YNOT – A three-judge administrative panel ruled against fired science teacher Stacie Halas, saying as long as her porn past haunts her on the internet, she will be ineffective and suffer from a lack of respect in the classroom.
Halas, 32, was fired from a middle-school teaching job in April 2012 after students discovered explicit images and videos online. Hoping to regain her job and set a precedent for others seeking to overcome an embarrassing history, she challenged the school district’s decision, calling the termination wrongful.
Prior to becoming an educator, Halas performed in 22 adult movies under the stage name Tiffany Six. During a previous hearing, she said she regretted working in porn for a year, but she “was desperate” to pay bills. She also said she hasn’t been anywhere near a porn set since 2006, when she accepted employment teaching science at Simi Valley High School in the Los Angeles area. She resigned that position when an administrator became aware of her explicit history and later took a job with the Richard B. Haydock Intermediate School in Oxnard, Calif. It was the Oxnard school that fired her in April, prompting Halas to fight back.
“Although her pornography career has concluded, the ongoing availability of her pornographic materials on the internet will continue to impede her from being an effective teacher and respected colleague,” Judge Julie Cabos-Owen wrote in a 46-page decision.
The panel also found Halas repeatedly attempted to deceive the school district by intentionally withholding information about her adult entertainment escapades both before and after she was hired.
Attorney Richard Scwab, who represented Halas before the tribunal, told the Associated Press his client didn’t mention her personal history because she “was embarrassed and humiliated by her past experience in the adult industry.”
“We were hoping we could show you could overcome your past,” Scwab told the AP. “I think [Halas is] representative of a lot of people who may have a past that may not involve anything illegal or anything that hurts anybody.”
Superintendent Jeff Chancer indicated society holds teachers and teacher-hopefuls to higher standards because they work with impressionable minors.
“[Halas’ decision to] engage in pornography was incompatible with her responsibilities as a role model for students,” he noted in a prepared statement.
[SIZE=1]Image: Stacie Halas as Tiffany Six during one of the 22 adult scenes in which she performed.[/SIZE]
