An English teacher and varsity cheerleading coach at St. Clair High School says she was placed on leave for making pornography on the adult subscription website OnlyFans, a month after another teacher was suspended from the school for the same reason.
Megan Gaither, 31, said in an interview with the Post-Dispatch that she was put on leave by the district Friday evening and she expects to be fired after going public.
Gaither Started OnlyFans Page Because Teaching Job Failed to 'Financially Support' Her
Gaither said she was told by the district that she was put on leave because of "professionalism and student communication." She insists she has never acted unprofessionally in the classroom and earned good reviews from administrators.
Gaither said she joined the direct-to-subscribers website in May to supplement her teaching salary and help pay back more than $125,000 in student loans.
"Teaching does not financially support a person," Gaither said. "It's really hard to stretch those paychecks during the summer. That's why I did it." The educator's total pay last year, including a stipend for coaching cheerleading, was about $47,500.
Gaither Got Caught After She Appeared in Colleague's Video Posted on OnlyFans
As previously reported, Gaither's former co-worker Brianna Coppage was put on leave and eventually resigned earlier this month after the district was alerted to her OnlyFans account. Since then, Coppage's success on the site has skyrocketed. Her subscription rate has increased more than fivefold, and her story has been picked up by news outlets across the world.
Gaither said she deactivated her OnlyFans account, which had about 1,500 subscribers, after Coppage's account was discovered by the district. Gaither said she was making an additional $3,000 to $5,000 a month on the site at the time, but she never showed her face in an effort to remain anonymous.
Still, Gaither said, rumors began to circulate at the school when she appeared in a video on Coppage's account last week. The video did not include Gaither's face. But it was recorded at a party in a St. Louis hotel room, and when a photo from the party was posted publicly, Gaither was wearing the same costume that she wore in the video.
After the video leaked, she said a student on Monday slipped a note under her classroom door suggesting they "knew her secret." OnlyFans, a website that launched in 2016, allows content creators charge followers a subscription fee to gain access to explicit content.
Gaither said that she loves teaching and has received positive evaluations in the classroom. She initially said she would return to school on Monday if she did not receive other direction from the school district, but is now on leave until further notice.
