PADUCAH, KY — Science education in America is not considered to be at its peak, especially in some of the Southern states. Kentucky now has one less specialist in the field thanks to a decision by Reidland High School to suspend Tericka Dye for having appeared in an adult video more than a decade ago.The western Kentucky instructor was told in a letter by McCracken County Schools Superintendent Tim Heller that her “presence in the classroom would cause disruption to the educational process,” and, in his opinion, would result in “a less than serious approach to schooling by students who viewed the video or know about it.”
The fact that students attending Reidland High School would mostly be too young to legally view the video which is, in porn terms, practically ancient, did not deter the school from telling her not to return to the classroom in the fall, in spite of two successful years there as a science teacher and volleyball coach.
Dye claims that she appeared in the 1995 video because she was homeless, had no job, and her bipolar disorder was not being treated. She spent one day in Los Angeles for the project and used a pseudonym. She later joined the Army and served as a military police at Fort Lewis, WA before gaining certification as a teacher.
According to the now ex-teacher, “I absolutely 100-percent regret doing,” the video, but she “always tried to look ahead and not focus on it. But I wasn’t diagnosed at the time.”
An attorney hired by the Kentucky Education Assocation to represent Dye says that the superintendent’s decision may be challenged. A number of parents, including Bonnie Chilcoat, support reinstating Dye and attended a rally in support of her. Some attendees, including Chilcoat, removed their children from students for the day in order to allow them to participate.
“She’s not the person she was 10 years ago,” Chilcoat defended. “We’ve all done things that we regret, except hers is on tape.”
