The Union City teachers union chief is under fire after the release of an undercover video that shows her denigrating some of the city's public-school students, suggesting a teacher not report that he hurt a student and referring to a Union City teacher who had sex with a child but was not charged criminally.

Conservative group Project Veritas, which has been slammed by the statewide teachers union for "using dishonest and illegal tactics to fabricate false stories," released the 15-minute video on Wednesday morning, one day following the release of a similar video that resulted in the suspension of a teachers union president in Hamilton Township. Kathleen Valencia, president of the Union City Education Association, is identified as the woman in the newest sting.

Asked to comment, a statement from the school district says Valencia has been suspended.

"The board finds the comments that were made deeply disturbing and inappropriate because they in no way reflect the views, and core beliefs and values, of our school district, or of the professionalism of our educators, and other employees," the statement says. "We have no governing control over the UCEA, its policies or procedures — we are separate and distinct entities. The UCEA does not speak for our school district."

Requests for comment from Valencia were not returned.

In the video, a woman working for Project Veritas poses as the sister of a Union City teacher worried about losing his job for pushing and injuring a student. In occasionally whispered tones, Valencia tells the woman not to worry.

"Did the kid's parent come in? No? Nothing happened," Valencia says. "There's no video? Nothing happened."

Valencia, whose LinkedIn page says she works at Jose Marti Freshman Academy, goes on to trash some of the children in the 14,000-student district.

"I know dirt bags. I have taught the dirt bags. They have a whole dirt bag class at the high school. I've taught the dirt bag class, OK?" Valencia says in the video. "It's the biggest f***ing pieces of s*** I have worked with."

The woman from Project Veritas expresses fear that her brother will be criminally charged and asks Valencia for assurance that he won't be.

"People have done worse things than him and, like, been fine?" the woman says.

In response, Valencia points to a file on her desk.

"This file right here is from a teacher who had sex with a student, OK? You're not going to jail," Valencia says. "This file is about whether or not the teacher gets to keep his pension. Sex with a teenage girl. Is he going to jail? No. How come? Because the child's not pressing charges."

Project Veritas, headed by James O'Keefe, has been criticized for selectively editing videos to push a conservative agenda. A woman working with the group tried to get the Washington Post in 2017 to publish false information about Roy Moore, a Republican Senate candidate.

The New Jersey Education Association yesterday issued a statement slamming Project Veritas after the video of the Hamilton teacher, who is seen in that video saying he would not report a teacher who beat a student. The statewide union did not respond to comment about the Union City video.

"Project Veritas cannot be trusted as a source and should not be dignified with coverage or response, other than to note that it is a political advocacy organization with a history of using dishonest and illegal tactics to fabricate false stories," the NJEA said. "Nothing is more important to NJEA members than the safety and well-being of the students they are privileged to educate. NJEA members go above and beyond every day to ensure that students are safe, healthy and well educated."

Pay records show Valencia was hired in 2002 and makes over $68,000.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.