Career Life
Dear Bored Teachers, Am I a bad teacher for using my classroom to create TikToks and other social content? I’m a teacher influencer. I’ve got up to 200,000 followers combined on Instagram and TikTok and I regularly create content in my classroom. I had not had any issues with it until one of my students’ parents complained to my principal. My videos never show any kids; however, I do stay after school to create content. I make skits about teaching life, show my classroom, and artwork kids did, vlog about my day, etc.
This is my hobby, or “side gig” since I make a (very tiny) passive income from it. I don’t see that being an issue. My admin is a very nice person, but she told me she didn’t know how to handle this situation. She organized a school board meeting, and someone on the board mentioned that technically any content created on school property is owned by the school. This idea made me cringe and I immediately set my accounts to private until I find a solution. I will never hand over my platforms to my school – that’s ridiculous. My questions are:
- Can they legally ask me to do so?
- Can they ask me to stop posting to my social media accounts?
- Can they request that I do not create in my classroom anymore?
- Are parents allowed to control what goes on my social media even though their kids have never been in any content?
Thank you so much from a fellow frustrated teacher about to leave the profession for good.
Dear Anonymous Teacher,
First of all, congratulations on having such a big social media following. This is not an easy feat to accomplish, and you should be proud. The fact that so many teachers find your content appealing is a testament to your strength as a teacher, while the fact that so many teachers need to supplement their incomes with side gigs is a testament to the weakness of the fools making decisions about education.
Many teachers have online side gigs
We all know that there are tens of thousands of TPT sellers and teacher influencers that are using their classrooms and schools to contribute to their successful social media presence.
Some may have asked permission from administrators and received it.
Some may be subscribing to the old adage: “It is easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.”
Others may think nothing of it until someone (like your busybody parent) brings it to the attention of the administration, and it all falls apart.
The novelty of TikTok and the desire of everyone to create revenue through social media has created a need for school districts to create specific policies, but many have not. And this creates a massive amount of gray area.
Reading through your contract and the policies and regulations of your district is a great way to become familiar with what is allowed. Most districts will have a clause about conflict of interest, and this is where most of the gray area comes in.
Conflict of interest
“Conflict of interest” is defined as “a real or apparent conflict between one’s professional or official duties and one’s private interests.” You are making a small income from the lessons that you are teaching in the classroom; a school district or school board could construe this as a conflict of interest.
Many districts do not allow teachers to tutor their own students for extra income for the same reason. This constitutes a conflict of interest because teachers are profiting externally from their students.
Intellectual property rights
Disclaimer: I am not nor do I want to be a lawyer. I am a teacher.
Your question about schools owning your products was very interesting to me because so many teachers create products for TPT. From my research, I learned that districts may, in fact, take ownership of a product if:
- A product was created with school-owned materials.
- The product was used in the classroom with students.
- The product was created during school hours.
Do I think this smacks of a high level of jackassery? Absolutely. Can they legally claim your work? Absolutely; however, it would not be a very good look for districts to sue teachers over the need to supplement their meager incomes. If you want to keep your job, I would adhere to their requests and interpretations of their policies.
Moving forward
Because your district is making a fuss, there are certain things that you can do to retain ownership of your products and social media content. I would still run it by your administration or find a new district that is not so asinine.
- Make the products with your own purchased materials
- Create everything from home.
- Do not use the products with your own students. Have a friend or a family member test them out.
I am sorry that your hard work is being scrutinized when so many others are doing the same, but you can still be successful while playing by their rules.
