Stacie Halas had a point when she gave an interview after being officially fired as a middle school teacher. The teacher, who was fired for being a porn star, said, "At least I didn't do the students." Exactly and that seems like something that teachers are doing way more frequently than in the past. I'm not sure if you should be fired for doing something outside your job. Yes, she is a teacher and is responsible for middle school kids during the day but the porn was done outside her normal school hours then I don't see why she can't do both. Middle school kids should not be watching porn anyway so they would not know unless their parents were letting them watch porn or just not caring which is the more likely scenario. If it is because she is a bad role model, then what about a teacher who works as a bartender to make more money? Is serving drinks being a good role model? What makes a good role model? By all accounts she was a very good science teacher and did this on the side for a few years because she needed more money than her salary could provide.
Since when is working as a bartender considered immoral? Where is the shame in preparing and serving alcoholic drinks versus performing sex acts on tape? I never heard of a person being embarrassed for being discovered in a bar compared to the humiliation of a sex tape being discovered. Other than Kim Kardashian.
ReplyDelete...and not in the SFV, I'm amazed.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense not to re-hire her - everyone knows, now, and it would cause an uproar. Maybe she shouldn't have been fired in the first place. Since she's no longer hire-able by an American school district, she could sue for damages, and I think she'd win.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are some sort of morals clauses in teachers contracts.
ReplyDeleteThey've had enough bad press already from teachers "doing the students".
OT, It looks like Roy Horn is a power wielding aggressive pervert. A man was on camera with his wife, stating that Roy would throw tantrums if his needs weren't met during massage and other rehab. The man was from Germany and his work visa was dependent on him working for Roy. He even had a film of him showing Roy filmed evidence of his bad behavior and Roy didn't care.
What flawed logic that is.
ReplyDeleteAre you seriously comparing a bartender to a porn actress?
Here's the difference. One is paid to be NAKED and HAVE SEX on camera.
A kid who sees someone pouring drinks in a bar is much different.
Dunno, I'm not quite sure I would be comfortable knowing some porno chick was teaching my child.
I wish they'd interviewed some of the parents who wanted the teacher to stay, would've made the report more balanced.
ReplyDeleteBeing a porn star doesn't make her a bad person or a bad teacher! Look at the priests and teachers who molest children. I've never heard of a porn star molesting a child. Just saying...you can't judge based on that.
ReplyDeleteI know I will be in the minority, but I agree that she should have been fired. Certain occupations (teachers, cops, judges, doctors, ministers, etc.) demand more of the people that work in them. Teachers should be role models and worthy of respect. I don't think someone who performs sex acts on film for distribution with strangers for money is worthy of respect, and I wouldn't want someone who does it to be teaching my (nonexistent) child anything. Again, I know I will be in the minority in this judge-not, anything-goes group, but that's how I feel.
ReplyDeleteSidenote -- I have worked in journalism and communications for over 20 years. At all of my jobs, if my private life could have caused embarrassment for my employer, I could have been fired. That's just part of the job. You are expected to be above reproach.
Hold the Door- that's your reaction. You don't know she'd be humiliated.
ReplyDeleteI think anyone who has already signed the contract has dealt with their feelings towards having sex on tape.
At least porn stars get tested for stds. I know two people who have caught something from a bartender! lol. Men and woman.
ETA: I don't have a problem with a teacher tending bar in their off hours. I don't think there is anything immoral about that.
ReplyDeleteI remember my high school calculus teacher STINKING. Bad breath. Body oder that left a trail and hair so greasy it looked like Quaker state! There should have been a law against THAT!!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah....bartender and porn star are two very different professions. I agree with Texshan that she should have been fired. While I don't necessarily think that people who act in porn are bad people, I don't think that a person with the mindset that it is okay to 1) have sex for money and 2) have sex on camera for distribution purposes should be teaching kids. I have had jobs where I had to be careful about what I did outside of work, and I was. That's called being an adult.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think her excuse is the #1 reason why she shouldn't be teaching kids. At least she didn't have sex with them? Are you kidding me? Yes, you deserve a gold star. She shouldn't be teaching middle school aged children because obviously, she still is one.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, I tend to be super liberal and I think that anyone who has ever enjoyed porn has no right judging the people who perform it, but I have to admit I work in public education and I am uncomfortable with the thought of a teacher doing porn on the side. Not too sure why that is and I confess it makes me feel a bit hypocritical to feel that way.
