VINELAND, NJ — Louisa Tuck, the cafeteria and playground aide whose former career as an adult entertainer attracted intense media scrutiny last month, has offered her resignation to the Board of Education.
In a one-sentence letter to MaryAnn Greenfield, Vineland Public Schools’ executive director of personnel, Tuck said she is “resigning in good standing” from her position at D’Ippolito Elementary School.
The effective date of her resignation was Monday, Dec. 8, according to the letter.
Tuck had been performing for many years as Crystal Gunns, an adult film star who also posed for many nude-magazine photo shoots and performed stage shows. Tuck told The Daily Journal she left the adult entertainment industry five years ago, although the Web site bearing her name, Crystalgunns.com, is still active.
Vineland Public Schools officials hired Tuck in June for a $5,772-a-year part-time job as an aide. Shortly thereafter, her former career — and the pictures and videos of her performing still available on the Web — came to the attention of parents and school officials.
Parents complained to both D’Ippolito School and the district’s central administration office, according to e-mail exchanges, obtained under the state’s Open Public Records Act, between Principal Gail Curcio and district officials.
School Board President Frank Giordano openly called for her termination, but Superintendent Charles Ottinger said attorneys for the school district and New Jersey School Board Association advised the district against taking action.
On Thursday, Ottinger said Tuck’s resignation was not demanded by the school district.
“We did not ask for this. We did not require it. We did not force it,” Ottinger said.
Tuck’s letter to Greenfield does not indicate why she is leaving the district, and it is not clear if the attention paid to her former career played into her decision.
After The Daily Journal reported last month that parents were raising questions and Giordano suggested she be fired, hundreds of Web-based, print and television media outlets followed the story, filing reports about Louisa Tuck’s time as Crystal Gunns and the public interest that followed the initial story.
Tuck has limited her public comments on the issue and asked The Daily Journal not to contact her again.
Tuck’s attorney, Jeff DiLazzero, did not return repeated calls for comment on Thursday.
Tuck also works as a supervisor for children’s programs at the Vineland YMCA. Executive Director and CEO George Steinbronn said Thursday she is still employed there.
Ottinger said Thursday Tuck’s resignation is not official until the Board of Education approves it at the next regular meeting, scheduled for Jan. 21. However, he said, Tuck could rescind her resignation at any time before the vote.
If she does change her mind before then, Ottinger reasoned, the board would keep her on because they had not asked her to step down.