Some of my Devoted Readers with the more twisted senses of humor might remember problematic teacher Shannon Williams, whose little "misunderstanding" with the Oakland, CA police this summer resulted in a charge of soliciting. She has now plea-bargained and pleaded no contest to a charge of disturbing the peace.
This update on her story is not to be missed, for two reasons. First, because Ms. Williams admits to deliberately choosing to become a prostitute, thus removing any evidence that she was framed by police (at least one commenter from my previous post on this story insisted that Ms. Williams was but an innocent social activist). Second, because of what the head of the Berkeley PTA had to say about Ms. William's future career in teaching:
Former Berkeley schoolteacher and prostitute Shannon Williams, who said she should not be banned from her daytime profession because of her evening occupation, pleaded no contest Thursday to disturbing the peace and was put on probation. A prostitution charge against her was dropped as part of a plea agreement. Her lawyer said Williams should legally be able to return to teaching because disturbing the peace is not a crime of "moral turpitude."
No matter, I suppose, that the crime she was originally arrested for could be seen as immoral.
Williams' prostitution arrest in August as a $250-an-hour hooker gained national talk-show attention, especially after she argued that teachers' personal lives should not affect their employment.
Why, of course not. And students personal lives shouldn't affect their education, either, except for those pesky students who carry Advil in their purses, or who have hunting knives in their car, or who don't want to submit to mandatory random drug testing.
Williams, 37, said Thursday that her eight-year prostitution career began when she enrolled at San Francisco State to obtain a teacher's certificate. After a chance conversation with two prostitutes in a bar, "I realized that doing this I could work one or two nights a week and really focus on my studies," she said.
My, Ms. Williams reveals herself to be quite the genius with this statement. After speaking with two criminals in a bar who sell their bodies for sex, she realizes that doing the same will allow her to "really focus" on educating America's youth.
Williams described herself as a small business owner who lives in Berkeley, where she tends fruit trees in the back yard. Until her "sting" arrest, she turned tricks in a rented condo with older men who, she says, enjoyed her empathy and conversation. She earned enough money to buy a vacation home near Yosemite.
Vacation home? I thought she was doing this all For The Children - you know, to be able to "really focus" on her studies? You mean she was really just doing it all for financial gain? Who would have guessed?
The publicity surrounding her arrest prevents her from returning to prostitution, she said. She's not teaching, either. Months before her arrest, she had decided to take a year off from school work. But she would eventually like to return to teaching.
"I don't agree with that. Absolutely not," said Lou Sheldon, head of the Traditional Values Coalition in Anaheim. "The last thing in the world schoolchildren need is to have a prostitute as a role model."
"It is inappropriate to work with children by day and to sell sexual relationships by night."
But the head of the California PTA for Alameda County, which includes Berkeley, wasn't so sure. "As long as she's not bringing it into the classroom, maybe it's not a problem," said Carol-Ann Kock-Weser, who emphasized that her opinion did not represent PTA policy.
Emphasis mine. I have a feeling Ms. Kock-Weser won't be representing the PTA at all much longer, not after suggesting to a reporter that maybe it's okay for a teacher to be a prostitute at night. Does Ms. Kock-Weser really believe the only issue here is whether or not Ms. Williams brings her tricks to class? Whether she services men on school grounds? Whether she dresses in lingerie for her "independent study" classes?
As for Ms. Williams, now that both of her career paths have been derailed, whatever will she do?
She is unsure what she will do now that she's out of prostitution. "I liked my clients; I liked the work I did keeping them healthy and happy. I feel bad about having that taken away," she said.
Yeah, I guess when there are laws against your profession, your job security is sometimes shaky, isn't it? Am I supposed to feel sorry for her? I don't, but I'll be happy to offer her a suggestion for future employment. Why not call Ms. Kock-Weser and see if she'll let you tutor her children?
Posted by kswygert at December 16, 2003 04:09 PM