Tag Archives: teachers

Featured, Government Corruption, US

Teacher Abuses Students In Euro-Trip Sex Scandal — School District Turns A Blind Eye

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(DCNF) A New York high school drama teacher sexually abused multiple students, but he’s managed to avoid prison because the school district turned a blind eye.

Former Chappaqua teacher Christopher Schraufnagel headed up Horace Greeley High School’s theater program for a dozen years before students accused him of sexual abuse in June 2015, according to Lohud.com. After a number of students began coming forward with allegations Schraufnagel had sexually abused them, Horace Greeley suspended him with pay. Schraufnagel later resigned on Sept. 4, 2015.

During Schraufnagel’s suspension, six of his alleged victims filed civil lawsuits in New York’s Supreme Court. Another student filed a seventh lawsuit in White Plain’s U.S. District Court. The lawsuits are still pending.

“John Roe” — the anonymous name given to one student who filed a suit — claims he and another student were forced to perform oral sex on Schraufnagel while they were on a 2012 educational trip in Greece. Schraufnagel also took groups of students to Canada and Italy. (RELATED: Sex Ed Teacher On Administrative Leave After Showing ‘Inappropriate’ Videos In Class)

“During this trip, Schraufnagel drank alcohol every night to the point of inebriation and encouraged all of the students, including John Roe, to do so as well,” the lawsuit states. “One night, during the trip to Greece, Schraufnagel instructed John Roe and another (Horace Greeley) student to come to his hotel room. Schraufnagel plied both students with vodka and they became inebriated.”

Following Schraufnagel’s resignation from Horace Greeley, authorities arrested the teacher on Oct. 28, 2015, and charged him with a third-degree criminal sex act, felony and six misdemeanor counts, Lohud.com reported. Schraufnagel later pleaded guilty on Aug. 4, 2016, in order to receive a lesser sentence, but the deal was rejected after New Castle Town Justice Douglas Kraus determined the deal was inadequate for its failure to add Schraufnagel to the official sex offender registry.

Schraufnagel also failed to appear for at least four court appearances.

A few months later, Schraufnagel pleaded guilty to his crimes once more and received a sentence that gave him three years probation, forced him to give up his teaching license, and registered him as a Level Three sex offender. He accepted the deal on Nov. 7, 2016. (RELATED: Student Borrows Phone And Ends Up Finding Images Of Teacher Performing Oral Sex On Him)

“All the facts are there … and it was all covered up,” private investigator Richard “Bo” Dietl said. “The big question is why hasn’t anyone done anything about this?” He asked, noting the school district and local authorities have seemed uninterested in pressing any federal charges that would land Schraufnagel in prison.

New Castle police forcefully investigated the case, and the district cooperated fully during that investigation, school district attorney Brian Henderson maintains. The investigation was not “obstructed by the Chappaqua Central School District or any of its employees or representatives.”

Dietl, however, has presented damning evidence to federal prosecutors, which should land Schraufnagel behind bars, the private investigator charged and cannot understand why the school district has not been more vocal about the scandal. “I think that it’s unconscionable for this school district to turn a blind eye,” Dietl’s company president, Michael Ciravolo, said, according to Lohud.com.

Dietl’s list of past clients include Roger Ailes, Steve Bannon and Don Imus.

Written by Grace Carr: Follow Grace on Twitter.

 

 

This article was republished with permission from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Featured, Government Accountability, US

Two NJ Teachers’ Union Presidents Suspended After Defending Abusive Teachers On Camera

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(DCNF) The presidents of two New Jersey teachers’ unions have been suspended following the release of videos in which the officials offered to lie to protect abusive school teachers and protected a teacher that had sex with a student, The Washington Free Beacon reports.

Hamilton Township Education Association President David Perry and Union City Education Association President Kathleen Valencia made the comments separately to undercover agents with Project Veritas, a conservative activist group known for its controversial sting operations.

The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) announced in a statement it was conducting a review of its local affiliates and members in wake of the videos’ release.

“NJEA does not, in any instance, condone the abuse or mistreatment of children or the failure to properly report allegations of abuse,” NJEA said. “To ensure that appropriate practices are followed, we are commissioning an independent review of the practices of our local affiliates and staff. The purpose of that review is to ensure that every staff member and local affiliate leader understands and clearly communicates the responsibility of all school employees to report any suspected abuse of children.”

While both Perry and Valencia have been suspended, the NJEA also seemed to prep a defense for the embattled presidents in its statement.

“With regard to the videos recently released, the source of the videos in question deserves careful scrutiny,” NJEA said in a statement. “It is very important to note that the operatives are not speaking about real individuals or incidents. Their false allegations are entirely fabricated for the purpose of creating a false narrative. They then deceptively edit those videos for political purposes, with no regard for truth or honesty.”

While the narratives used by the Veritas operatives were made up, both Perry and Valencia referenced presumably real cases in which they protected teachers who committed crimes. In Velencia’s case, she claimed to have covered up a case of sexual misconduct between a teacher and student.

WATCH: Project Veritas’ sting on Valencia

“This file right here is from a teacher who had sex with a student, OK? You’re not going to jail,” Valencia says in the Veritas video. “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.”

“They have no proof there was sex,” Valencia added.

WATCH: Project Veritas’ sting on Perry

 

“God forbid if a child, and I hate to keep using this, was sexually mistreated and the person came to me and said, ‘Listen, Dave, I made a mistake.’ First of all, I’m going to be pissed off because you don’t do that,” Perry said in the video. “But it’s my job. It’s almost like I’m a priest. It’s my job to protect.”

“The worst teachers in the world, I have defended,” Perry added.

Hamilton Township Superintendent Scott Rocco said in a Wednesday statement that Perry, at least the way he represented himself in the video, does not represent, “the true beliefs and values of this school,” according to NJ.com.

Written by Tim Pearce: Follow Tim Pearce on Twitter

 

This article was republished with permission from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Politics, US

Missouri expands firearm legislature to schools

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A new law passed in Missouri will allow specially trained school employees to bring firearms onto school campuses, and these employees will be designated as “school protection officers.”

The new law allows any person with a valid concealed carry permit to openly carry their firearm of choice wherever they please, including in areas where firearms are publicly banned, such as schools.  This law also supersedes any city or town ordinances which ban the carrying of firearms in public.

School boards in Missouri already allow for teachers to carry concealed firearms on campuses, but the new law would require the Department of Public Safety to set up training courses and guidelines to train specific teachers or administrators for the new role of “school protection officer.”

“I think it’s important that we train those individuals if they are going to be carrying,” said state Senator Will Kraus, R-Mo., according to the Huffington Post.

While states such as New York, California, and Connecticut have expanded gun law restrictions since the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut, according to ABC News, Missouri has become the 10th state to pass some sort of legislation to allow school employees to carry firearms within the premises of a school.

While Republican leaning states have tried to allow more guns into schools for protection purposes, Democratic leaning states have tried to restrict guns in schools for the same reasons.

Senator Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City, Mo., however, said this law would make things worse.  “The reality is we’re making our cities less safe,” Justus said.