Two New Jersey teacher union bosses have been suspended after two separate sting videos captured them promising to ‘bend the truth’ to protect members and calling students ‘dirtbags’ and ‘pieces of s**t’.
Kathleen Valencia and David R. Perry were both suspended after the videos emerged last week.
Valencia was filmed telling an undercover Project Veritas reporter that the Union City Teachers’ Association had protected a male teacher from prosecution despite him having sex with a teenage girl and calling classes high school students ‘dirt bags’.
The undercover reporter had gone to her to ask for advice with a fictitious story about her brother who she claimed was also a teacher and had hit a student during an altercation.
Valencia’s advice was to say nothing and, if questioned, tell bosses that the student ‘tripped and fell’.
s
Kathleen Valencia and David Perry are the presidents of separate teacher unions in New Jersey. Both were suspended after the videos emerged this week
In a different video, the same undercover reporter spoke with Perry who boasted about once getting a drug-using female teacher her job back five times.
‘It’s my job. It’s almost like being a priest, it’s my job to protect,’ he said.
Later, he said: ‘I need to know the truth so that we can bend the truth.’
The videos emerged on YouTube this week and prompted strong rebukes from the school districts where each worked.
‘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.
Valencia was filmed calling high school students she had worked with ‘dirt bags’ and ‘the biggest f***** pieces of s**t’
‘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,’ Union City Public Schools said of Valencia’s comments.
Its superintendent has not revealed whether her claims about a male teacher who ‘had sex with a teenage girl’ are being looked into or not.
In the video, the journalist gave Valencia a fabricated story about her brother who was also a teacher. She said that a student spat on him and called him the N-word so in retaliation, he pushed him.
After insisting that the situation was ‘hypothetical’ and asking if there had been any witnesses, Valencia said: ‘Nothing happened.’
She then assured the journalist that since it happened ‘two weeks ago’ and she had heard ‘nothing’, there would likely be no rebuke.
Perry was caught boasting about how he can ‘bend the truth’ and that he ‘defends even the worst people’
‘God forbid you anybody calls him in. Your brother has no idea. [He says], “Yeah, the kid tripped and fell, but I asked him and he said he was perfectly fine.’
She then went on to describe how she had taught ‘real dirtbags’.
‘I have taught the dirtbag class,’ she said, adding that she was ‘not afraid of them’.
Perry was suspended by Hamilton District Schools after footage emerged of him making similarly shocking remarks.
The New Jersey Education Association however attacked the authenticity of Project Veritas, which has sparked controversy in the past with its stings.
‘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.
‘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,’ it told NJ.com in a statement.