Video: Union Bosses Give ‘Teacher’ Advice On Covering Up Abuse, Rogue Mexican Vacation

Video: Union Bosses Give ‘Teacher’ Advice on Covering Up Abuse, Rogue Mexican Vacation

Yonkers public schools, the fourth largest school district in New York state, has gained a reputation for being plagued by mismanagement, wastefulness, corruption, poor student outcomes, and an ongoing struggle for state funding.

In this district, approximately 25,200 students attend city school buildings that are neglected and overcrowded every day. These students face a significant lack of guidance counselors, social workers, and librarians compared to their more affluent suburban neighbors. Furthermore, eight out of the city’s 39 schools are considered to be chronically struggling, as determined by the state based on test scores and graduation rates.

As if these issues weren’t enough, in December, it came to light that the city Board of Education took 11 months to fire a teacher who was serving a 22-year prison sentence for kidnapping, according to The Journal News/lohud.com.

Adding to the City of Hills’ (as it is sometimes called) list of problems, two top union leaders were recently caught in an undercover video advising a person posing as a teacher on how to cover up an incident involving a black child being hit and left bloodied and bruised, with race as a factor. In the video, which was shared on Lohud.com, the "teacher" (who was actually an activist named James O’Keefe) informed the union leaders that he had taken an unapproved, paid vacation in Mexico for two weeks following the incident.

The President of the Yonkers Federation of Teachers, Patricia Puleo, emphatically and profanely tells the "teacher" to keep quiet, while the Vice President, Paul Diamond, casually remarks that kids get bruised all the time.

O’Keefe, known for his controversial activism, has previously impersonated a pimp in videos targeting the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and posed as a telephone worker to gain access to Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office, resulting in his arrest for trespassing by the FBI. In this case, the Yonkers union officials set up the conversation as a hypothetical situation to protect themselves, not even asking for O’Keefe’s name, school, or any identification. State law requires teachers to report cases of child abuse.

The 17-minute video was released on the Project Veritas website, causing immediate outrage and calls for the resignation of the two union officials from city leaders. Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano has requested a halt to contract negotiations while the city’s inspector general investigates the matter. Even the Yonkers PTA has withdrawn support for the union leadership, expressing their willingness to seek new leadership for the Yonkers Federation of Teachers.

City Council Majority Leader John Larkin expressed concerns not only about the national embarrassment this situation has caused, but also about the safety of the city’s children and the integrity of the systems and procedures in place at the Yonkers Public Schools. Larkin questioned the kind of people who would conspire to conceal child abuse and assist in covering up a teacher going absent without official permission for two weeks.

In the video, Puleo suggests that O’Keefe’s sudden absence may have been due to emergency family leave after his relatives were abducted by Mexican "drug dealers."

Councilman Dennis Shepherd commented on the unethical and amoral behavior displayed by the two city employees in the video, stating that it reflects poorly on the city and its employees. He expressed his sadness for Yonkers, as this behavior has been broadcast to millions of viewers across the nation.

In response to the calls for resignation, the union released a statement claiming that the mayor’s actions are politically motivated and that he is jeopardizing a $39 million increase in state aid, which is contingent on successful negotiations and would greatly benefit Yonkers students. The union advocates for the continuation of good-faith negotiations, emphasizing the need for facts rather than partisan politics.

"We have evidence that the video is filled with falsehoods and dishonesty," Korn informed The Journal News. "It has been edited and manipulated at least 14 times. It is a malicious piece created by an extremist with right-wing views."

The Yonkers video is presented on the Project Veritas website as the first part of their new series focusing on teachers unions. In 2010, O’Keefe released a set of undercover videos targeting the New Jersey Educators Association during their negotiations on teacher salaries and job security.

According to the recent statement from the YFT, reported on Wednesday, they are urging Yonkers schools to continue paying Diamond his annual salary of $132,813 until the end of the 2016-17 school year while he fulfills his responsibilities within the union. Despite being a teacher, Diamond is relieved of classroom duties in order to assist in the YFT’s operations.