Former Edwardsville Teacher Asks for Support After She Says She Was Targeted By District Administrators

EDWARDSVILLE - A former Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 teacher is asking community members to support her at the upcoming Board of Education meeting after she says she was unfairly targeted by the district.

Last year, Jade Hinnen made headlines for a TikTok campaign that encouraged people across the country to donate to District #7’s school lunch debt. After receiving permission from the district to fundraise using social media, she raised over $13,000, which paid off the entire lunch debt at Columbus Elementary School.

However, at the start of the 2025–2026 school year, former Superintendent Dr. Patrick Shelton informed Hinnen of a policy that prohibits one individual from donating more than $1,000 to the district. Hinnen said Shelton “really supported” her fundraising efforts.

“I think that as the new school year began, there were some things going on with the administration that I really had no part of and didn’t know,” she remembered. “That’s kind of when things started to turn. Once Dr. Shelton was suspended and Dr. [Allen] Duncan stepped in as the acting superintendent at the time, it just seemed like everything went south.”

Shelton was suspended in September 2025, and the Board of Education officially approved a separation agreement with him in December 2025. Dr. Allen Duncan has served as the Acting Superintendent since September and was officially named the Interim Superintendent in January 2026.

Following Shelton’s suspension, Hinnen was called into a few meetings and “given directives that were ever-changing.” She was asked to delete all TikTok videos that had been filmed on District #7 property, a rule that, she says, still does not apply to everyone, as there are other teachers with TikToks that feature D7 properties. She was also removed from the district leadership team.

“Each meeting that I was called into, I got a new directive and a slap on the wrist, basically, if you will. It seemed very targeted, in a way,” she said. “I’ve been told by quite a few community members that they believe that I was basically just collateral damage because of my working relationships with Dr. Shelton and just basically they kind of wanted to tie up the loose ends, and I was one of those loose ends.”

On Dec. 17, 2025, Hinnen was once again called into the district’s administrative office. She was informed that the investigative report regarding Shelton’s suspension was completed, and the district wanted to give her the courtesy of reading it before it was released because she was named.

According to Hinnen, the investigative report “insinuates that I kept money from this fundraiser and didn’t donate all of the funds to the district.” She was convinced the report would “ruin my career and my reputation,” but her biggest question was why she wasn’t asked about these topics before the report was completed.

“I didn’t know I was a part of the investigation. I don’t know who the investigator is. I’ve never spoken to them. It was mind-blowing that I could be such a large part of this investigation report without even knowing it,” she said. “How did they make these statements about me if they never even talked to me and never even asked for any kind of evidence or anything like that?”

Hinnen submitted a formal request to take out “false” statements and redact her name, which was denied. The report was released on Dec. 23.

Hinnen hoped the winter break would be a chance to “let everything simmer down.” With two kids at home, she decided she was “going to have to suck it up” and return to work on Jan. 5, 2026.

At the end of the day, she was called into the principal’s office. Hinnen said they exchanged pleasantries “and nothing more.” That evening, she received an email from her principal expressing that she was glad they could ensure Hinnen was being supported by the school.

“It just went on to say all of these things that we had not spoken about in our very brief conversation,” Hinnen said. “The only way I can really say it is that it feels like planted evidence…It just felt icky, and I just thought to myself, this is never going to end. I’m going to continue to be called into these offices. I’m going to be broken down as far as I can go, and I think I’m at that point. So that night, I decided that I was going to submit my letter of resignation.”

Hinnen submitted her two weeks’ notice on Jan. 5, knowing that the semester officially ended two weeks from that date and her students would be transitioning anyway. She also submitted a formal grievance to the Director of Human Resources.

At the end of the school day on Jan. 6, Hinnen was again called into the principal’s office. The Director of HR told her she was no longer needed, and that day would be her final one in the district. She was asked to pack up her classroom and turn in her computer and keys.

“I was not going to be able to say goodbye to my kids. I was not going to be able to give any sort of explanation to them,” Hinnen said. “What was going to happen was they were going to come in the next school day to a blank classroom with nothing in it and a substitute teacher who had no idea what they were supposed to be doing, because I essentially was kicked out. And so that was really sad, because it wasn’t what’s best for kids. Those kids deserved more than showing up the next day to that blank classroom.”

In the month since then, Hinnen has been applying to jobs. She shared that she wants to work in a position where she can support fellow educators.

She’s also been posting on TikTok at the profile educate.sleep.repeat. In one of her most recent posts, she said that she plans to attend the regular Board of Education meeting on Feb. 23, 2026, and she encouraged her supporters to join her. She hopes her speech at the Board meeting encourages the Board of Education and administrators to “reflect on their actions and reflect on the policies” so that the district doesn’t “lose any more educators.”

“Right now, specifically in this district, this is a system that pretends to celebrate educators. They do that publicly, but then on the back end, they’re failing to support us. I’m not going to be the only educator to ever go through something like this,” Hinnen said. “There is going to come a time, probably in the near future, where another educator is going to be under attack and they are going to ultimately make the decision to leave. Unfortunately, we’re in a teacher shortage right now. We need these teachers to stay, and if we’re going to promote teacher retention, we have to fix some things.”

Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 declined to comment, as they do not comment publicly on personnel issues.

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