‘I can’t survive like this’: Teacher’s video telling her students she’s quitting viewed nearly 500,000 times

Viral video leads to calls to increase pay for teachers across the US

M Alyssa Aponte, an eighth-grade teacher in the US, tells students in an emotional video that she’s quitting (Screengrab/TikTok/@mividamahalia )

A teacher frustrated with her pay told students she would not return to class after Christmas in a viral video that has sparked calls to bump up teachers’ pay across the US.

M Alyssa Aponte, who goes by the TikTok handle @mividamahalia, posted a video on the social media platform in which she filmed herself telling her eighth-grade students of her plans to quit her job.

The video has been viewed more than 500,000 times after it was posted on Friday.

Ms Aponte’s students could be heard expressing their shock at the teacher’s announcement, after which she can be seen wiping her eyes during an emotional moment.

“F**k is up with teachers leaving, bro?” one student can be heard saying in the video.

“I am not leaving because of you guys,” Ms Aponte said.

“We have to value ourselves and demand that our districts pay us a liveable wage,” she said in the caption for her video.

It could not be established which state or school district in the country the teacher is from.

Ms Aponte posted a follow-up video a day later in which she was seen crying.

The teacher explained that she was not requesting an increase in her pay, but a revision in her pay schedule.

Ms Aponte told her followers that she was receiving $2,200 (£1,668) in two cheques per month after her taxes. She also said in the comments section that her monthly rent was $1800 (£1,365).

“I simply can’t survive like this and they don’t care,” she said in the video.

Ms Aponte said the adjustment she wanted was to have her total salary counted to a total of nine months instead of the current 12 months. She said the amount of the two monthly cheques was calculated by dividing the total 12-month salary.

Ms Aponte said other school districts she taught at usually gave an option to the teachers between the two, but that teachers in the current district could only take the 12-month option.

“Normally that wouldn’t be a problem if I was making a full annual salary but because my salary is very, very much smaller than what it would normally be because I didn't start at the school in the very beginning of the school year because I just moved, they are taking that smaller salary and still stretching it all the way till next August,” Ms Aponte explained in the video.

She also accused school district officials of not informing her of her pay schedule when she was hired.

“I didn’t realise what was happening as far as payroll goes, so when I first got paid, I was like, ‘Where’s the rest of my check?’ And they’re like, ‘That is your check. You agreed to that’.”

“No the hell I didn’t,” she added and then explained the number of emails she had sent to several district officials about the issue.

Ms Aponte said she would now have to resort to side gigs such as bartending to earn money.

The follow-up video has since received more than 200,000 views.

Both the videos have prompted several users to call for revising pay for teachers.

One commentator said: “We need to value what teachers do for us. Teachers need to be paid accordingly. They are loving, caring, and educating our kids.”

Another said: “School districts would rather keep bad teachers than pay enough money to good teachers.”