A teaching assistant from Metro Vancouver has been fired after a battle with the school district over her second job as an OnlyFans creator.
Kristin Macdonald confirmed to Daily Hive Tuesday that she was let go from the Coquitlam School District in June. The district’s reasons for dismissing her included how she allegedly disparaged it in media interviews and allegedly capitalized on the link between being a school employee and an OnlyFans creator in her subscription offerings.
She knew this spring that termination was looming, after meetings with the district where staff presented her with more than 70 printouts of her social media pages, quotes from news articles, and research into OnlyFans.
On April 28, the district sent her a cease and desist letter warning her to remove her social media accounts or face termination. MacDonald began speaking out about the district’s conduct, believing it wasn’t fair to discipline her for the second job outside school hours — when her content was strictly 18+, marketed under a pseudonym, and blocked from being viewed by colleagues.
MacDonald has been making content under the name Ava James since July 2022. She told Daily Hive the gig provides much-needed extra income to help make ends meet and raise her infant daughter.
“I don’t make a livable wage being an education assistant,” she told Daily Hive this spring. “I feel very strongly that I should be able to do both in this day and age in a liberal place such as Vancouver.”
MacDonald’s battle with the school has ignited larger conversations about the stigma surrounding sex work, workers’ right to have two separate jobs, and the responsibilities of educators.
Prior to the firing, MacDonald was on unpaid leave from the district because of a back injury.
Daily Hive has reached out to the Coquitlam School District and MacDonald’s union for comment.
With files from Gerald Narciso