A former teacher with the Oxnard School District was fired last spring when school officials learned that she had spent nine months working in the adult film industry prior to taking a job as an intermediate school science teacher. The school board unanimously voted in April to fire the teacher.
Thirty-two-year-old Stacie Halas recently lost the appeal of her termination from the school district to the Commission on Professional Competence.
Judge Julie Cabos-Owen was one of three members of the panel that unanimously found Halas unfit to be a teacher because of her past work history, her “propensity for dishonesty” and the likelihood that students’ knowledge of it would forever take the focus of the classroom off the task of learning.
Halas’ credibility was questioned throughout the hearing and in the final documentation of the panel’s decision to uphold her termination.
In a 46-page decision filed last week, Cabos-Owen wrote, “Given the viral and infinite nature of the Internet, an imminent end to (Halas’) notoriety does not appear likely.” Halas’ past will impair her future relationships with colleagues and her ability to serve as a role model for students.
School Board President Ana Del Rio-Barba said that Halas’ termination was in the best interest of the children attending Oxnard schools.
Should she choose to do so, Halas can appeal the decision of the Commission on Professional Competence to the Ventura Superior Court.
Source: Ventura County Star, “Panel finds Oxnard educator with porn past unfit to teach, pointing to dishonesty,” January 15, 2012
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