Anacapa teacher still a district employee as review of viral in-class diatribe continues
An Anacapa Middle School history teacher whose in-class comments made international news last week continues to be employed by the Ventura Unified School District.
The K-12 district released that information earlier this week, saying the teacher is no longer working at the Anacapa campus in Ventura but is an employee. The district’s review of the situation is ongoing, officials said.
The teacher's comments prompted an investigation last month after a video was provided to the school and shared with the district. During the review, students moved to another teacher, the district said.
CBS Channel 2 in Los Angeles aired an exclusive story that included audio of the teacher telling students that Hunter Biden had "child pornography on his laptop,” among other politically charged topics. The teacher also reportedly discussed vaccines and told students Donald Trump was currently president, according to the broadcast.
The story has been picked up by news outlets around the country and internationally and has drawn attention on social media.
Viral recording: Teacher no longer at middle school after diatribe makes national news
In a statement released earlier this week, Ventura Unified Superintendent Roger Rice said the district does not condone the discussion that happened in the classroom.
District officials declined to provide more details about the incident or the teacher's status, citing employee confidentiality rules.
“Like other districts in California, we have a collective bargaining agreement that outlines the discipline process,” Ventura Unified spokeswoman Marieanne Quiroz wrote in an email to The Star.
“We are following that process in this case, as we do similar situations, and we cannot comment further on individual personnel matters,” she said.
District administrators say they began investigating the incident when the recording was shared with school on Oct. 18.
Officials from the school and district administration met about the issue before Ventura Unified’s fall break from Oct. 25-31. Work resumed on Nov. 1 following the holiday break, Quiroz said.
Regarding the teacher’s current job status or title, Quiroz said the district is still working on “placement,” so she did not have a title to share publicly. The teacher has expressed remorse for what happened, Quiroz said.
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Cheri Carlson covers the environment for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0260.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Teacher still an employee as review of in-class comments continues