ReplyDeleteI would be uncomfortable with this too. I even like porn. It just doesn't sit right with me.
ReplyDeleteI also didn't care for what she said.
Actually, I think Enty's bartender analogy is pretty accurate. Of course, I grew up in Peyton Place, so my view of the world is a bit skewed.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school, my favorite teacher was threatened with firing because her husband owned a convenience store that sold beer. Someone somewhere decided it was awful that the spouse of someone who worked with young people would do such a horrible thing as sell beer. I can only imagine what would have happened to a teacher who worked as a bartender. They would probably have had a public hanging on the courthouse lawn.
The teacher and his wife ended up selling the store and moving to a larger city.
By the way, this wasn't in the 1950's. It was 1990.
I guess I feel like, if you like watching porn, go ahead and enjoy it, if you want to be in porn, go for it and more power to you, but porn and public schools and children are not a good mix on any level.
ReplyDeleteI think kids should learn "morals", or a better word, "ethics" from their parents, who should be a child's #1 role model. That's not always the case, and next to parents, teachers can be a significant influence in a child's life.
ReplyDeleteI'm torn. I hate that sex workers are treated like 4th class citizens in this country - well, every country. The truth is, a lot of people probably aren't ready for a teacher who moonlights as a porn actress. Not until our attitudes about sexuality evolve quite a bit, and certainly not until self-righteous uptight, fearful people no longer have the power to shove their infantile morals down our throats - because let's face it, their morals are superficial at best and in no way teach a person how to become a decent human being, only how to mis-judge and demean other human beings. And hate.
Then again, if our attitudes about sexuality do ever evolve, there won't be the need for "sex workers".
It an't easy being a hot teacher....at least i didn't do the students! haha
ReplyDeleteMadLyb, of course parents should be a child's #1 role model. But teachers are role models, too. And, if they are going to place themselves in that position through their own choice of occupation, they should adhere to society's standards for role models.
ReplyDeleteNot wanting a porn actor to be around or teaching your kids does not make you superficial, hateful, infantile, self-righteous, or fearful. It makes you a good parent who cares what kind of an environment your child grows up in and what kind of people they are exposed to. I think your statement was pretty "judgey" itself, frankly. Not wanting your child to associate with people who perform in pornography doesn't mean you are a prude or a hypocrite.
I want to know who found out she was a porn star? Did one of the parents see her outside work?
ReplyDeleteAs a prof, I know quite a few kinky fellow professors. I don't know if any of them have ever had sex on tape, but my colleagues are not role models I would want for my kids.
Granted, profs are little different since the kids are usually legal, but still.
No comment on the porn issue but this just proves that teachers aren't paid enough! When a porn star can make more money than a teacher we have a big problem.
ReplyDeleteI'm very liberal and my knee-jerk reaction was who cares what she does on the side, she's a great teacher. However, I think I'd be uncomfortable with my son in the class if I knew.
One of my old teachers used to be a porn star. Everyone knew and no one cared. She never talked about it and tried to keep her private life private, but teenage boys will be teenage boys, so it was only a matter of time before someone found it. She never got fired and is still there as far as I know. She was a nice lady and wasn't hurting anyone so it wasn't a big deal.
ReplyDelete@ABlake, you would be suprised at what some of the people who are in leadership roles with children do on their own time.
ReplyDeleteI recently dated someone I grew up with. Hadn't seen him in 20+ years, but he seemed so great! Boy Scout Scoutmaster for his council; active in his church & Knights of Columbus, etc. This man lived for going to strip clubs, a lot of times with the Boy Scout Troop leaders in his council (a lot of whom were women). He also slept with a lot of those women, some of whom were married.
Of course we broke up when I discovered this other side of him, but I can imagine that most of the people who know him at church and trust him with their sons have no idea about his extracurricular activities. Just saying, everyone has secrets.
Pay teachers more. Quit being uptight about sex and the sex industry. Parents and family members should be role models, not strangers, not celebrities and not teachers who don't get paid enough to give a shit about a bunch of spoiled little brats outside of teaching them the assigned material.
ReplyDeleteI know this will be unpopular, but the old chestnut that teachers don't get paid much is just that -- an old chestnut. The average starting salary for all teachers in the US is $39k. Combine that with excellent benefits, extremely high job security, a healthy retirement package, and VERY generous time off, and I'm not buying the "all teachers are underpaid" line. Please read this article from Business Insider: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-10-06/news/30055708_1_teachers-pensions-average-teacher-bad-teacher.
