NYC educator out of job after anti-conservative comments
(NewsNation) — A New York City private school educator is no longer employed after a secretly recorded video appeared to show her saying she sneaks her political views into the classroom.
Excerpts from a covertly filmed video, posted by controversial conservative group Project Veritas, allegedly showed Jennifer “Ginn” Norris, director of student activities at the private Trinity School in Manhattan, talking about pushing her left-leaning political views in the classroom in a series of clips over the summer.
A narrator on the video says the person Norris was talking to was working with Project Veritas.
“I just keep trying to disrupt wherever I can,” Norris allegedly says in the video. “And now that I’m in this position, I have so many opportunities to do that.”
Trinity School is an acclaimed private school in Manhattan, where tuition can cost up to $60,000 a year. In the nearly eight-minute, heavily edited video, Norris says she knowingly pushes her liberal-leaning views on students.
“I don’t hide how I feel, but I can’t pretend I’m [not] promoting an agenda even though I clearly am with all the stuff I’m doing,” Norris says in the video.
Trinity Schools originally put Norris on paid leave and under investigation when Project Veritas first published the edited video. In a letter to parents Wednesday, the school announced Norris was no longer employed by the school.
“Our principles are clear: bias of any kind or the threat of violence toward any person or group has no place at Trinity School,” wrote principal John Allman and Board of Trustees president David Perez in the letter obtained by NewsNation.
The letter did not clarify if Norris was fired or if she left on her own. NewsNation reached out to Norris for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Project Veritas uses undercover, hidden-camera methods to discover things it claims cannot be found with more traditional methods of reporting. Critics have accused Project Veritas of deceptive practices as a result. A jury in a federal civil case this week found that the group had fraudulently misrepresented itself and violated wiretapping laws in a sting operation against Democratic consultants, according to the New York Times. Project Veritas must pay the consulting firm, Democracy Partners, $120,000.
Project Veritas also was recently involved in a plan to buy a diary and other items stolen from President Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden. At least two people not associated with Project Veritas have pleaded guilty to the thefts.
The video was part of a series put out by Project Veritas earlier this month. A Connecticut school administrator was placed on administrative leave and is under investigation by state education officials after a secretly recorded Project Veritas video appears to show him saying he avoids hiring conservatives and Catholics.