Former New Jersey Teacher: I Was Forced To Campaign For Administrator Who Was Also The North Bergen Mayor

Time For Some Traffic Problems: Education Edition:

NORTH BERGEN -- A former North Bergen high school teacher claims in a political video that she was forced to campaign for longtime Mayor Nick Sacco, and was asked to give two politically connected officials' students top grades.

The video was posted on YouTube April 21 by Sacco's May 12 election opponent Larry Wainstein. On April 22, Mayor Nick Sacco and his supporters denied all the claims in a response video. 

"I was being forced to go knock on doors and say 'Mayor Sacco is great, he's wonderful, and how everything was great,' and I was just very upset," said Sarah Guillen, a North Bergen resident, in Wainstein's video.

Guillen switched jobs in 2013 after two years teaching in North Bergen, and now works as a French teacher in New York City, she said.

Sacco, who is also a top school administrator, posted his response on Facebook, calling Guillen's testimony "outright lies and slander."

There must be a new domain on the Danielson rubric - "Doing The Politically Expedient Thing To Ensure Incumbent Mayor/School Administrator Gets Re-elected."