OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — An employee of a local charter school is out after students discovered suggestive TikTok videos he posted dating back several years.
Daniel Rionda worked as a dean at the Creative Inspiration Journey School on the outskirts of St. Cloud until Monday, when his termination became official.
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The videos, which were uploaded in 2021, showed Rionda sticking his tongue out to suggestive music and twerking with a woman inside his house.
Accounts appearing to be the school’s students began commenting on the videos in early May. Friday afternoon, parents posted screenshots of them and lobbed accusations at Rionda and the school as they worried about their children’s safety.
“They’re pretty disturbing, so they speak for themselves,” Sarah Hyde, who has two kids at the school, said. “You hear about it, but then when it’s happening to your kids… I didn’t really know what to do at first.”
Rionda made his videos private, but the school determined it was too late for that, according to his termination letter sent by the principal, which stated the content of the videos were damaging to the school and violated its social media policy.
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In a response to the parents online, Rionda said he didn’t know how to make his TikTok account private and had blocked students who came across his videos.
“I was young and stupid,” he said. “Instead of accusing me… Maybe the PARENTS should do themselves a service and not allow thier CHILDERN [sic] on social media apps.”
When contacted, Rionda said there was nothing harmful or illegal about the content of the videos, and the situation had been blown way out of proportion.
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“I am guilty of not deleting my social media when I received a position at the school and that is the only thing I am guilty of and I am suffering the consequences of that,” he said. “The harassment and slander I have received is reached [sic] unfathomable levels.”
He added that his family members received threats over the weekend.
Some of the social media commenters backed Rionda up, saying the parents were being unfair and were accusing him of things far more serious than the content of his videos displayed, without proof.
However, parents said he should have known to make his account private when he took the job at the school.
“You should automatically know that kids are going to find you,” Hyde said.
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