Jamie Reidy comments on a middle school teacher fired for acting in porno movies.
NBClosangeles.com writers Stephanie Miranda and Gordon Tokumatsu report that Stacie Halas likely has a case for legal action against the school district.
School board trustees decided on Wednesday to fire Halas. She had been on paid administrative leave since her porn acting surfaced last month. Halas has 30 days to appeal the decision by requesting a hearing with an administrative law judge.
It appears the Oxnard school board suffered from some Premature Ejection.
Stacie Halas performed under the porn name “Tiffany Six.” Surprisingly, I am unfamiliar with her work.
The, uh, upside to having a porn star on the faculty? The truancy rate among male students will plummet. And after school tutoring sessions will be SRO (with raincoats strategically positioned, of course).
But holy cow would I have had trouble concentrating in science class when all I could think about was Ms. Halas’s chemistry with her costar(s). Lord help the lads if she taught anatomy.
(btw, the NBC Los Angeles’ legal analyst is named “Royal Oakes,” which sounds like a fancy neighborhood… or a guy’s porn name.)
What do you think: should Stacie Halas have been fired?
About Jamie Reidy
“But holy cow would I have had trouble concentrating in science class when all I could think about was Ms. Halas’s chemistry with her costar(s).”
I get that your blog posts are posted in a humorous tone…but unfortunately this is exactly an argument used as to why people who have worked in porn shouldn’t be teaching classes. That, plus the idea that somehow they’ll corrupt kids.
Similar sentiments are used to dismiss situations of rape by female teachers of their male students as well.
Anyway, as to the question of whether she should have been fired? No. I don’t believe she should have, any more than somebody who (for example) posted drunken pictures of themselves on Facebook should be. What anybody does while off the clock, (or before they were employed there) as long as it’s legal, should have no bearing on their employment.
I can see it would be quite a distraction once word got around and all the boys in the class started downloading her films. Not sure she could be a very effective teacher at that point. I’m not dating she should lose her job, but I can imagine the problems it might cause.
ya’ think? but with as crappy as the school system is ( I know Im a teacher and I have extra part time jobs) legal and clean of course-) the fact that the pay and working conditions are horrendous, pretty soon you pay just have porn stars and criminals teaching in the classrooms …. just sayin’
Well a porn star isn’t a criminal, so putting the two together like that is problematic.
But holy cow would I have had trouble concentrating in science class when all I could think about was Ms. Halas’s chemistry with her costar(s). Lord help the lads if she taught anatomy.
Chemistry? Anatomy?
Make her the sex education teacher. Done.
I don’t agree that she should have been fired but I think Sarah points out how disruptive things would have gotten once the word got out about exactly which films she was in (I bet money that there are a few dozen middle school kids scouring torrent sites looking for her work and I bet they aren’t all male).
The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness… I believe it would be preferable that the kids not know about it, if at all possible, because it would be a distraction. I know I’d be distracted for all the reasons mentioned. But, she hasn’t done anything wrong, or endangering, and therefore, I think it’s discriminatory and disgusting to have put her through such an ordeal for things she has a legal right to do.
No way… It never ceases to amaze me how hypocritical people are. The only difference between her and most of the most vocal parents is she did it on tape. I have found in my life that the ones who yell the loudest for someone’s resignation for such things, tend to have items in their closet that they are most worried about it coming out.
With her on the staff, every male student would have been there every day…
In high school in the late 80s – , a couple of kids in my chemistry class attended a Ronnie James Dio concert on a school night. The next day, they deliriously shared the news that our chem teacher was selling t-shirts inside the arena.
We all thought this was hilarious. (Little shits that we were; we had no appreciation for a man just trying to make a few extra bucks.) Anyways, the kids didn’t have any photographic evidence – this was 25 years prior to ubiquitous camera phones – but we all believed it.
The guys who attended the show began saying “Dio!” throughout chem classes. At best this was distracting, but it became an issue of respect; gradually, we thought less of this guy. (See: earlier “little shits” comment.)
Finally, after a few months, the teacher yelled, “I wasn’t at the goddamn Dio concert!” Obviously he’d had enough of the harassment. (And, obviously, one of my classmates who was really into chem clued him into what was being said.)
But, seeing as how distracting that boring news of concert t-shirts sales became, I really don’t know how an ex-porn star could maintain discipline or respect in a class of boys.
In our current culture–driven by hysteria about sex–that’s probably true. That doesn’t make it right, though.
I am surprised that…you are not familiar with her work. LOL line.
I figure that what folks do in their spare time is really their own business. But may just be me.
Teacher of the Millennium- Stacie Halas !
I think she should be judged by her teaching in the classroom (isn’t this an example of “slut-shaming”? She is a porn star/ slut and, therefore, could not possibly have enough moral fiber to teach our kids…)
In my high school experience, I have had a lecherous chemistry teacher ask me out in 12th grade….he made all kinds of inappropriate remarks to the girls through the years without any censure….But people gave him a pass because he gave high grades…if I had reported him then, maybe he would have been fired….
