BOCA RATON, Fla. – Math tutor, Palm Beach County school board candidate and ex-porn star are all words that can be used to describe David Mech, but it's that last one that is stirring up some controversy.
"Why is one person's morality not more important than another person's morality?" Mech asked.
Mech said he transitioned out of the adult film industry and now owns a math tutoring program, which he advertised at Palm Beach County schools. That is, until they stopped allowing him to do so after finding out about his pornographic past last year.
"This idea why any rational school board would keep a perfectly educated, non-violent, very good math tutor away from their student population is beyond me," Mech told Local 10.
Last year, banners advertising Mech's tutoring business were removed from Spanish River Community High School in Boca Raton after the district learned of the adult film company that he also owns.
Mech said the businesses have nothing to do with each other.
"In the letter that I sent to the school district, I explained to them clearly that that business address is a staffed postal center for receiving packages for all the businesses and mail," Mech said in a May 2013 interview with WPBF. "There is no on-site tutoring at any location that I own or any place that I go. It's public cafes or the client's house. So, you know, to say that there's a risk of any kind of cross-exposure between these businesses is ludicrous."
Mech said his ongoing lawsuit with the Palm Beach County school board is part of the reason he wants to run.
"That's where the lawsuit comes in and the equality component comes in," Mech said.
Not only does Mech say the school board is deficient when it comes to equality, but also technology, innovation, secular values and sex education.
"If we were following peer-reviewed public health data and putting condoms in the schools, where they should be, and not trying to deny the science, you know, and all these things were happening, then I wouldn't need to run," Mech said.
He said if he communicates his ideas for a better school board and does his job well, that's what this should be about, not someone else's idea of morality.
"Society has dealt me rules in which to operate called the law," Mech said. "I follow the law. I shouldn't be discriminated against by my own government for following their rules."
A representative for the Palm Beach County school board said the district cannot comment on ongoing litigation.
On his campaign website, Mech claims he is running "to bring about fundamental change in areas where the current board is deficient." Among those areas he mentions is sex education.