An Albuquerque middle school teacher found a unique way to tell her middle school that she was resigning from position recently.

Mahalia Aponte, 8th grade social studies teacher at Garfield Middle School, made a TikTok video telling her class that she was quitting because of the way the district pays its teachers, according to KRQE News.

“Because I didn’t start at the beginning of the year, they did prorate my annual pay from $51k to like $34.5k,” Aponte said. “I didn’t get a confirmation saying 'we changed it in the system, you’re good to go, this is what it’s going to be now, also, this is how our pay scale is set up.' I didn’t get any of that.” 

Mahalia Aponte's TikTok video went viral after she told her class she was quitting due to pay. | Instagram

According to the station, Aponte recently moved to the state and began working at the school a few months into the school year.

Aponte’s issue with the school district is that she said no one told her that they utilized a 12-month pay schedule and that her salary would be prorated over the full year, leaving her with only $400 each month once she paid the rent. Aponte said that she began working a second job during the evenings and weekends to make more money and will shift her focus to working full time as a bartender, along with offering tutoring services.