Tamara Hoover Resigns After Settlement

Posted on August 21, 2006

Remember Tamara Hoover, the Austin high school teacher who was escorted from the school after partially nude photographs of her were discovered on Flickr? She was the #1 Technorati search term for a day or two back in June. Tamara Hoover has now resigned from her teaching job according to an article in the Austin American-Statesman.

Art teacher Tamara Hoover has resigned from her job at Austin High School, extinguishing a firestorm that began when nude pictures of her online were brought to the attention of school administrators.
Hoover submitted a resignation letter Wednesday and, pending expected school board approval Monday, will receive a $14,850 settlement from the Austin school district, several months' salary.
"The district believes strongly in an individual's right of free expression, but as we all know, such rights are not absolute," district officials said in a statement Thursday. "The district and Ms. Hoover disagreed as to the propriety of explicit nude photographs of her and others in sexually suggestive poses being placed on the Internet, and its impact on students and families, and thus, on Ms. Hoover's ability to be an appropriate role model and effective classroom teacher in AISD."
Hoover said she's sad about the outcome but will focus on moving forward. "I wasn't prepared to stop teaching. I never wanted to resign from teaching. I don't think this is the most ideal outcome. I was definitely impressed by (the district's) willingness to come to the table. I just wish they would have done that in the beginning."

The photos were removed from the Flickr account but you can see one of the photos (a non-nude photo) in an earlier article on statesman.com. Many argued that the photos were artistic and should not have resulted in Hoover being fired. The Statesman.com article says Hoover now plans to pursue a master's degree and then teach college students.