Campbell Brown, a former journalist and CNN host, started the Parents Transparency Project to help expose sexual misconduct in NYC schools and those who tolerate it.
In an interview with Crain’s New York Business, Campbell describes what led her to found the organization:
It was about a year and a half ago, and the tabloids were going crazy with stories about teacher sex abuse and kids. The Daily News had done a huge feature about teachers who engaged in sexual misconduct with kids and then gotten a suspension or fine. And it had example after example after example. I thought, this can't be true. It was such an egregious thing. So I did all the research and got my own example of teachers and tracked down some of the parents of some of these kids that had been victimized. Talked to them—that'll kill you. Your heart breaks for what they're going through. And the degree that they feel the system has failed them. And I talked to a lot of teachers who were embarrassed that the union was taking the position it was.
Brown goes on to advocate for giving the City schools chancellor the power to fire teachers who engaged in sexualize misconduct. She says that in the past seven years, the NYC Department of Education has unsuccessfully attempted to fire teachers 128 times over sexual misconduct.