Is this a double standard (ie., how we think about the behavior of male vs. female teachers)?
In the UK at least you can get fired from being a teacher for being seen drunk in the street by a student’s parents – pretty close to your Facebook suggestion. Conduct that could bring the profession into disrepute, you know – I’m pretty sure being a porn star falls under that as well.
I would also have to agree with the people saying that as soon as this got out she would really struggle to teach, due to the lack of respect from the students. I don’t necessarily think she needed to be fired, but I doubt she would have ever been able to work again either way. Not sure a male porn star would fare any better.
I am surprised nobody noticed it earlier, since she can be googled with her name (her videos are even named “REAL science teacher !”)There was no need to fire her, I am sure she would have resigned herself after hearing a few jokes concerning her… activities in some scenes.
This sort of thing is completely unsurprising.
I don’t know what happens (and I suspect it will happen to me one day), but when you have children something clearly snaps in your brain, and your ability to form rational thought surrounding your children becomes completely inhibited.
This is why we see a whole range of irrational behaviors, from parents who would rather believe internet conspiracy theories than get their kids needed vaccines, to the success of the message “they will teach your children to be homosexual” that is so often used by the anti-same-sex-marriage lobby. When parents are even remotely concerned their children are “threatened” they lose the ability to think clearly, regardless of how absurd (or even imaginary) the “threat” really is.
Until we’re comfortable calling out parents for being irrational when it comes to their children, don’t really expect this sort of behavior to change.
It’s impossible.
Media in every single country thrive on scandals, hysteria, “hot news” and constant threats.
Be it terrorists, pedo invasion in schools or churches, cyclists, Commies or whatever.
And to be honest, every single state is interested in letting things be because, you know, when people fight imaginary threats, they can rule with impunity (since nobody cares about subtle yet serious changes in law…).
I don’t know, I have some hope.
While it took decades, the fights over school desegregation and the teaching of evolutionary theory have largely been won at this point (though evolution was touch and go for a while last decade). Both of these topics began with the usual “But what about the children!” tropes, and were fought tooth-and-nail by people who felt irrational fears about what was happening to their children.
I hope that, on a long enough timeline, we can see honest discussion on a broader range of topics, where fear is set aside and rational heads prevail, leading to improvement.
Of course, this is a “long game” in the short term, I don’t really expect change.
Not to sound wishy-washy, but it depends on how her porn career relates to her contractual obligations. I would say probably no, just having a past in adult films by itself should not disqualify you from being certified as a teacher. It’s not inherently unethical in all cases to star in adult films, any more than it’s inherently unethical to sell alcohol in any circumstance. If she had actually broken a law, I can see grounds for action, but there’s nothing here that says she broke any laws.
I can imagine some extreme, aggravating circumstances where the district might have some contractual basis for dismissal. Filming a sex scene in her classroom without the school’s permission, footage of her having sex with objects clearly marked with the school’s name on it, acting out a fantasy that uses the real name of the assistant principal, acting in a porn scene with one of her 18 year old students, etc.
Love this tantalizing quote: “…since her porn acting surfaced last month.” Talk about wishy-washy language. This is soundbite journalism at its worst, leaving out the best part! I’m most curious about how exactly this “just happened.” Who in the school was watching porn when they came across her work? It didn’t just surface on its own….
The “distraction” argument for firing her leaves way too much room for setting a bad precedent for firing someone for anything imaginable. I think it’s hilarious that anyone would think this would make all that much difference in the way that high school boys see her, based on my memories of myself at 17. I suspect I would have pictured her doing the same things no matter what her earlier jobs had been. I had a friend in high school who took a Spanish class from a 24-year old former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. Obviously that wholesome distinction made all the difference to his concentration, I’m sure.
Maybe that’s the real lost learning opportunity here — teenagers not required to use their own imaginations but given the easy way out of seeing actual film footage.
P.S. The school should never allow Silvestre Stallone to visit campus or give a commencement speech or anything. He began his acting career in porn movies, so that makes him completely ineligible.
Schools do things like that ? Shouldn’t a dean just give a long, boring speech himself and then let everybody go ?
What Livy said applies in the US as well. As far as I’m aware, all teacher’s contracts have a clause about dismissal based on behavior that dishonors/embarrasses the profession/school district. It’s worded differently in different places, but public drunkenness is a perfect example. I imagine the board was well within its contractual rights to fire Halas.
However, I agree that the discipline level in her classes would have plummeted (see Jamie’s reference to little shits), and she would probably have been fired for incompetence in the end. So, either way, same outcome, but his saves the school from the lack of discipline that would have spread outward from Ms Halas’s classroom.