Anacapa Middle School.
Officials say a California teacher has been removed from her classroom after a student secretly recorded her spreading misinformation aboutCOVID-19vaccines to students and telling them thatDonald Trumpwas still president.
In a statement sent to PEOPLE, the superintendent of the Ventura Unified School District said the teacher “is still employed with the school district” but is no longer working in her middle school history class.
At another point in the recording, the teacher repeats unsubstantiated allegations about PresidentJoe Biden’s sonHunter, including that he was “doing deals with China and Ukraine and all these places where he was funneling money illegally.” (Hunter has not been charged with or accused of any crimes.)
Once the boy expressed distrust in his own parents, saying that the teacher was “right” and they were “wrong,” he shared the recording and his mom alerted the school district.
A district spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE that administrators began an investigation once the recording was shared with school and administration officials on Oct. 18.
The spokesperson adds that the teacher’s entire class was moved to another room, with a different teacher, while the investigation took place. Later that same week, the Anacapa Middle School administrative team met with district officials about the incident ahead of a week-long fall break.
Upon the return to school on Nov. 1, “the process for taking appropriate action began,” the spokesperson says.
The spokesperson says that the teacher has since “expressed deep remorse.”
In a statement provided to PEOPLE, Ventura Superintendent Dr. Roger Rice said: “The Ventura Unified School District does not condone the non-instructionally-related discussion that occurred in the classroom at Anacapa Middle School. Although we cannot disclose information related to individual personnel matters, we can confirm that we have a collective bargaining agreement that outlines the discipline process. We are following that process in this case.
“The teacher is still employed with the school district; however, they are no longer working on the Anacapa Middle School site,” the superintendent said. “The Ventura Unified School District will work closely with staff to ensure that this does not happen again.”
source: people.com
