Teacher Fired Because of Her Bikini

[Chef Dave]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/images/headshots/tiffanyshepherd.jpg

A Florida biology teacher who also works part time for a charter fishing company claims that she was fired because she wears a bikini while working on a fishing boat.

She took the part time job three weeks ago to help supplement her income following a divorce. The company, Bikini Girl Charters, hires bikini clad women to take people fishing.

District officials claim that she was fired because she missed 30 days of work. Although the resource director admitted that suggestive photos of this teacher on the charter boat's website might have created a problem because of the district's code of ethics, she claims that the biology teacher was fired after being told not to miss any more days at work.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=62974

What do you think? Did she deserve to be fired?

[Oak Tree]

I can think of two good reasons...

I know I know... sorry

If she was fired for missing too much work maybe. If she was fired for wearing a bikini, of course not. BTW, I hope she gets hired on at my school :D

[Chef Dave]

It just occurred to me that district officials didn't say why she was absent. If she was going through a divorce, I wonder if she was absent because of court appearances? She is also the mother of three young children. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these absences had to do with tending sick children.

The teacher claims that employees who have missed even more days of work have not been terminated.

[Bananas]

I was wondering if she had missed work to work on the charter ship for more money. That would not be right. Missing thirty days in a school year is a lot and that affects the learning environment for the children. When Mom needed doctor's visits that could not be done outside of school hours and meetings, hubby almost always took her so I would not need to miss school. (That is a good aspect to being a minister with somewhat flexible scheduling.) He also did the children's doctor's appointments and days home sick.

I am not surprised that she was let go, whether she is amply supplied or down-sized. You can stop smiling now, guys! ;)

[MissTeach]

I'm sure she was dismissed for reasons other than her part time job. Since she seems to be well endowed for her part time job, perhaps she can make it a full time job. Her pay will probably be higher.

[Chef Dave]

... perhaps she can make it a full time job. Her pay will probably be higher.

She says she can make more in two days with the charter company than she can in a full week as a teacher.

It might not be a bad idea to pursue this as a short term option ... but that's all it should be, a short term option.

What will the chart company do when she starts to wrinkle or put on weight? What will they do when her "assets" start to sag?

Then again - working on a charter boat isn't conducive to being a single parent mom. I would imagine that most charters run on Saturday and Sunday which should ideally be family time. One of the advantages to being a teacher is that in general, teachers have the same time off that their kids have.

[MrU82]

Wow...thanks for the picture buddy..lol

All kidding aside, this is a difficult situation. I mean its understandable that she might actually need the extra money during these economic down times. That said...she could have figured out a DIFFERENT way to make that extra money...i.e. waitressing part time, retail work part time, etc etc.

At the end of the day its about making smart choices. Does she deserve to be fired over this? Probably not. But again...you just have to be smarter than this. Kids these days can find ANYTHING and EVERYTHING about you. If I was a teenage boy and I found some hot teacher of mine online in a bikini...it would have been all over the school the next day. Thats what kids do. I know this sounds corny but teachers are almost like pseudo-celebrities on campus. The kids dont really see us as "real" sometimes. There are times I see kids at the mall or whatever and they are just wide eyed and astonished that I'm even there. You can just see that they are thinking, "oh my gosh teachers shop at the mall?????"

Again...you just have to think 3 steps ahead. You have to MAINTAIN an image in front of your kids. Losing that "image" of "Im the adult, you are the child" can ruin your classroom atmosphere and management. I've seen it happen so many times.

[Oak Tree]

Classroom management isn't undermined by bikini pics. That's just an excuse by puritanical idiots to impose an outrageously conservative agenda on normal people.

[MrU82]

Classroom management isn't undermined by bikini pics. That's just an excuse by puritanical idiots to impose an outrageously conservative agenda on normal people.

lol I think Im hardly what one would consider a puritanical idiot.


Im actually pretty liberal. But anyway...

I dont think the bikini pics undermine classroom management...I think immature kids finding them on the internet will not take the teacher seriously afterwards. It has nothing to do with "puritanism..."

Nice shot though. ;)

[Oak Tree]

I think immature kids finding them on the internet will not take the teacher seriously afterwards.

Then it's a good chance to apply consequences and teach the kids a lesson about the dualities of man.

[Aziz]

I definitely don't think it's worth getting fired over. If her boss really had an issue with it, a brief talk would have done it. "Could you please remove the pictures of you online or only make them accessible by password?" Isn't this something we teach our students all the time? Communication.

As for the absences, even with the media, one never knows the whole story. She admitted to having severe migraines. I am very empathetic with that reasoning, although I suppose there is the occasional malingerer. Most people are not likely to make that up. I have to take work off some days for similar reasons.

-Aziz

[wtrafton]

How many other jobs hold employees accountable for what they do during their time off. She wasn't wearing the bikini at school or a school function. I think educators should still be allowed to be who they are and maybe the lesson for students is that teachers are people and have lives outside of school and that those lives are their own business.

[MrU82]

Then it's a good chance to apply consequences and teach the kids a lesson about the dualities of man.

haha ok touche. Do you work with high school kids? Are you male? If so, do you remember being 15,16, or 17?

If I found a picture of my hot teacher online in her bikini and in the profession that this teacher was in...and then she tried to come in and talk about the "duality of man.." I dont think I'd be that receptive. I'd be busy thinking about the duality of "other things.."

I mean you can take the high road all you want...I'm not saying you're wrong...but a huge portion of high school kids cant handle this kind of stuff. Look how much of a big deal adults make out of it.

Again, I support this teacher...and I dont care that she did what she did. But you just have to be smarter about this kind of stuff. Be a waitress, bartender, loan officer, etc etc. There are plenty of other ways to make money. Also, the above picture isnt the ONLY picture she took. You should see the other ones. I would post them but I'd probably get banned from this message board.

Honestly, you cant expect kids to just see this and "get it" even if they are explained the "duality of man."

[Oak Tree]

haha ok touche. Do you work with high school kids? Are you male? If so, do you remember being 15,16, or 17?

Yes yes and yes.

I wouldn't call it duality of man when talking to the kids. I would call it when you're in the class and she's in this class she's the teacher and if you got a problem with that we can discuss it further in detention. It's not rocket science or even Greek Philosophy. She's not undermining her own authority unless she breaks the law. It's an administration that doesn't support her right to live how she wants to live (within the confines of the law) that's undermining her authority.

[MrU82]

Yes yes and yes.

I wouldn't call it duality of man when talking to the kids. I would call it when you're in the class and she's in this class she's the teacher and if you got a problem with that we can discuss it further in detention. It's not rocket science or even Greek Philosophy. She's not undermining her own authority unless she breaks the law. It's an administration that doesn't support her right to live how she wants to live (within the confines of the law) that's undermining her authority.

Ok I get all of that...because Im OLDER than 17. But I guess we'll just agree to disagree.

So detention actually works as a legit threat at your school? Lucky you. I guess thats a whole other subject.

Maybe its just different for me. Im young..25...and I look like I'm around 16..unless I dont shave. So I have to maintain this "image" of an adult authority figure. If I had a job on the weekends of being a male stripper or something along those lines...AND my stuff was all exposed online...I just think it would be EXTREMELY hard to get my kids to look at me the same way again.

I dont understand how you dont see that. Im not saying what the teacher does/did is wrong...hey, do what you have to do for the extra cash. All I'm saying is to be SMARTER about it. As in...don't put pictures of yourself on the net where kids can find it. I mean you have to know this now...these kids are part of the "MySpace" and "YouTube" generation.

No hard feelings though man. :cool: