Former Olathe teacher calls out unfair social media policies after being let go over TikTok video

Stephen Taylor// Photo provided by Stephen Taylor

Former Olathe School District history teacher Stephen Taylor was fired last month for posting a comedic video making jokes about his students on TikTok.

Outside of teaching, Taylor is a local comedian known for his stand up, including a house feature at KC Improv, and festivals such as Flyover Fest and SF Sketchfest. In an attempt to tie his love of comedy and teaching, he moved made a shift to short form comedic videos about teaching and his experience in the classroom.

While the original video has been deleted, a new version with a blacked out background has been uploaded. Taylor jokes about telling students random false facts and quietly farting, also known as crop dusting, students that are annoying him that day as he passes.

Ironically, he also jokes, “They wont fire me, they need me.”

The harmless video did not include any students or identifying information about the school district, but Olathe School Board felt the video was inappropriate and let him go from his position of four years.

@formerlyfatstephen heres the original video with my background edited out #fartgate #goodteacher #badstudent ♬ CROPDUST THE KIDS – Stephen Taylor

Taylor says this isn’t outside the realm of jokes that would have been made in class with students and parents directly.

“I know my kids well enough to know that they wouldn’t care, and I know the parents well enough to know that they wouldn’t care. They know I’m a good teacher, they think it’s funny.”

This response raises questions on if teachers are being too policed in their life outside of school and how much they are actually being valued by their school district.

“Districts are run by older people who are maybe more out of touch than their younger contemporaries,” says Taylor. “The social media policies were designed 18 years ago for MySpace days.”

Taylor worked in an alternative school, meant for giving students a nontraditional way to learn and receive support.

“I only had 15 kids in a class and I was able to like really build relationships. [After being let go] people were having to have long sit downs with the kids explaining to them about change and things being out of your control and just how hard it can be to lose somebody and what it means to lose somebody without closure. I was a good fucking teacher. I was really good with the kids. I had all the stuff that I would have wanted a teacher to have when I was a student.”

Taylor’s firing comes during a major teacher shortage in Kansas. According to the 2022 Kansas Teacher Retention Initiative conducted by the Department of Education, 16% of teachers of teachers said they likely would end up leaving a teaching role. Just last year, the Olathe School District was 65 staff absences away from having to cancel school all together.

“I think if they cared about students, they would worry about a teacher shortage, because right now classes are 30 plus kids. And it’s impossible to teach 30 plus middle school, high school kids. A teacher shortage means students are going to get a poor education.”

With an average salary of $58k nationwide for teachers, it’s not shocking TikTok has become a popular second job or, at the very least, at creative outlet.

Mrs. Frazzled, a former elementary school teacher, gained 1.2 million followers from sharing her stories of being a teacher and eventually leaving after issues with administration. She now hosts a podcast, Teacher Quit Talk with fellow TikToker and teacher, Miss Redacted, to talk about the realities of being a educator.

The Olathe School District’s July 2022 social media policy is vague, with “suggestions” instead of defined rules and regulation. This calls to question if they are left flexible to be sparingly enforced.

“I feel like I get to serve as a test case for a lot of these teachers, because teachers are getting fired for content. And a lot of the times it’s good teachers, you know. If I’m willing to make a video about teaching after hours, it’s probably because I care about it.”

Taylor was asked to sign a non disclosure agreement, but refused. He has since posted a number of TikToks in regards to the situation, including clips from school board meetings that show board members acting irrationally and belligerent when being questioned on multiple occasions. He has also released a post explaining to his students that he has been let go and why.

@formerlyfatstephen Be professional: But only on Social Media … Here’s my final meeting for #fartgate #goodteacher #badstudent ♬ original sound – Stephen Taylor

Taylor says while he may turn to substituting, he has no current plans to return to a permanent position in the classroom. Instead he will focus on pursuing comedy full time.

At this time, the Olathe School District has declined to comment on the situation, citing “personnel privacy laws.”