By Erika Icon
YNOT – Stacie Halas has been fighting to get her teaching job back since April, when she was fired after students discovered explicit images and videos of the 32-year-old middle-school science teacher online. She may learn the outcome of her battle next week, when an administrative panel is expected to render a decision in her case.
Prior to becoming an educator, Halas performed in 22 adult movies under the nom de porn Tiffany Six. During a Thursday hearing, she said she regretted working in porn for a year, but she “was desperate” to pay bills. She 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 porn past 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.
During a hearing this week, Halas’ lawyer argued that porn is legal, if not the most savory temporary occupation for an aspiring teacher.
“I think most of us have something [we’d like to hide] in our backgrounds, and I ask anybody here to cast the first stone,” Halas’ attorney, Richard Schwab, told NBC Los Angeles after the hearing. “What happened six years ago has not impacted her ability to be an effective teacher.”
School officials, who have referred to Halas as a “porn princess,” disagree. During the hearing, they played a 2006 behind-the-scenes clip in which Halas spoke on-camera about how the XXX gig was a risk to her teaching career.
“I have to say I’m not into the students, though,” she said. “At least I don’t do that.”
A portion of the interview can be seen on TheSmokingGun.com.
Oxnard school officials claim that Halas’ X-rated past will create too much of a distraction if she is allowed to return to teaching. They’re also not very happy that she neglected to mention “porn star” on the part of her employment application in which she listed previous jobs.
“The fact that she listed being a lifeguard and being at Subway Sandwich but chose to eliminate the fact that she was in the porn industry is very telling,” Oxnard schools spokesman Tom DeLapp told NBC.
Image: Stacie Halas as Tiffany Six
