She spaced out.
The longtime principal of a high-achieving Florida charter school stepped down Tuesday night after she sent $100,000 in school funds to an internet scammer posing as billionaire Elon Musk, according to reports.
Jan McGee, who had led Burns Science in Technology since its 2011 inception, said someone claiming to be the tech mogul offered to invest millions into the popular STEM school in exchange for an upfront payment.
The school’s skeptical business manager eventually learned of the arrangement and managed to cancel the transaction before the money cleared, according to WESH.
But the controversy roiled parents and board members, who insisted that McGee was inexplicably reckless with crucial school funds.
Several speakers at Tuesday night’s meeting stressed that McGee’s colleagues told her that she was being swindled, but that she ignored them and insisted on sending out the payment.
After angry board members said they could no longer work under her and threatened to quit, McGee resigned on the spot and left the school building to cheers from the audience.
“I love this school more than anything else. If it means your administration is going to stay, I’m turning in my resignation,” McGee said at the Volusia County gathering.
McGee previously acknowledged that she had corresponded with the ersatz Elon for months before signing off on the check.
The rural school in Oak Hill enrolls roughly 1,000 students and has lengthy waiting lists, according to WESH.