ReplyDeleteAlso, watch "Waiting for Superman." It will shock you.
I made almost $39K negotiating checks for a bank. In the Midwest.
ReplyDeleteTeachers are paid WAY too little, for the responsibility we place upon them. Lots of college students who want to teach--WANT to make a difference for kids--are driven away from teaching because of the salary. I went to college to become a HS teacher (didn't graduate, too expensive), and at least 1 of every 5 fellow students would tell me they had wanted to teach, too...BUT....the money. 30+ years of college debt, and a shitty salary.
Yes, the vacations are good, but teachers don't put in just 40 hours when school is in session, either. Then they have to go home to grade & plan. Even is Summers, they plan for the next year. It's a lot of hours and a lot of bratty kids. A teacher should be a high-status job like doctors and lawyers. jmo
And I was a server & bartender in the Bible Belt for almost 20 years....We ARE looked on as demi-prostitutes. Almost without fail. Men harass you and women barely tolerate you, if you're remotely cute. Especially older people on both accounts.
ReplyDeleteSo from experience, I agree with the above poster...in more conservative areas, those jobs are seen as on the edge of morality.
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ReplyDeleteI'd gladly choose a porn-star-on-the-side teacher over one who was a pedophile, ephebophile, racist, sexist, xenophobe and/or creationist in the classroom teaching my kids but I guess I just have different values.
ReplyDeleteDiana, seriously, are you equating creationists with pedophiles? Seriously?!
ReplyDeleteShe wasn't doing porn while on the clock, so why should they care?
ReplyDeleteIt's the same as kids doing stuff outside of school hours. Why should the school care?
But no, parents have to b**** about everything because they can't do their job of taking care of their kids.
She was a good teacher from what I heard on the news and stuff, so let her keep teaching.
I SERIOUSLY doubt she was equating pedophiles to creationists.
ReplyDeletePedophiles are potentially going to molest the kids = shouldn't be teaching in schools.
Creationists spouting unfounded religious beliefs in spite of separation of church & state = shouldn't be teaching in schools.
That's how I understood her comment, and I agree 100%.
Go Astros !
ReplyDeleteI would have had absolutely no problem with this woman teaching my children (although they went to Catholic and, now, Quaker, schools, so there wouldn't be a case if the teacher were fired). My son had teachers who were attractive, who knew that boys were wanking to them (at least once in class! according to the teacher), and what's the difference between my 5th grade teacher, who was stroke material in 1973 when she was 22, and this woman?
ReplyDeleteI'm with Diana and Seaward! Unless she's wearing her lucite to class, I wouldn't really care. I've had teachers who just should not have become educators, and they weren't in any porn vids(that I know!). :-)
ReplyDeleteI had a teacher who always seemed to have liquor on her breath and, looking back, I think that's way worse than porn on the side.
ReplyDelete@CanadianMiss- me too! She broke no laws and she was reported to be a good teacher...what's the problem?
ReplyDeleteNo, there's no way I would let my child attend a class taught by someone who does porn. I wouldn't bat an eyelash at bartender. Who compares bartenders and porn workers, huh? What? I think you owe bartenders an apology, Enty. I was a waitress in a pub as a student, does that equate me with porn?
ReplyDeleteGoing back to read the above, I admire the open-mind of those who commented they'd be fine with it. I wouldn't be afraid that a porn worker would be pedophile, that could by anyone in any profession. A porn worker is someone that places their health and future at risk in an environment rife with disease and crime. Maybe not in all cases of porn work, but still, I don't want any such person near my child. It's ok if that's their choice, but come on! Why work around the young kids also?
ReplyDeleteTeachers aren't paid crap for what they really do. Especially in California! I am the office administrator and I make more than the faculty at my school. Its a sad state of affairs when I get paid more to push paper than an educator does to teach!
ReplyDeleteRegarding the porn ... BFD! What people do on their off time is their business. As long as no laws are broke and the sex is consensual...I don't see what the big deal is. I had complete drunks for teachers that slurred all their words. Kept a bottle of vodka in their desk! Didn't learn crap from them, but according to the general consensus, being a complete drunk (substance abuse) is a better role model option than someone who does porn? Really? I disagree... but I am pretty liberal as well. I wouldn't care if my kid was in her class, as long as she is a good teacher!
