David Pecoraro, 'Serial Spitter' Teacher, Swats At, Spits on Student (VIDEO)

David Pecoraro, a math teacher at Beach Channel High School in New York City, has been "reassigned to an administrative office" after a video of him swatting at and spitting on a student surfaced online, the New York Daily News reports.

According to the Daily News, this isn't the first time the Queens teacher has slung his saliva at a student.

"He’s always getting in kids’ faces and spitting all over them," Beach Channel junior Otina Rosario told the paper. “It’s disgusting.”

Pecoraro, however, says the video doesn't tell the whole story.

"The kid put gum he had tried to put on my rear end that was already chewed and that was on his desk in my mouth — and I spit it out,” Pecoraro told the New York Post. “Then he spit in my face.”

When the video begins, Pecoraro is already in confrontation with the student, saying, “You can’t make contact with me. That’s illegal!”

As the confrontation ensues, the teacher attempts to yell the math lesson into the student's ear, and the two swat back and forth at each other until Pecoraro spits.

Secret video in other schools across the country have also revealed shocking teacher behavior. Last November, 15-year-old Julio Artuz secretly recorded video of his Bankbridge Regional School teacher verbally abusing him.

After asking that he stop calling him "special" the New Jersey teacher responded with threats and explicit language.

"...I will kick your a-- from here to kingdom-come until I'm 80 years old."

After the video surfaced, the school put the teacher on paid leave and launched an investigation.

Comments

[Ian Wagner]

05:11 PM on 09/06/2012

This teacher broke the Code of Ethics for Educators.
PRINCIPLE I: Ethical Conduct toward Students
2. The professional educator does not intentionally expose the student to disparagement.
He was screaming in the students face to belittle him. Teacher should be fired or should resign.

[Christian Micky Gori]

11:47 AM on 07/03/2012

Go teacher!

[Sherrie L Smith]

03:53 PM on 07/01/2012

Ha...one kid is passed out on his desk and never wakes up as the teacher is screaming at the other boy. Me thinks the kids are used to his yelling. The teacher needs to be fired..gone, zilch, adios, and here is a spit wad up your poootootie.

[cimmereo]

07:04 PM on 05/29/2012

Neither teacher nor student looks good in this video. It seems there is another student passed out on his desk, oblivious to everything. Something very weird about this class.

[Chrismoo3]

10:37 AM on 04/28/2012

There are many things we don't know about what happened. I think the teacher needs to find other employment and the student needs a different learning environment.

[hwyant]

12:05 PM on 04/28/2012

The old days you got a kick in the rear. Why would anyone want to teach these animals. The teachers need a purple heart

[Ian Wagner]

04:38 PM on 09/06/2012

This teacher needs to be fired. He went against the code of ethics for teaching. If the teacher has a problem with a student you send him to the counseling office, you don't act like a child yourself.

[mebekili]

09:31 PM on 06/05/2012

The "student" is a 20-YEAR OLD illegal immigrant who is in the US without his family -- he wasn't there to learn, he was there for a warm room and free food -- apparently attempting to actually having him LEARN SOMETHING offended his sensibilities. He had previously been removed from that class after stabbing the teacher with a pencil. The "Principal" (and I use that title loosely in this instance) decided to put him back in the class -- and then stood outside the door and watched this whole thing, including the student grabbing the teacher and shoving his gum in the teacher's mouth. One thing nobody seems to comment on in that video is that the teacher actually keeps trying to teach through all that -- he keeps trying to redirect the "student" back to the math problem. When the student yells "what are you trying to do" the teacher responds with "I'm trying to teach you math" -- how many of us, under such circumstances, would keep trying to teach someone who was trying to do what this guy was trying to do? Add in that if you're paying attention you can see that the teacher even puts his arm up when spitting out the gum to PROTECT the student from his spitting it out -- and those who are jumping on this idiotic bandwagon trying to get this man fired have got their heads up their asses.

[Ian Wagner]

04:32 PM on 09/06/2012

No matter what the status or orientation of the student, as a teacher, you do NOT spit, swat or abuse a minor in anyway. this goes against the ethics of teaching all together. If the Teacher has a problem with the student you send him to the counseling office or the administrative office. This teacher broke every rule of the educational code by acting like a child....

[Ian Wagner]

04:36 PM on 09/06/2012

Even if the student was 20 years old, which I doubt, there is no excuse for his actions. You don't treat adults like that either.

[Ahmad Tarek Salah]

03:45 PM on 03/16/2012

http://www.dreem2000.net

[dolphins1441]

04:23 PM on 03/05/2012

Fire that PIG!

[poeticjustice4all]

01:04 AM on 02/28/2012

So this professional educator's defense to spitting on a student is -- "he started it"?

Had there been no video of this man's child abuse, he would have denied any of it ever happened. Fortunately the students he's too stupid to teach were smart enough to catch him in the act.

