The school activities director who was heard boasting in a Project Veritas (PV) exposé video how easily she was able to indoctrinate her students into her left-wing political agenda has been placed on paid leave, according to a report at National Review.
Jennifer “Ginn” Norris was placed on paid administrator leave while Trinity School, a private school in New York City’s Upper West Side, has “hired outside counsel to conduct an investigation” into the PV undercover video, the report said.
The head of school and president of Trinity’s board of trustees reportedly said in an email statement to community members that Trinity and Norris have “become the focus of media attention as the result of video recordings of Ms. Norris that were made without her knowledge or permission by someone who misrepresented himself.”
The statement continued:
While the circumstances surrounding the recordings are deeply disturbing, and we are profoundly troubled by the reprehensible way Ms. Norris and our school community were targeted, we are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness. Importantly, the sentiments expressed in the video do not reflect the mission or values of Trinity School.
“I just keep trying to disrupt wherever I can,” Norris is heard saying in the video, the second in PV’s “Education Series” that is titled “The Secret Curriculum.”
“And now that I’m in this position, I have so many opportunities to do that,” she boasted, describing how she gets students to participate in political demonstrations during class time and, when they are given a “detention” for doing so, she and other staff use the “detention” time to indoctrinate them further about “social justice.”
In the video, Norris is heard expressing her contempt especially for the “white boys” who have pushed back against her ideological activism at the $60,000-per-year school.
“Unfortunately, it’s the white boys who feel very entitled to express their opposite opinions and just push back,” she is heard saying to the PV undercover journalist. “There’s a huge contingent of them that are just horrible. And you’re like, ‘Are you always going to be horrible, or are you just going to be horrible right now?’ Don’t know.”
In response to the PV journalist’s question of whether there is “any saving these Republican white guys?” Norris answered, “I think they need to go. No, I think they’re really awful people. That’s kind of what I’m afraid of with my white students that are rich. I’m like – do you ever have to deal with this? They’re so protected by capitalism. It makes me sad.”
Norris is also heard touting her clout as the student activities director in choosing speakers for school events who promote her left-wing political agenda as well.
“Two days a week I bring in speakers from outside,” she told the PV journalist. “So, that’s been a huge opportunity for me to just bring things … any social justice issues or just people with experiences … . So, it’s been really fun.”
She also confirmed she would never allow Republican perspectives on campus at Trinity School.
“I won’t,” she said, asserting senior administration considers her to be “in charge” as well.
“So, if they want to do that, then somebody else has to do it because not on my watch, I guess,” she asserted.
On Trinity School’s website, Head of School John Allman writes in his “welcome” message:
Like other great schools, Trinity promises to offer a balanced educational program for body and mind, heart and soul; incorporating the arts, athletics, and community service: “We are called to challenge the minds, fire the imaginations, and train the bodies of the young people who have been entrusted to us; to enlarge their spiritual lives; and to increase their capacity for mutual and self-respect.”
“And, like many other schools in New York City and beyond, we care passionately about the ethical as well as intellectual development of our students, seeking to develop enlightened and engaged citizens: ‘We must lead them to distinguish between right and wrong and then do what is right so they can be persuasive and courageous citizens,’” Allman adds.
The email message announcing Norris’ placement on paid leave reportedly stated that, as part of the investigation process, Trinity plans to “review school protocols and practices that are in place to ensure that we are living up to our determination to build a more inclusive community.”
“This is a profoundly difficult moment, but we remain determined to model our conduct on our inspiring mission and the ideals of respect, belonging, and open inquiry that are embedded in it,” Trinity’s head of school said.
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Jennifer Norris” by Project Veritas.
