Undercover Probe Shows Union President Covering for Teachers’ Crimes

NEW YORK—In the second part of an undercover investigation series, a teachers union president was exposed explaining how they protect the jobs of teachers, even after they have committed heinous crimes. In this particular case, shielding a teacher who allegedly had sex with an underage girl.

The latest video released by Project Veritas, a non-profit specializing in exposing corruption through undercover journalism, puts the spotlight on Union City Education Association President Kathleen Valencia, in New Jersey.

It comes on the heels of a May 2 video where Hamilton Township Education Association President Dr. David Perry is captured spelling out the union’s protective protocols. After the video was released, Perry was suspended by the township’s superintendent.

In the newly released May 3 footage, a hidden camera catches Valencia saying how a teacher who physically abused a so-called “scumbag” student would be “fine” and would not be reprimanded.

“Did the kid’s parent come in? No? Nothing happened… There’s no video? Nothing happened… [The teacher] is fine,” Valencia told an undercover Project Veritas journalist.

Valencia then talks about what would happen if the student spoke out after being abused.

“God forbid the kid decides to tell the principal. It happened two weeks ago, he’s not [going to tell.] Let’s say the kid does. [The teacher] is going to be like… ‘kid tripped and fell,'” she said.

In one point of the video, the journalist asks Valencia if other teachers have escaped repercussions from doing anything as bad as physical abuse.

Valencia then points to a document:

“This file right here is from a teacher who had sex with a student,” she said. “Know what this file is about? It’s about whether or not the teacher gets to keep his pension. Is he going to jail? No. How come? Because the child’s not pressing charges. There’s no proof.”

Project Veritas founder, James O’Keefe, said that the union association “must reveal the identity” of the teacher they mentioned who escaped without any charges.

“Any and all parents should be paying attention. This union would rather protect their teachers than their students,” O’Keefe said in the release.

On how the purported teacher should keep his job, Valencia said “keep his [expletive] mouth shut,” and to act like, “nothing happened.”

This wide blanket of protection for union members is reflected in Valencia’s answer to another question in the investigative video. She was asked if unions usually assist teachers who abuse students to which she replied, “it happens, yes it does!”

She then gives out specific details on how the union ensures a teacher keeps his or her job.

“I’m going to get your brother a lawyer. Your brother’s not going to admit anything happened. The only witness is the scumbag kid… he’s got a record.”

Valencia explains if teachers want to protect themselves they should also “keep [their] mouth shut,” and to act as if, “nothing happened.”

President Donald Trump states in his 2015 book “Crippled America” that teachers unions have become one of the main obstacles to school reform.

“When there is a legitimate complaint against a teacher in the New York system, rather than having a quick hearing to determine the validity of the complaint, teachers are assigned to an area known as ‘the rubber room’ while they wait for their hearing,” Trump writes. “And they wait. They sit in empty classrooms or converted closets and do nothing—but they still get paid their whole salary. Some teachers spend several years waiting.”

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