Reidland, KY – When do we forgive people for mistakes they’ve made in the past? One Heartland community is battling the issue.

“I’m girl from the wrong side of the tracks who’s made a lot of bad decisions in life,” suspended teacher Tericka Dye.

Through the tears, a confession of what Tericka Dye calls the worst choice she’s ever made. “I don’t think I should pay eleven years later by losing the one career I found that I love and that I’m good at.”

In front of students, parents and our cameras Dye came clean. Eleven years ago she did film a pornographic movie in Los Angeles, but she strongly insists she’s changed.

“Anybody who’s been in my classroom could tell you how much I love teaching and how much I love these students and that should be what matters more than anything in my past,” said Dye.

I spoke with McCracken county schools superintendent Tim Heller by phone Wednesday afternoon. He told me the district suspended Dye on April 27th with pay, and after a difficult decision sent her a non-renewal notice on Friday the 28th.

Heller added her presence in the classroom could, “be a distraction to the educational process.”

The application for McCracken County Schools and the Kentucky Code of Ethics for teachers says nothing about past involvement in adult fields.

But, Kentucky schools do run a background check run through the Kentucky State Police.

The question is what did she do wrong, the answer, legally nothing.

Dye thinks students could learn a huge life lesson through her mistake.

“I think the students can see, look… I didn’t have a perfect life I’m not a perfect person. I’m standing up here teaching you science because I’ve changed,” said Dye.

Back Story: Kentucky –A Reidland High School teacher has been suspended with pay during an investigation by McCracken County Schools Superintendent Tim Heller.

Heller said he could not identify the teacher nor provide any information about the investigation because it is a personnel matter protected by privacy laws. The teacher was suspended on Thursday pending the outcome of the investigation. Heller said it should take only a few days.

However, the Sun was told by at least three credible sources that the teacher is Tericka Dye, a science teacher at the school, and that she was shown on camera in an adult movie made several years ago, before she became a teacher.

Amy Girard, manager of Playhouse Pleasures, an adult movie store on Clark’s River Road, said about 15 people had called, beginning over the weekend, and requested a particular movie title. Callers told her a Reidland teacher was in the movie.

“Compared to every other movie we’ve had, it’s been quite a few calls,” she said.

The store does not carry the film, although Girard would like to have it, given the sudden demand. Employees have been unable to find any information about it during Internet searches, she said.

According to state law, superintendents must notify teachers before April 30 if their teaching contract will not be renewed for the next school year. Last Thursday was April 27.

Tenured teachers, who have completed four years of continuous service with the same school system, may have their contracts dropped only for a few specific reasons: incompetence, neglect of duty, insubordination, inefficiency, misconduct or immorality. A superintendent can choose not to renew a non-tenured teacher’s contract for any reason that does not violate state or federal laws.