Fired bikini-wearing teacher wants job back

Port St. Lucie, Florida - A Florida woman who claims she was fired as a teacher because she wore a bikini in her second job on a charter boat says she doesn't want to model.

Tiffany Shepherd, 30, said she "turned down all magazine offers to pose" after she claimed the St. Lucie County school district fired her from Port St. Lucie High School in May.

Shepherd was let go after school officials learned about her second job with Smokin' Em Charters, which sells fishing trips with bikini-clad and topless women.

Shepherd -- who the school district claims was fired for excessive absences -- said she does not want to do magazine photos because she wants to find a new teaching job.

"The whole reason why I started doing the bikini thing was because I was teaching and not making enough money and I have three kids to support," Shepherd said. "The school board has taken a lot of stuff away from me."

Shepherd said she might seek legal action against the school board.

"Hopefully, I'll find a lawyer that'll take me on contingency so I can sue the pants off the school board (in St. Lucie County)," she said.

Shepherd appeared on the Tyra Banks television show last Wednesday and said that since she was fired she has received a good deal of sympathy from the public.

Banks questioned her about why the school district thought it was so bad to wear a bikini.

She denied being involved in anything inappropriate other than wearing a swimsuit while working a second job to make ends meet for her family.