NEW YORK, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The late comedian Myron Cohen once joked "everybody's gotta be someplace," and a New York teacher says for her that once was working as a prostitute.

Tattooed Melissa Petro, 30, who says she has a fine arts masters degree in creative non-fiction from The New School and works as an art teacher in a Bronx elementary school, posted an essay this month revealing she is a "former sex worker," the New York Post reported Monday.


"From October 2006 to January 2007, I accepted money in exchange for sexual services I provided to men I met online in what was then called the 'erotic services' section of Craigslist.org," Petro wrote on the Huffington Post.

Some parents of her pupils say they are not happy their children are being taught by a former sex worker.

"I don't want nobody that used to do that to be around my kid," said Grace Ventura, whose son is in third grade. "People like that should not be allowed to be anywhere near children."

Petro has been reassigned to administrative duties pending an investigation, the Post said.