NYC teacher fined $300 for showing students beheading video

Officials initially sought to fire teacher, who said video played only after she clicked on wrong link

By AP 20 March 2016, 2:31 am

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An image grab taken from a video released by the Islamic State (IS) shows a masked militant holding a knife and gesturing as he speaks to the camera in a desert landscape before a beheading. (AFP Photo/SITE Intelligence Group/HO)

NEW YORK — A New York City middle school teacher was fined $300 for showing students a video of an Islamic State beheading, according to a published report.

The New York Post reports that Alexiss Nazario, a veteran teacher earning $105,000 a year, showed the video to eighth-graders at the South Bronx Academy for Applied Media during the 2014-2015 school year.

Students told investigators probing the incident that the video blacked out the actual beheading but showed the victim’s severed head afterward.

The students said they were scared by the video. One called it “gross.”

City Department of Education officials sought to fire Nazario, but an arbitrator ruled in favor of the lighter penalty of a $300 fine.

“This teacher demonstrated a complete lack of judgment, and this incident betrayed our schools’ promise to provide a safe and supportive environment,” department spokeswoman Devora Kaye said.

Nazario now works as a roving substitute teacher at different schools, officials said.

There was no answer Saturday at a phone number listed for Nazario.

She told the Post she accidentally played the wrong video.

“I was scrolling looking for a specific video. I clicked on the wrong thing. It was a mistake. It was an error,” Nazario said. “I freaked out. I had no idea that was playing.”