A substitute teacher in Missouri, USA, has been suspended and faces termination after an investigation by her staffing agency uncovered an adult content account she had been running for more than two years. Sheena Sittner was pulled from classrooms and suspended pending termination by Kelly Education, the staffing agency that employed her.
Teacher defends side hustle citing low pay
Sittner has defended her actions by pointing to low pay in education and the pressure it puts on staff, particularly women, to find extra income wherever they can. “If teachers were paid better, women wouldn’t have to resort to online content creation”, Sittner said. “Sex sells.”
She told KTVI: “It’s funny because I’ve had this account, this [adult content] account, for two-plus years. So, whoever did find it did some deep-dive digging, because two years later and now it’s being found out.”
Barred from contacting schools
Sittner reportedly said she always believed her content would be discovered one day, but she never imagined being “completely stripped away from being at my kid’s school”. Her anger intensified after she received an email from Kelly Education telling her she must “refrain from contacting any schools or districts” while suspended.
Sittner reportedly said she took that to mean she was effectively barred even from her own child’s school. “It’s like all of a sudden I’ve done something so wrong and sinful that I’m not even allowed [to] volunteer at his school,” Sittner said, referring to her own son’s school.
School district and agency clarify
“I can find another job. I can handle the backlash and the criticism, but when it affects my child or my children, that’s where I draw the line,” she said. Sittner insisted her online work never interfered with her parenting and that she had always kept her two lives apart. She said: “My personal life is completely separate from my professional life. I have kept those two separate forever.”
After the claim she’d been blocked from her son’s school began circulating, local outlet KTVI FOX 2 followed up with the school district and the staffing agency. A spokesperson for Sittner’s school district confirmed she should be treated like any other parent and is allowed to volunteer and take part in school activities, as she had passed a background check and completed mandated online safety training, KTVI reported.
Kelly Education also clarified the “no contact” instruction was aimed at her role as an employee during an active investigation, not her rights as a mum. In a statement, the company said it takes “all concerns raised about our substitute educators seriously” and explained why she was removed from assignments while the matter is reviewed.
