Schools boss who fired Playboy model was nearly stripped of job

Dallas schools boss Mike Miles kept his job, but teacher Cristy Nicole Deweese did not. (Dallas ISD, Playboy)

The Dallas schools boss who canned a Spanish teacher after it was revealed she once posed for Playboy got a dressing down of his own last summer, when an investigation showed he tried to influence the probe and disparaged the school board.

Mike Miles, who the Dallas Independent School District hired from Colorado Springs a year ago to help reform the big-city district, may have ended the teaching career of Cristy Nicole Deweese almost before it began. The 21-year-old beauty was about a month into the school year when word got out that she had been featured as a “Coed of the Month” in the men’s mag three years ago. But just a few weeks ago, Miles barely saved his own skin from the very fate he meted out to Deweese.

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Trustees voted 5-3 against a proposal to fire Miles after a report by a former U.S. Attorney found he violated district policy and his contract by "contacting witnesses" in the internal investigation and by "discussing case facts" with potential witnesses. The case grew out of allegations Miles interfered with a contract the district sought for parent education services. He was cleared on the initial allegations but accused of violating district policy by talking to witnesses and attempting to publicly disparage board members.

"It may not rise to the level … of a fireable offense, but what it does do is give us very grave concerns about whether we have trust-based leadership, and whether we as a district should place trust in that leader when that leader has violated that trust," Trustee Elizabeth Jones told WFAA-TV after the vote.

The board voted 7-0 to give Miles a written reprimand and to amend his contract to bar him from disparaging the school board, bullying, abusive behavior and the release of confidential information.

The teachers union wanted Miles fired, but didn’t take a position on Deweese. That’s because Texas is a right to work state, and Deweese opted not to join up.

“The union was not able to represent her, because she was not a member,” George Rangel, executive vice president of Alliance AFT, told FoxNews.com.

Miles decision to fire Deweese has generated controversy, from both parents who don’t want their young boys’ minds wandering in class at Townview Magnet High School, as well as sympathizers who say a photo shoot that took place when Deweese was just 18 should not haunt her. Deweese plans to put the classroom in her rear-view mirror and pursue a career in modeling.