from www.bostonherald.com – Fox News Boston has reported that a well-liked Mystic Valley Regional Charter School teacher — and chairman of its English department — allegedly appeared in three gay pornographic films within a year or two of his September hiring at the highly ranked Malden high school. www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=51874

Kevin Hogan [pictured] is on paid leave while the school investigates. Upset students have started a Facebook page called “We Want Mr. Hogan Back.” Some stunned and angry parents say he has to go.

Those parents are right.

If Hogan, apparently a terrific teacher, made these movies 10 or 20 years ago — perhaps to finance his education — he could probably get through this mess.

If he made them last year but had a different occupation — say a stockbroker or even a college professor — I’d give him a pass.

But his students are teenagers. Teachers are supposed to be moral exemplars. They’ve been fired for such minor infractions as appearing online, on vacation, with cocktails in hand. “This is a big lapse of judgment. You have to put aside any hopes and dreams of being a porn star when you want to teach kids,” said Sue O’Connell, co-publisher of Bay Windows, New England’s biggest newspaper for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community.

And what will Hogan’s teenage students do now? They’ll Google “Just Gone Gay 8” and see their teacher, according to Fox News, totally naked surrounded by men in various states of undress and arousal.

English class can never be the same.

There’s something creepy about this story. I was stunned by the number of commenters on the Fox website who defended Hogan (he’s done nothing illegal, they say) and trashed Fox reporter Mike Beaudet for “ruining” Hogan’s life.

There’s something hypocritical here, too. Millions of us spend hours a day watching pornography online. Yet when we find someone who made money performing in what’s become our second — or maybe third — favorite national pastime, it’s off with his head.

Normally I’d say the punishment here — losing your job and your reputation, and being shamed from coast to coast — doesn’t fit the crime. But there was no crime here. Filming pornography is legal.

So instead I’ll say that Hogan, if he did act in these films, made a stupid mistake, showed horrible judgment and should have considered the likely ramifications.

Yes, he should lose his job. But he doesn’t deserve the nightmare headed his way.