Stacie Halas, fired Calif. teacher with porn past, loses appeal

Stacie Halas and her attorney in an undated file photo. / CBS Los Angeles

OXNARD, Calif. A middle school teacher who was fired after students learned she had appeared in pornography has lost her appeal to return to the classroom, her lawyer said Tuesday.

A three-judge panel unanimously decided Stacie Halas, 32, was unfit for the classroom. Halas was fired in April from her job as a science teacher at Haydock Intermediate School in Oxnard after online videos of her in porn were discovered by students and teachers.

"Although (Halas') pornography career has concluded, the ongoing availability of her pornographic materials on the Internet will continue to impede her from being an effective teacher and respected colleague," Judge Julie Cabos-Owen wrote in a 46-page decision issued Friday by the Commission on Professional Competence.

Halas was continually deceitful about her nine-month career in porn before she went to work at the school, the decision said.

Her lawyer, Richard Schwab, said Halas had tried to be honest but was embarrassed by her previous experience in the adult industry.

"Miss Halas is more than just an individual fighting for her job as a teacher," he said Tuesday. "I think she's representative of a lot of people who may have a past that may not involve anything illegal or anything that hurts anybody."

Halas has been on administrative leave since the video surfaced in March.

Student claims that the teacher was moonlighting as a porn star were initially dismissed after school officials said they couldn't find any images of her on the Internet, but they were using the school's computers, which don't give access to porn.

Teachers then showed administrators downloads of Halas' sex videos from their smartphones.

In hearings, former assistant principal Wayne Saddler testified that, at the start of a sex video, Halas talked about being a teacher, and he felt her effectiveness in the classroom had been compromised.

In October, Oxnard Unified School District spokesman Thomas DeLapp told CBS Los Angeles that once students were able to find the videos of Halas on the Internet, they made it difficult for her to be an effective teacher.

"We even had kids who were referring to her by her stage name in class, from catcalls in the back," DeLapp said.

After rumors of her performance surfaced, profanity was etched on Halas' classroom window, a teacher testified.

Schwab has said Halas did not star in pornographic movies while teaching in any district. He said she took parts only during an eight-month period from 2005 to 2006 because of financial problems after her boyfriend abandoned her.

District superintendent Jeff Chancer applauded the commission's ruling.

Halas' decision to "engage in pornography was incompatible with her responsibilities as a role model for students and would present an insurmountable, recurring disruption to our schools should she be allowed to remain as a teacher," Chancer said in a statement.

[JerryNA100]

Just about 100% of the parents of these kids had sex, but they complained about this teacher having sex. What hypocrites. Before the Puritans say "but it was on camera" or "for money", tell me that you can guarantee none of the parents in Oxnard never recorded their own sex acts, nor ever did anything 'immoral' for money. She did nothing illegal. Our society is so hung up about sex, but extreme violence depicted in movies, video games, and even cartoons is somehow seen as okay.

[dz9098]

When a representative of a corporation says or does something stupid, they usually lose their sponsorship and/or their job. This is because they are associated with or recognized by their affiliation.

Do our children and schools deserve any less than this? A teacher is role model to their students.

What I'm curious about is whether or not she will return to porn. She testified that she felt that she had compromised her morals. The measure of a person is their ability to stick to their morals in difficult circumstances.

[nevetslay]

Your right because telling kids they can harass a person because of something legal they did in their past is being a good role model! I guess i missed the section where she was doing gang bangs in the middle of the classroom! I would be honored to have her as a teacher of my children because the example she set is no matter what you been through in the past you can always turn it around to something positive! The real ?'s are Why where these minor's allowed access to pornographic materieal. and why were they allowed to harass her about it with no consenqence.

