Headteacher placed on leave after 'inappropriate' message made its way into school yearbook
A principal has been placed on leave after a lyric from a rap song was attributed to her in the school yearbook, though she insists she didn't write it in there or sign off on it being her quote.
Florida principal Katie O’Connell is on leave from Trout Creek Academy after the first page of the yearbook bore a quote she supposedly put in there, but she denies doing it.
According to Action News Jax, the principal had a lyric from Fetty Wap's 2015 song 'Trap Queen' attributed to her in the school's yearbook.
She is claimed to have written: "Everybody hating, we just call them fans though! - Mrs. O’Connell."
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However, the principal has insisted she didn't write that, nor give her approval for the quote to be attributed to her in the yearbook.
She said: "I approved the yearbook twice on 9 April, and so did my assistant principal and that quote in that area was not even in the book."
She also said that she was typically known around the school as 'Miss O' rather than 'Mrs. O’Connell'.
However, she ended up getting a letter from St. Johns County School District telling her she was being put on paid administrative leave from 20 May onwards due to allegations of 'inappropriate conduct'.
Another letter she received told her 'this action is being taken as we move towards a non-reappointment for the 2026-2027 school year', meaning she would not continue in her job once school resumes after the summer holidays.
The principal says she's also been told she can't go onto the school district's property, and she didn't even know about the Fetty Wap quote until someone messaged her on Facebook with screenshots of it.
"There were certain parents that went straight to the district, or straight to the news, or straight to Facebook.
"None of them even called me. I received zero phone calls, or emails, or any questions about the yearbook,” she said.
"All I needed was the time or the opportunity to have fixed an error that was made, and it wasn’t made by me."
Her assistant principal Samantha Sawruk added that when the proofread the yearbook the day before it was submitted the quote wasn't in there, otherwise they'd have taken it out.
O'Connell suggested that a student might have put the quote into the book after the proofreading was complete, and has suffered harassment since then with a threat being made to her.
The teacher added that she wants to keep working in education, but not at the same school, saying: “I have an exemplary record. My school scores are amazing. I have 92 percent teacher retention.
"I have five straight years of being highly effective in St. Johns County schools. There’s no reason to throw away someone’s career or to hurt a family like this."
Her legal representative called the matter 'a bunch of garbage' as they said: "She’s getting thrown under the bus for something she was not responsible for."
LADbible Group have contacted St. John's County School District for comment.
Joe Harker