A 35-year-old teacher from Canada has been fired after refusing to give in to the school district's demands to shut down her OnlyFans account.
Kristin MacDonald began working at Terry Fox Secondary in Port Coquitlam in 2015, when she joined the school as an education assistant.
MacDonald has claimed the job only earned her $1,000 CAD ($750 USD/£600) every two weeks after deductions, so she topped up her earnings with a second job as a content creator on OnlyFans.
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Under the name Ava James, MacDonald shared racy photos and videos on the platform which allows users to subscribe to certain creators. She also shares content on Instagram and TikTok.
While at school, however, MacDonald insisted she was focused solely on helping students, and that she'd never been the subject of complaints about her behaviour.
Still, her accounts caused issues when they came to the attention of School District 43, which covers Terry Fox Secondary. In April, the district ordered her to shut down her adult content or risk being fired.
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The teacher suspects a video of her in a schoolgirl outfit, shared on TikTok, may have been one particular point of contention with the district.
"I feel like they're making connections to, you know, me defaming the education system by wearing this outfit," MacDonald said, according to CBC. "It's so far-fetched to me. It seems very petty."
The following month, MacDonald shared a video about the district's demands and called for an end to the 'stigma' surrounding the creation of adult content. She also refused to give in to the district's demands, instead opting to keep her content live.
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As a result, she was fired from the school on 16 June.
Her termination letter listed six reasons for her dismissal, one of which related to her allegedly posting material on public social media accounts that 'involves the sexualization of the school environment'.
It read: “Putting to one side material posted on the OnlyFans account you operate, posting on publicly accessible platforms content that involves the sexualization of the school environment via ‘sexy school girl’ imagery and innuendo to ‘meet at the playground’ for sexual activities, in and of itself negatively affects the District’s operations, reputation and work environment."
The letter also accused MacDonald of having disparaged the district in media interviews, created a link between her job as an education assistant and adult performance work, and capitalized on the link through the content she offered on OnlyFans.
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"In the employer's view, each of the above six points independently constitutes a fundamental breach of your obligations as an employee and cause for termination of your employment," the letter stated.
"As such, your employment is terminated for just cause effective immediately."
MacDonald said she had 'a lot of mixed emotions' over being fired, but she remains optimistic that the process 'is not over yet'.
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She and her union have put in for a grievance.
The teacher has also argued that there needs to be more attention given to the low wages in the sector, and less stigma around sex work.
"I feel strongly that in this day and age, we should be able to do what we want as long as it's not illegal," MacDonald said. "I'm not hurting anybody."
In a statement given in late June, School District 43 said that all employees are treated fairly and equitably when investigations are undertaken, but that it does not comment on individual employee matters.
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UNILAD has contacted the School District 43 Superintendent for comment.
Emily Brown