Former Porn Actress Appealing Her Firing as a Teacher

Stacie Halas was a science teacher at Richard B. Haydock Intermediate School, in Oxnard, California, until she was fired for having once been a porn actress. Her school board argued that her past was disruptive to the teaching environment. Halas is now appealing her dismissal.

Halas acted in pornographic films for 8 months from 2005 to 2006 because of financial duress, her attorney told a panel of judges last week, but she never acted in any pornographic films during her teaching career, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Nitasha Sawhney, one of the attorneys representing the school district, said the case was about “whether the students of the Oxnard School District are required to incorporate into their learning environment the choice Ms. Halas made to be a porn star." This, of course, is an absurd argument. No one is forcing any student to incorporate anything about Halas’ past into their learning environment. Her past shouldn’t be any of their business, so long as she hasn’t been convicted of abusing children.

If the students somehow learn about her past (as it seems happened), this could lead to disruptive behavior. However, teachers are regularly required to quell disruptions and maintain a productive learning environment. Good teachers are able to do this effectively and appropriately, even when issues around their personal lives are involved.

Students are often curious and ask about teachers’ marital status, hobbies, personal interests, political views and sometimes even their sexual identity. Teachers may even have been arrested for civil disobedience or may have had a past problem with drugs or alcohol. Any of these could lead to disruptive behavior in students, but none are reasonable justification for firing the teacher, particularly if the teacher handles them appropriately.

The fact that Halas’ past was at all controversial is indicative of how puritanical our society still is and how much society still expects teachers to be flawless saints. Teachers are no longer being fired for getting pregnant or for cavorting with men, but they are still expected to live virtuous personal lives and they continue to be disciplined or fired for legal behaviors that occurs outside of school hours and that have nothing to do with their teaching responsibilities.

For an amusing spoof on this, please see, “Stripper Fired for Being A Teacher,” from the Students Last blog.