Not all teachers have a low salary. The teachers in our school district average between $98,000-$149,000 year. NY State has a website where they list the salary of every NY State employee. I hate having all teacher's salaries grouped together. Our teachers also receive 180 paid sick days/year. Almost every teacher that becomes pregnant shows up the first few weeks of September, then takes their sick days for the rest of the year. As long as they have tenure there is no issue with them doing this.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think we can do more for our kids' education than "their teacher may be doing porn, but it's better than a teacher that's an alcoholic". Btw, this thread is making me very grateful for the teachers in my kids' life.
ReplyDeleteAmen Enty!!
ReplyDeleteUntil we take the stigma and shame out of sex work then people will still make comments like " she gets NAKED on camera " like it's such a terrible thing.
How many people a year die due to drunk drivers?
How about alcoholism?
But a bartender is noble and a porn star is a leper?
Sheesh. Great country.
Really good teachers are so rare, I couldn't care less what they're doing on their off time...as long as it's legal. My daughter has an amazing teacher this year, after two years of far less than stellar educators for kindergarten and first grade. I would be supportive of her, regardless.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to defend teachers here. My sister is a badass teacher who just won teacher of the year for the 2011-2012 school year in her mid-size Iowa town. It came with some well-deserved recognition and a $2K stipend.
ReplyDeleteI get tired of reading about overpaid teacher & bad teachers. Why are we always hating on teachers? Well, I know the main reason...conservatives hate unions - many teachers belong to teachers unions - therefore we need to keep running them down in the court of public opinion to kill one of the last remaining semi-strong unions (meanwhile only something like 9% of working people belong to a union).
"But I know about a bad teacher who made $70,000 last year!" Yeah, there are bad teachers. And there are bad doctors, bad lawyers, bad plumbers, bad meat inspectors, bad accountants, bad construction workers, etc... We all know people in all walks of life who aren't great at their jobs (plenty of whom, like teachers, are also paid either directly or indirectly through tax dollars). Yet all you ever hear about is teachers.
Back to sis... She's taught for 12 years. She started in WI and made high $20k (maybe $27?) per year. She now makes around $45,000 per year in IA. She has a Bachelor's, a Masters, and 1 year of teaching certification (and spent more time over the past few years becoming board certified - so she can teach in any state in the country). That's 7+ years of school. She usually works at least 10 hours a day (and yes, of course there are others who do the bare minimum). She spends a lot of her free time working on grading, coming up with lesson plans, etc... (I get mad at her for giving too much to her job). There are a lot of other teachers like my sister out there. You don't hear much about them.
Every raise sis gets goes overwhelmingly to her health care package (which isn't as good as mine - and I'm a college student!). Yes, she gets about 8-10 weeks off in the summer (and 10 days for X-Mas, a week for spring break). Compare that to a private employer that's big here in IA - Rockwell Collins. I have friends who work there. They get 2 paid weeks off the 2nd half of December (the company shuts down). They also get whatever vaca time they get based on how long they've worked there (5 weeks if you've been there for any length of time). That's 7 weeks a year off. I would MUCH rather have 2 weeks at X-Mas and 5 weeks whenever I wanted than 8-10 weeks of brutal summer time off (Iowa summers SUUUUCK...85-95 degrees with high humidity...you don't even want to move when you're outdoors). I've always preferred taking my vaca time here and there, taking 3 day weekends multiple times.
I just get tired of teachers getting run down. Many teachers (like many workers in other fields) work very hard, earn average money, and are vilified.
As for the topic at hand...I have a problem with teachers having to be saints in their free time. Sister accepts it. I don't think it's fair that a plumber (or whatever) can be a swinger (or whatever) while a teacher can't. It's not like they're getting paid a ton and have to behave in exchange for that (that I could accept). A porn star, I don't know. What about a hooker? That wouldn't be hurting anyone. You could argue that a bartender would be more dangerous - given how many people walk out of bars and get behind the wheel of a car.
A porn star is a hooker and I don't want a hooker teaching my kids. Period.
ReplyDeleteHGL- Most people who perform badly are easier to remove than teachers who perform badly. 'Good' teachers voted for contracts that make it very very difficult to remove bad teachers.
ReplyDeleteI had a great job until the housing fallout. I am now in my 2nd ever union job. Both unions were in the business of looking out for th eunion, not the members. As long as a body is paying dues, that's it. Gah.
Levi- Porn stars aren't hookers. The payer is not the person performing with them. Also, she was a porn 'star'. Not anymore. Jesus forgives, so can we.
Pedophiles and creationists in the same category? Wow.
ReplyDelete