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SYDNEY - A Sydney teacher sacked after posing nude in a women's magazine says she will sue the NSW Education Department for its "sad" treatment that has ended her career.
Year One teacher Lynne Tziolas, 24, was suspended from Narraweena Public School in May after posing nude with
her husband in a sealed section of Cleo magazine.
Despite being reinstated on full pay about a month later and offered other teaching positions, Mrs Tziolas now plans to sue the department, claiming the controversy has left her with no desire to return to a classroom.
"Because of everything that's happening ... I can't even imagine stepping back into a classroom," Mrs Tziolas told AAP.
"(Returning to teaching) doesn't appeal at all.
"It's left a very bitter taste in my mouth."
On medication for anxiety and stress, Mrs Tziolas said she now regularly saw a psychiatrist and psychologist and this week visited a solicitor to begin legal proceedings against the department.
"I was denied natural justice, but also ... there is no responsibility on the part of the department and the offers they have made have been quite unsatisfactory indicating that they are not really concerned with placing me in a position where I would do any good," Mrs Tziolas said.
Living in Sydney's north, Mrs Tziolas said she was happy working at nearby Narraweena Public School and the two alternative schools she was offered were not suitable.
"The first one was a school with a specific purpose for which you need specific qualifications which I don't have," she said.
"The second school was not on the northern beaches and my preferences with the department have always been the northern beaches."
At the time of her reinstatement last month, the department said Mrs Tziolas would not return to Narraweena.
"It wouldn't be fair on her to be placed back in that school," a department spokesman told AAP at the time.
The decision dashed Mrs Tziolas' hopes she would be reinstated to her position at the school.
"My anger and sadness is directed towards the public system over this whole mess," she said.
"I spent four-and-a-half years at uni to become a teacher and that's now been taken away from me. That's what this legal action is about."
The department today issued a one sentence statement.
"The Department of Education and Training is currently holding discussions with Ms Tziolas' legal representatives and we are awaiting a response from them," a department spokesman said.
Mrs Tziolas said she stood by her decision to be part of the photo shoot and was prepared for lengthy legal action.
She has no immediate plans for employment.
- AAP