her teaching career for the time being, choosing to make her "side hustle" of bartending and serving as her main income instead. Like with many teachers leaving the field, Aponte's monthly income was the deciding factor.
"We have to value ourselves and demand that our districts pay us a liveable wage," she captioned the clip.
In the video, Aponte told her 8th grade students: "So tomorrow is the last day of school, but tomorrow is also my last day with you guys too."
Students can be heard bellowing "WHAT??" in shock at the announcement. "There's a lot of confusion about why I'm leaving so I was very honest with them and explained the situation," said Aponte in a later clip.
The video can also be seen in full here.
In a tearful second video, she explained to viewers why she was leaving her teaching role after saying goodbye to her students.
According to Aponte, she's been left with just a $1,100 fortnightly paycheck—making her monthly income just $400 more than her $1,800 rent, after being forced to have a 12 month salary over a nine month one often offered by other districts.
@mividamahalia we have to value ourselves and demand that our districts pay us a liveable wage.
♬ original sound - M Alyssa Aponte
"I'm not asking my district for more money," she said. "My district is paying me a salary that is subsidized because I didn't start at the beginning of the year, but the way that they have the payroll set up is that whatever your annual salary is, they divide that to give you equal checks, two equal checks a month all the way until next August.
"Most districts I teach at give you the option to choose: nine months or 12. This district does not, you are only allowed to do the 12 month pay periods. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, if I was making a full annual salary, but because my salary is very much smaller than what it would normally be because I didn't start at this school at 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."
According to the teacher, she was not aware of this when she was initially hired and showed the camera various printed emails showing her asking for clarification on the payroll system.
Low wages in teaching are far from a new problem, and neither is the premise of having a "side hustle" like Aponte.
In 2019, Pew Research Center found that 16 percent of teachers have non-school jobs over the summer, with new teachers being even more likely to take one on. Around a third of teachers with one year or less experience had jobs over the summer, while 20 percent with two to four years of experience had summer jobs.
Around 20 percent of teachers also held second jobs during the school year too, accounting for 9 percent of their annual income. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, teachers are three times more likely than other workers to take on a second job.
CORRECTION 12/21/2021 at 2:42 a.m. ET: This article was corrected to clarify that Aponte's paycheck was fortnightly.
