Baltimore Teacher Keeps His Job After Student Hair-Braiding Controversy

The teacher then defended his actions of posting students on his page.

A Baltimore teacher will keep his job after a viral TikTok of students fixing his hair caused concern. He initially sparked controversy by recruiting some of his female students to undo his braids while in class.

After posting the heavily critiqued video, Marquise White revealed that he was placed under a performance evaluation. However, his success as an educator led to his decision to continue teaching at Baltimore’s Maya Angelou French Immersion School. The Neighborhood Talk re-shared the footage of his update to social media.

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“Not only did I have [my character] working in my favor, I had the grades, the test scores, the evaluation reports from being observed by my principal,” he detailed. “This was never for clout; I don’t post my videos for clout. I’ve been [a] content creator for several years; I was [one] before I was a teacher. As an educator in today’s age, you’ve got to find ways to connect with your students. One thing for me is utilizing my social media because the students enjoy it.”

White initially faced backlash for recording several students coming to his class to unbraid his hair. Naysayers deemed the behavior inappropriate and took away from the learning environment. However, the influencer further defended himself and his reasoning behind posting the TikTok of his students.

“Not only do I create content with my students because it’s entertaining, and I use it as an incentive, I also use it to benefit my school community,” said White.

He then recalled when the school’s principal enlisted him to use his platform to successfully source solar eclipse glasses for students. However, while he can keep teaching, he will still face a five-day suspension.

Despite this consequence, he intends to return for the upcoming school year. Moreover, he said he won’t let “haters” stop him from posting content as a teacher.

“I’ll be back at the school in August doing what I do best, making learning fun and impacting the lives of countless students,” he ended the video. “Some people will never like you because your light irritates their demons…but shine anyway.”