Being a teacher can be hard work, as sometimes trying to relate to your students can backfire miserably, and that’s what happened to a rather excited Mississippi high school teacher on her first day. She thought it would be harmless to record her first day. Turns out the school administration didn’t like her recording students, and she was promptly terminated; furthermore, some of her remarks about the students, such as calling them “shawty” or “shorty,” have raised some eyebrows.
24-year-old Miata Borders was the teacher in question. Sadly, Lake Cormorant High School in Mississippi fired her on October 17, mostly on the grounds of invasively recording and posting school activity on TikTok. In the videos, Borders can be seen excitedly flaunting her teaching apparel. Some students even mistook her for a student because of how young she looked and how she also wore baggy clothes with a flashy crucifix chain.
But what really caught the attention of most people online was how Borders exclaimed, “Damn shorty, sheeesh. Man, I get up out this school kids tryna take me down. I look like one of them,” after seeing a group of high school band cheerleaders. Many people online found this remark from Borders disturbing. “‘Damn shawty’ to a child is wild,” claims a TikTok commenter, with another asking “wym by damn shorty & sheesh???”
The repercussions were swift, and Lake Cormorant High, along with DeSoto County Schools, summoned Borders for an explanation and, eventually, for official termination. “District officials informed Kelly Services today that the person is no longer allowed to be a substitute teacher for DeSoto County Schools,” according to the County statement, transcript courtesy of WREG.
Borders has apologized
Borders, however, has issued an apology on her personal Facebook and TikTok account, saying that the whole outrage was a “mischaracterization.” She also apologized to the Lake Cormorant High students and their parents and assured everyone that she meant no harm in a long follow-up video, which also explained why she was recording:
“I am by far no predator… I truly do apologize for how it may seem but my slang and terminology is much different than yours… They are shorties, they are young. It absolutely means nothing with flirting,” defends Borders. “I truly thought I was doing something good for the youth,” as part of the reason why she was doing some content creation on school grounds.
Some people in her apology video have since defended her, saying that “shorty” is used as slang for “girl” or “female” in places like Chicago. Most of them, however, were not buying it, especially since it appears none of the students knew they were being recorded and that Borders was going to be adding some voice-overs to the video. For many, regardless of her intent, it appears that many people were uncomfortable with the way she acted as a teacher, calling it unprofessional.