[florea1]

I found some picures with Stacie Halas from her past,she also was in secret a nun in a monastery for a few years.(******/xSuJQ)

[matt6052]

There was a time and place where teachers who were divorced could not teach effectively, and when teachers who had had abortions could not teach effectively. Schools rejected these complaints because the teachers had done nothing illegal. So it is now with Halas, whose artistic expression in her past private life is a problem for some but has no impact on her ability to teach. The community's complaints are unjustified.

[bacharles83]

What fantasy world are you living in?? It's wrong to bar a teacher from working just because of divorce or abortion, but this is way different.

Go back and read the article again -- she lost control of the classroom. The students were mocking her, and had no intention of paying attention strictly to science.

I used to teach teenagers, and it's a minute-to-minute battle to keep them engaged. From what I know about kids that age, there's no way she could ever get on task again, even if she were teacher-of-the-year material before.

[mentauk0202]

The community's complaints unjustified? you are an idiot! Is cali an employment at will state? If so, they can fire her for whatever they want minus race, gender, etc. Do you really want a disgusting porn star (really? A form of art? You're joking, right?) to influence and mold your child? Do you really want someone who has sex for money, "when times are tough" to be around your young, impressionable child? I didn't think so. I guess even the progressive, free thinking people in California even have a line, and she crossed it. And if she is a science teacher, she might want to refresh herself on microbiology and communicable diseases such as herpes, gonorrhea, Hep C, etc.

[tmonta67]

Can't agree with the comments supporting this woman's lawsuit. If porn videos are online, she can't be an effective role model and teacher to our kids.

Has nothing to do with puritanism and 18th-century society. Has everything to do about being coherent about what you're trying to accomplish in young people's lives, and how you go about it.

[VO142857]

Her past was not discovered for 5 years. They could simply transfer her to another school and let her teach using different name.

[AngelicAssassin]

Based on that logic, the parents that allowed their children access to age-inappropriate material shouldn't be allowed custody of their own kids.

[ajkrueger1947]

In other words, she did nothing improper in her classroom... the firing was based on what she did on her own time, in the past... Building that bridge to the 19th Century, are we...

[Funnyguy1776]

People say she is not a role model...I disagree...From some of the videos I have seen of her she is the perfect role model...Seems to be ok with taking a black phallic structure right in the old poop shoot...Welcome to four more years!!!!

[nohater]

get her out of middle and high school. if she is qualified, she can get a job in a junior college, college or university. if qualified, she can also get a teaching job at a for profit college. or, she can always go back to porn.

[dz9098]

That is a very good suggestion: go teach at a community college.

If you hear nothing more about this person in 5 years that is more than likely what she will have done.

I suspect that women who go into porn are similar to men that have sex addictions. They are probably unable to bring it under control.

Sex-addicted women is something society is not yet willing to grapple with.

[djseavy]

Why not put her in a class room to teach sex ed? Seriously - what would be the problem. We've become a society of throw away people. Here she is - she got out of the porn business and went on to be a tax paying teacher. Where's all this tolerance we here so much about? Or is tolerance good only when it pertains to one particular interest?

[VO142857]

Correction. She was a tax paying porn actress before becoming a tax paying teacher.

[Engineer_Al]

What bothers me about several of the comments is the attempted indignation for something that should be a private issue. Did she make a mistake in working in porn during some difficult financial times? There is only one person on earth who can answer that and it is not any of us. I am more upset with the parents that didn't grab their kids by the ear and pull hard for watching porn and being disrespectful to a teacher. It might be hard to get past the snickers but if kids are openly being rude and their parents aren't doing something about that, then our society is in a lot more trouble than having a former adult film worker in the classroom.

[ccdsswrkr09]

Excellently stated. That is exactly what I wanted to say. Where is the responsibility of the parents to discipline their children for their inappropriate actions? Why isn't the school disciplining the children? It's really tantamount to someone saying "Well she dressed like a **** so she deserved to be raped".

[VO142857]

These days, if parent grabs child by the ear, child will be taken away by Gestapo-like Child "Protective" Services, and parent will be in major trouble.