Melissa Petro, an art teacher at P.S. 70 in the Bronx, was reassigned from the school after writing about her past as a stripper and Craigslist sex worker in various online publications, including The Huffington Post ("I accepted money in exchange for sexual services I provided to men I met online in what was then called the 'erotic services' section"). Of course, Petro also performed as various open mic events, and there are videos!
In one video (below), Petro says of stripping in Mexico, "I did it for the money but it was also true that I enjoyed it," and her mentor, "She kissed me, she touched me in ways that a woman had never touched me before." She also compares teaching kids to having sex with her boyfriend, "It’s fun and it’s especially fun in the beginning. And then its over and then you gotta do it again and again and again."
Then, in another video (below), she discusses her memoir, "I started as a stripper and worked on and off for years, and I did other activities in that industry," and then launches into an excerpt, "I like the taste of what tastes like the mouth of an older man.."
Parents of students are furious—one told the Post, "I'm not going to have my daughter in the classroom with a prostitute"— as are fellow teachers, one of whom praised Petro to the Daily News but added, "If you want to be a teacher and that's your goal, it's stupid [to discuss one's sex worker past]. If you want to sell books then maybe not - that's her prerogative." However Petro has been joking about it on Facebook. According to the Post, she wrote on her wall that "she hoped a car outside was a teachers-union escort and not 'one of the 200 creepy dudes now trying to 'friend' me.'"
