A Maryland public school employee has been fired after she corrected a student’s spelling on Twitter.
The Frederick News-Post reports Frederick County Public Schools fired Katie Nash after she used Twitter account for the school district to correct a student’s spelling mistake.
A student, identified as “Nathan,” tweeted at the Frederick County Public School system to suggest they “close school tammarow [sic] PLEASE.”
Nash responded to the tweet with, “but then how would you learn to spell ‘tomorrow’? :)”
The tweet apparently caused uproar, with thousands of people sharing and liking the post, and even creating a hashtag called #KatiefromFCPS to show support.
According the New York Post, the student who was corrected did not take the issue personally. However, that did not stop Nash from being fired.
Nash told the Frederick News-Post that she was called into a meeting on Friday and was given a termination letter without receiving counseling about what she did wrong.
“As a new employee, I think I sort of would have expected that there would have been some counseling or some suggestions on how to improve,” she explained.
“Any social media manager is looking for increasing engagement, and that’s sort of the expected parameter,” Nash continued. “I think a conversation about how we engage with students would have been completely appropriate and I would have welcomed that.”
Nash told WHAG-TV she was hired for the purpose of helping out the district’s engagement with students.
Even though Michael Doerrer, the district spokesman, confirmed Nash is no longer an employee of the school system, Nash said she wouldn’t change what happened.
“It was really positive and great to see so many students engaged with their school system,” she stated. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”
The school hasn't officially confirmed that Nash was fired over the tweet.
Nash has been taking to her personal Twitter to express her thoughts on the aftermath and share advice to students.
She's told students to keep doing their homework, even if they’re upset about her being fired: “homework 1st, advocacy 2nd.”
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