Teaneck Schools Pay $50,000 To Settle Sex Discrimination Lawsuit With Former Teacher

TEANECK, NJ — Teaneck Schools paid a special education teacher $50,000 to settle a sexual discrimination and unlawful firing lawsuit, according to a report.

The school district settled with Grace Kenny, who claimed her school principal made romantic advances against her and then retaliated after she expressed her concerns about his behavior. John Paff of Transparency NJ first reported the settlement.

Kenny filed a lawsuit against the Teaneck Board of Education and Pedro H. Valdes III, who was the principal at Whittier Elementary School while she was teaching there.

Read more: Teacher Files Sexual Discrimination Suit Against Teaneck Schools

The district settled the lawsuit in September 2020, as Paff reported and court documents confirm.

The settlement was confidential; since it involved a public school district, records are available online.

Valdes is listed as principal of Teaneck High School on the school website and on his LinkedIn page as of Monday, March 21.

Lawsuit details

Grace Kenny worked as a special education teacher at Whittier Elementary School from December 2016 through May 2018, when she was terminated, according to a complaint filed in Bergen County Superior Court.
Kenny's suit names Principal Pedro Valdes and the Teaneck Board of Education, alleging sexual discrimination and hostile work environment, along with several violations of the state's law against discrimination.

When the Butler resident first began working at the school, she found Valdes to be "charismatic and engaging." Valdes, who served as her supervisor, "lavished praise upon her for her work and consistently gave her very high evaluations for her teaching," the complaint said.

But, "within a short time frame" his behavior toward her "turned disturbing and intimidating at best," and included acting "overly flirtatious" and demanding "a lot of attention from her in ways that had nothing to do with her teaching," the lawsuit said.

The suit describes multiple incidents, such as:

• For example, the suit said, Valdes "demanded to know what she thought about him in areas that had nothing to do with education of students and this made her very uncomfortable." Valdes allegedly texted her in February 2017 asking, "I'm interested in your view of me…lol. just a big jock? Nerd? Softy?"
• During the Spring of 2017, he also asked her to go out "drinking after work with him," but Kenny refused and he continued to ask what she thought of him, the lawsuit said.
• The complaint also recalls a November 2017 incident following a Hispanic Heritage Celebration at the school. Valdes reportedly made a comment to Kenny in the parking lot, saying, "You never invite me anywhere," leaned in to hug her and made a motion to hug her and kiss her on the cheek. Kenny said she pulled away and "gave him an awkward high five instead," the lawsuit said.
• In November 2017, Kenny, along with other co-workers and Valdes, attended an after-work drink party before Thanksgiving. As Kenny was leaving and being picked up by a friend, Valdes said: "What is that? A booty call coming to pick you up."
• During a holiday staff party in 2017, Valdes whispered in her ear, "Goodnight Guapa," the Spanish word for sexy and alluring, as she was leaving, the suit says.

Her lawsuit also claims that in early 2018 Kenny learned Valdes was driving students in his car alone. Kenny "brought her concerns" about that to Valdes directly and complained it was unsafe.

After that, Valdes' attitude toward Kenny changed and he became critical of her work and classroom performance, the lawsuit states.

Around the same time, Kenny said she texted another employee to express her disappointment in Valdes as a principal and the other staffer, who is not identified, said he also hit on her, the lawsuit said.

On May 11, 2018, Valdes called Kenny into his office and terminated her, saying her contract would not be renewed because there would no longer be a multiple disability classroom and lowered enrollment at Whittier, the complaint says.

Four days later, "despite Mr. Valdes advising Ms. Kenny that there were no other positions available for the upcoming school year," the district posted openings that including elementary and special education positions that she was certified to teach, according to the complaint.

"Even more troubling was that there were job postings for not only one, but two elementary school special education teachers," including one for Whittier school, the suit claims.

Former Patch editor Kimberly Redmond contributed to this report.