A science teacher has been forced to quit her job after one of her students discovered she had been a pornographic film star.
Tera Myers, 38, left her job at Parkway North High School in St Louis Missouri after her adult film past from two decades ago was uncovered by a student.
Ms Myers was separately suspended for her pornographic work in 2006 when she was working a teacher in Paducah, Kentucky, under the name Tericka Dye.
Teachers and parents stood by her that time but her contract was not renewed, as officials feared her past would be a classroom distraction.
Ms Myers, whose stage name is Rikki Andersin, even shared her story on television show Dr Phil and began work at Parkway North the next year, reported KMOV.
Parkway North officials said they did not know about her past until a student found the video, and were left wondering if their background and reference checks are sufficient.
Ms Myers did nothing illegal so it did not show up on a background check – and none of her references talked about her adult film appearances.
She said in May 2006: ‘Anybody who’s been in my classroom can tell you how much I love teaching and how much I love these students.
‘That should be what matters more than anything I’ve ever done in my past’.
Ms Myers said she made the films when working as an exotic dancer in California because she needed the money.
Sarah Mennicucci, a Parkway North student, told KMOV: ‘The whole school knew in five minutes. Either way, someone was going to find out one day.’
Adult films: Ms Myers’s screen name was Rikki Andersin and she made the movies when working as an exotic dancer because she ‘needed the money’
She will be paid until the end of the school year but will not return to the school.
Ms Myers left the school ‘out of respect for her privacy and that of her family,’ a school district spokesman told the New York Daily News.
‘She was concerned about the impact it would have in the building.’
He added that the district was surprised to learn of the videos and ‘believe she has tried to move on with her life’.
Ms Myers’s videos listed on internet film database IMDB as ‘Rikki Andersin’ include ‘Double Your Pleasure Double Your Fun’ and ‘In Thru the Out Door’.
