The Ad Campaign: Former CNN Anchor Focuses Blame on Unions for Teacher Misconduct

She lobbied the New York state leaders, spoke out in opinion pages and waged war on Twitter. Now Campbell Brown, the former CNN anchor, has taken her campaign for stricter teacher misconduct laws to the New York City mayoral race. Ms. Brown and a new group, the Parents’ Transparency Project, recently announced a $100,000 television advertising campaign across seven channels. The ads urge the candidates to make it easier for the city to fire teachers accused of sexual misconduct.

Produced by: Revolution Agency

Click below to jump to a fact-check:

• 0:13  Keeping Their Jobs

  It is true that many New ork City teachers accused of misconduct remain in city schools. Since 2007, 128 teachers have been charged with sexual misconduct or inappropriate relationships, according to the city’s Education Department, and city officials have fired 33 of them. The remaining teachers have received lesser punishments like fines or suspensions from independent arbitrators, who oversee the disciplinary process under state law. Some were reassigned to other schools, while others work as substitutes. While the ad portrays the end result as a clear-cut outrage, it does not include the union view that some of those teachers have been accused of minor or unsubstantiated noncriminal offenses and do not deserve to lose their jobs. Under state law, teachers who are convicted of sex crimes are automatically fired.

• 0:21  Union Protection

  The ad accuses the union of seeking to protect teachers accused of sexual mi! sconduct. The union notes that its members often hire private lawyers to make their cases before independent arbitrators. Ms. Brown wants the law changed to give the schools chancellor, not the arbitrator, the final say in sexual misconduct cases, but that is actually a matter for the State Legislature, not the mayor.

SCORECARD Ms. Brown has laid the groundwork for an old-fashioned shame campaign, calling on candidates to revive an issue that has receded from popular discourse. Her case is helped by stark statistics and will appeal to parents who would not want anyone who had been accused of misconduct, no matter how minor, around their children. But by blaming unions, and ignoring concerns that the city might impose unnecessarily harsh punishments on employees, she risks inflaming organized labor, and in turn, the Democratic candidates for mayor.