OXNARD, Calif.—It's no surprise that Stacie Halas' attorney is demonizing the adult industry in his attempt to get his client reinstated as a middle school science teacher at the Haydock Intermediate School in Oxnard, Calif., but it's still a discouraging tactic considering there is no evidence that Halas was ever treated less than humanely during her eight-month career in front of the cameras. But that is precisely how Richard Schwab characterized his client's experience in porn.
“Even if you’ve been dehumanized, so degraded, you can still overcome those obstacles,” he told news reporters gathered Monday at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, where Judge Julie Cabos-Owen and a panel of judges—including a teacher and a principal not employed by the district—will decide Halas' fate.
According to the Ventura County Star, Schwab's strategy before the panel was to portray Halas as a heroic figure who managed against all odds to turn her life around.
"Your job is not to judge what she was in her past but what she is today," he told the panel. "And what she is today, the evidence will show, is a very fit and a very caring teacher."
He even attempted to depict Halas, 32, as a victim of circumstance who only took work in porn after she was abandoned by her boyfriend in 2005 and was unable to pay her bills.
"The issue in this case is how she single-handedly was able to lift herself out of the hole she's been digging to change her life and to reform and enter into a new, laudable profession," he said.
The Star reported, "Halas...shed a few tears during opening argument." She did not speak to the media or the administrative panel on Monday.
Lawyers for the county countered that Halas lied repeatedly to school officials when first confronted with allegations about her past, which was reportedly discovered by students. The county even called five students to testify during a morning session closed to the media, where they reportedly talked about how easy it was (and is) for them to find explicit videos of Halas online. The testimony is meant to support the county's contention that Halas' effectiveness as a teacher at the school has been permanently compromised.
According to Wayne Saddler, an assistant principal at the time who testified before the panel, "One of the roles as an educator is to be a role model to students. And this is not a role model I thought we should be putting before our students. The fact of her history could impact the students' ability to focus on the curriculum."
Another science teacher, Sarah Raskin, also testified about "the vandalism that occurred in her classroom, which was Halas' previous classroom. Raskin said when rumors of Halas surfaced, profanity was etched on her classroom window. Halas' pseudonym, 'Tiffany,' also was written outside the classroom," the Star reported.
Ten more witnesses were scheduled to testify today and possibly into tomorrow on behalf of the school district, and Schwab plans to call about six witnesses, according to the paper, which added that a decision on the case is expected within 100 days after the conclusion of the hearing.
