I dunno. Guess it would depend on how dressed, or undressed a person was:
Posted on 06/16/2006 5:13:41 PM PDT by Jalapeno
AUSTIN — Until they found the topless photos, Austin High School officials considered Tamara Hoover a model art teacher with a knack for helping students find their creative streaks.
Now, she's fighting for her job.
The photos, which were posted on Flickr.com by her partner, depict Hoover in the shower, lifting weights, getting dressed, in bed and doing other routine activities.
Her abrupt dismissal highlights a new concern for employees: Your boss has Internet access, too.
"People don't realize when they put their entire diary out there, they're giving very private information to the public," said Kate Brooks, director of career services for liberal arts students at the University of Texas at Austin. "You never know what's going to appeal to someone or disturb someone."
The school district said the photos were inappropriate and violate the "higher moral standard" expected of public school teachers. As a result, she's become an ineffective teacher, she was told as she was escorted out of class last month.
The photos came to light as a result of a feud over ceramics equipment with another art teacher, according to sworn affidavits. Students who had seen the pictures showed the teacher, who then notified school officials.
Colleagues and students dispute the district's characterizations of Hoover.
"I don't view Tamara any different having seen the photographs," said fellow Austin High teacher Robin Lind. "It doesn't make her less credible or less respectable."
Still, experts say it's a risk employees take when posting personal information online. That's particularly true for teachers, said Bill Shaw, professor of law and ethics in business at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas.
"School teachers are supposed to be mature enough not to titillate their students," Shaw said. "A teacher is more or less expected to be a guide or ... demonstrably mature. And this doesn't sound to me like it meets those standards."
Hoover said Friday the photos are art and makes no apologies.
"I'm an artist and I'm going to participate in the arts," Hoover said. "If that's not something they want me to do then I want to be told that. I don't feel as if I was doing anything that was beyond expectations."
Some of her students agree.
"Many artists have nude pictures, like Georgia O'Keeffe," said 16-year-old student Austen Clements. "If Georgia O'Keeffe wanted to teach at Austin High, I don't think they'd say, 'No, you have nude pictures online.'"
Hundreds of photos of Hoover were part of partner Celesta Danger's online documentary of their lives together.
"I don't think I can be responsible for other peoples' perceptions or reactions when they look at my photos, it has to do with their state of mind at the time," Danger said. "I'm not out to change people's minds, but I'm not a pornographer."
Even in the name of art, Brooks warns her students that it's impossible to predict how potential employers might respond to personal information.
Sites like Flickr and MySpace.com have become popular not only with teenagers and adults, but with companies screening potential employees.
Internet career site CollegeRecruiter.com estimates that about 5 percent of employers research applicants on sites like Flickr, MySpace, Friendster and Facebook, but that number is growing.
Brooks said employers with whom she works regularly tell her they've rejected otherwise qualified job applicants because of material they found online.
Her counselors already warn students about what they post online. This year the university will dedicate a Web page to the issue.
"We would never tell a student to not put anything on MySpace or take anything down, that's their choice," Brooks said. "But that's the point: They need to be aware of the choices they're making."
Employers should handle the sites with caution, too, experts say.
"Information on those sites is inherently unreliable," said Steven Rothberg, president of CollegeRecruiter.com. "People post information about themselves that is not true. Their friends know it's not true, but the employers don't know that."
Hoover' teaching career remains on the line. The district wants to revoke her teaching certification, which would keep her out of Texas classrooms permanently.
Hoover will appeal the ruling and is prepared to take the case to court, she said.
"I never thought in any way I was doing anything to compromise my position at the school," Hoover said. "I love working there and I love teaching art. I feel like that's what I'm here to do."
Guess it does not take much to get art teachers fired up about ceramics equipment.
http://flickr.com/photos/celestadanger/sets/294392/
Just another middle-age dyke teacher. One of many.
Just like you can quit your job for any reason or no reason, your boos can fire you for any reason or no reason.
a "morals clause" is open ended. some employer might think its "immoral" to be a republican, so I guess they can fire people for posting on FR too.
She needs to get an attorney. I can't believe they are firing her for that.
The nudes are deleted.
The "partner" is named "Celesta Danger". It appears to be another woman.
The chick's a lesbo and a pornographer. Why can't people just keep their private lives, private??
Nice teacher material.
The whole thing, including the spat over ceramics, is ridiculous.
I had one teacher back about 9000 years ago named Mrs. Melton (yes, that was her actual name, and she looked like she was melting) who was an exact clone for Helen Thomas. And what she would do without fail if a kid didn`t bring in his homework or mouthed off, was grab the hair at the back of your neck...Not the long hair, but the short baby hair that grows right at the brain stem, and she would twist and pull it, almost rip it out and it hurt like all hell, like a sonofabitch!! Try it yourself, try ripping it out and you`ll see how much that hurts..And you can bet once that happened to you, you made daaamn damn damn sure you never missed that damn homework again! This was New york city schools back in the 1960`s. Now I hear the kids get to call the teachers "bitches" and every other name in the book, and if the teacher lays even one finger on a kid, the lawsuits pour in faster than water from a New Orleans dam.
You think that`s bad though, my mother grew up in Edinburgh Scotland. They use to make her put her hands together and whip the crap out of them with a leather belt, and that is just for the girls! The boys use to get tea and biscuits beforehand like you would give a cigarette to someone about to face the firing squad, and they would get their bare naked arses whipped like they do in Singapore.
That may all seem over the top today, but it shows how over the top today litigation has gone. When a kid can call a teacher a "bitch" and you can`t whup that punk upside the head, something is equally seriously wrong here.
Depends on what kind of agreement you and your employer have and what kind of job.
As has been noted, no one has a constitutional right to a job just as no one has a constitutional right to be a police officer or a major league ball player.
Their company (or school), their rules.
She better hope for pro-bono, because she is going to lose if she fights it.
There were more that were much more explicit.
A few of my friends are teachers, one of them (actually today) was talking to one of his students and the student tolk him how his dad told him back in the day that teachers could hit kids or give them a swift smack in the back of the head for doing things or mouthing off.
My friend told the kid, that years ago that was true.
From what my friend told me, the student look puzzeled and said "if a teacher smacked me in the head, I'd beat them with a bat in the parking lot till they couldn't breath.....kids years ago were pu$$#%s."
My friend shook his head, but he told me its true, in between the slap and the lawsuit, the teacher probably wouldn't have any teeth today.
"Partner" looks like her daugter. Doubly perverted.
what "agreement" - it appears to be open ended.
For what?
I cant possibly see how the nudes could have been considered erotic!
God, lesbians are dreary. They always seem to look like the human version of a garage sale.
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