Teacher Fired for Being a Bikini Mate On the Side

Tiffany Shepherd, a teacher in Florida's St. Lucie County School District, was surprised when she was let go after working in the district for four years.

Shepherd thinks the school district is punishing her for choosing to take a second job as a bikini mate for a local charter fishing company. The school district says her being let go was a decision based on more than 30 days of unexcused absences from school, which she had already been reprimanded for twice during the year.

The 30-year-old teacher and mother of three said she was forced to get a second job to supplement her income after going through a divorce this year. Being a bikini mate, was apparently the best option.

"I wasn't making enough money," Shepherd told ABC News. "This was perfect because I could get paid to fish. It was easy money. In two days fishing, I make more than I do in a week teaching."

Fishing? Shepherd wasn't hired as a fishing assistant, or deck hand, or first mate, or any other normal job that exists on a boat. She wasn't getting paid to fish. She was getting paid to walk around in a bikini on a boat.

The company she works for, Smokin' Em Charters is owned by Gil Coombes and his wife, Kat. Their fantastic business idea is to mix charter fishing, with bikini-clad, and sometimes topless female mates. Shepherd maintains she has not, and will not do a topless charter.

Apparently after her first fishing trip, on April 19, she called her school to request a substitute so she could attend a doctor's appointment. At that time, Shepherd was told she was not welcome back to the school indefinitely, and that her annual contract for the next year would not be renewed.

Shepherd seemingly assumed it was because of her second job as a bikini mate not  because she called in an absence to school, yet again. Who knows?

The Florida school district says they had no idea the teacher was a bikini mate until after they had filed her release paperwork. But Shepherd claims rumors about her involvement with the fishing company were circulating among the school board before she was let go.

Really, is it any wonder a school doesn't want one of their teachers flaunting their stuff for money on a boat. It’s like a seaborne escort service. But hey, if the teaching thing doesn't work out, Shepherd always has Smokin' Em Charters to fall back on.

Owner Coombes holds her in high regards. "I hire women with respect and class, so I don't have to worry about some guy touching her." Coombes told ABC News.

At least she wasn't sleeping with her students like so many other Florida teachers.