A Dallas ISD teacher who was fired because she acted in adult films more than a decade ago says she was forced into “sex slavery” and is fighting to get back her dream job helping children.

Resa Woodward, 38, taught sixth-grade science at an all-girls STEAM academy at Balch Springs Middle School before she was removed from the classroom in November. She was fired after her past in adult films was exposed on social media. She is appealing her termination to the Texas Education Agency.

Woodward said a controlling and manipulative man forced her into "sex slavery," according to her appeal letter to Education Commissioner Mike Morath, released to The Dallas Morning News this week.

“Young, stupid and afraid, I complied to avoid his wrath,” she wrote. “Only a woman who has been through such a horrifying experience could fully understand, but I’m asking you to understand and re-consider the terrible charges being brought against me, the victim of an abusive past.”

Woodward explained how she was able to escape her abusive relationship. She went on to become a teacher, working in North Carolina and Florida before coming to Texas, where she earned a master’s degree.

Woodward, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, began working at the all-girls school in 2014 and quickly became a standout teacher.

In her letter to Morath — a former DISD trustee — she noted that she earned the highest rating of “exemplary” last school year in DISD’s distinguished teacher program and was a nominee for district teacher of the year. She was also a nominee for campus teacher of the year for 2016-17, she wrote.

Teaching was more than a career, Woodward wrote. It was a dream fulfilled, one in which she was able to change the lives of many students.

“Please tell me this is not the end,” she wrote. “Do not penalize me for a dark saga in my youth that was not of my making.”

According to Woodward's termination letter, obtained this week, district officials fired her because her previous work “in adult content media” was accessible on the internet and available to the public. That “casts the District in negative light and adversely affects the District,” according to the letter, dated Dec. 13.

News of her firing circulated widely. Woodward said that since then, she has been harassed by men from across the world, including former students.

DISD initially cleared her in an internal investigation last March, when officials first learned of her past. But the district didn’t move to terminate her until last fall. Woodward is active in the Libertarian Party, and a Michigan man took issue with one of her posts and “outed” her on Facebook. She was removed from the classroom after alerting the district about the man's action.

TEA officials have said Woodward missed a deadline for an appeal and did not submit it properly. In a letter to state officials, her lawyer disputes that, saying the request was done properly and within the required 15 days. Postal confirmation submitted to DISD — and released through an open-records request — shows that Woodward’s appeal letter to the TEA was delivered by certified mail at 8:09 a.m. on Dec. 28.

TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said the agency is still reviewing the letter to reconsider. Woodward’s teaching certification in Texas is still valid.

Texas teachers must adhere to a code of ethics that requires them to have “good moral character” and be “worthy to instruct or supervise the youth of this state.” Breaking that code can be grounds for termination.

However, school districts have a lot of leeway in determining what that means, according to Clay Robison, spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association.

“The district can claim that something a teacher does has undermined her ability to be effective as a teacher,” he said. “A teacher can fight it, but that usually involves significant costs.”

Woodward said she has worked in education for 15 years. State records show she previously worked in the McKinney school district before joining DISD in 2012. She left briefly to earn her master’s.