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Whittier Elementary School Principal Pedro H. Valdes III – now the principal of Teaneck High School -- engaged in “overly flirtatious” behavior that was “disturbing and intimidating at best," Grace Kenny charged in a sexual discrimination lawsuit.
Rather than go to trial, district officials settled the case and agreed, along with Kenny, to keep the terms of the deal confidential.
Settlements in such cases are neither an admission of guilt nor a claim of innocence. They exist as a form of closure that eliminates the time, expense and various evidence and/or testimony resulting from a trial.
Records show Kenny taught Whittier pupils with emotional and learning disabilities for a year and a half before she was let go in May 2018.
At first, Valdes "lavished praise" on her work and "consistently gave her very high [job] evaluations,” she claimed. Very soon, though, he began demanding “a lot of attention from Kenny in ways that had nothing to do with her teaching," according to the suit filed in Superior Court in Hackensack in late 2019.
"I'm interested in your view of me…lol. just a big jock? Nerd? Softy?" a February 2017 text allegedly said.
Several weeks after that, Kenny said, Valdes asked her to go out drinking after work. She says she refused but that he continued asking her what she thought of him as a person.
Following an event at the school in November of that year, Valdes tried hugging her and kissing her on the cheek in the parking lot, but she pulled away and gave him an “awkward” high five instead, the suit against him and the Teaneck Board of Education claimed.
That same month, it contended, Valdes asked Kenny if a friend who was giving her a ride home from a pre-Thanksgiving get-together after work was a "booty call."
He also whispered "Goodnight Guapa” (the Spanish word for gorgeous or beautiful) as he was leaving another work-related gathering weeks later, the lawsuit said.
A month or so after that, it said, Kenny told Valdes that she considered it unsafe for him to drive students alone in his car.
After that, he began criticizing her teaching, the suit alleged.
SEE: Fired Teaneck Teacher Accuses Principal Of Hitting On Her, Retaliating When She Refused
Valdes told Kenny on May 11, 2018 that she was being terminated because the school had lost a multiple-disability classroom amid an enrollment decline and that there were no other positions available for her in the upcoming school year, according to the lawsuit.
Four days later, it said, the district posted openings for two special education teachers – one of them at Whittier.
News of the settlement was first reported by John Paff, the chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project, on TransparencyNJ.com.
LAWSUIT/AGREEMENT: Grace Kenny v. Teaneck Board of Education
Valdes and district officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
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