The kids have done their part. It's time for the adults in the school administration and teacher unions to act.

[mebekili]

09:41 AM on 02/28/2012

What part of the only "spitting" on the teacher's part was spitting OUT the gum the 20-year old student had shoved in his mouth is incomprehensible to you? There was no "child abuse" there. At 20, the "student" is no "child" and if someone shoves something in your mouth, are you trying to claim you would NOT spit it back out? Seriously?

[poeticjustice4all]

07:52 PM on 02/29/2012

What part of "teacher" are you not comprehending?

[hwyant]

12:07 PM on 04/28/2012

Seems ar twenty if they no no respect or behavior they shouldn't be in school

[mebekili]

10:53 PM on 02/26/2012

I find myself grossly disappointed in the Huffington Post for the highly inflammatory title of this article. Despite the fact that the video shows it inaccurate, as does the content of the article, the author and/or editor chose a misleading title. Far more accurate would be "Student Shoves Foreign Object in Teacher's Mouth, Teacher Spits it Out".
Don't we have enough lunatics on the far "right" spewing anti-teacher rhetoric -- do we need to add to that from the left as well? Let’s go after those who actually abuse children – something simply not going on in this instance... bandwagon jumping aside.
Teachers have a hard enough time dealing with larger than reasonable classes, students who don't want to be there, and a complete lack of support from parents and administrators. Add the stress level in the toughest schools and districts, along with quite literally the threat of violence at all times, and it's a wonder ANYONE tries to teach at all. I believe this teacher showed an uncommon level of self-control under the circumstances. Spitting out something shoved into your mouth is not spitting ON anyone, it’s a normal response.
It's too bad at the word "teacher" now results in almost pavlovian negative responses and jumping to conclusions -- even when those conclusions are not supported by the video. I expect that kind of inflammatory nonsense and mischaracterization of facts from FOX "News", not from the Huffington Post.

[poeticjustice4all]

01:09 AM on 02/28/2012

This teacher spits on a student and you're grossly disappointed in how HP titled the article?

[mebekili]

09:43 AM on 02/28/2012

The teacher did NOT "spit on a student". The title is a gross mischaracterization of what happened. The "student" shoved his prechewed gum in the teacher's mouth -- the teacher spit it back out -- even putting up his arm to NOT spit ON someone while doing so. The "student" DID spit on the teacher. Trying to hang the teacher out to dry because he had a normal human reaction to something being shoved in his mouth is ludicrous.

[battchief]

01:02 AM on 04/28/2012

What was a a teacher doing in that close proximity to a student in the first place? Was it necessary for him to stand that close to the student to teach math or was he just being antagonistic? Why was he touching the kid? He escalated a deteriorating situation rather than moving on to the other students who were being ignored. One student appeared to be sleeping while he's having this very personal conflict, daring the boy to do something.

Bad students don't get better with bad, incompetent teachers nor should they be subjected to them as punishment. There's no way the teachers conduct is defensible or deserves any sympathy. Could you imagine being in a classroom with a teacher like that? Teachers at war with students shouldn't be in a classroom.

[mebekili]

09:37 PM on 06/05/2012

He was not touching the kid -- the kid put his hands on the teacher. And the teacher was standing that close to point to something in the formula on the page.... are you seriously going to claim that no teacher ever got close enough to you to point something out on the page in front of you? Have we really gotten so freaking nuts in this country that a teacher making the effort to actually point to something on your paper means they're "standing too close"? That's insane. "Daring the boy to do something"? Bullshit, telling the "boy" (he's 20 by the way) "you can't put your hands on me, that's illegal" in response to the "boy" trying to assault the teacher is somehow "daring" him? How about a reality check?

[mebekili]

08:33 PM on 02/26/2012

Nice mischaracterization of what happened. The student was yelling, swearing and shoved something in the teacher's mouth... the teacher spit it back out -- wouldn't you? Through it all the teachers tries repeatedly to go back to the math question and explain it to the student. At one point the student says "what are you trying to do" and the teacher responds with "what do you mean what am I trying to do, I'm trying to teach you math"... this response DESPITE the student flapping at the teacher, cursing, swearing, yelling and behaving in a threatening manner -- but the TEACHER is the one in trouble here? Are you kidding me?

[Ian Wagner]

04:47 PM on 09/06/2012

The Teacher was verbally antagonizing the student. There is no reason to stand that close and scream in his face, even if he was trying to teach. He broke the Code of Ethics for Educators, and needs to be fired.

[mebekili]

02:01 PM on 09/23/2012

I've lived in Brooklyn -- the normal mode of greeting there that I observed amongst the teenage population was screaming and punching the greeted in the arm....  this is a "high volume" area -- literally, with yelling being pretty much the "normal" mode of communication.  Speak quietly in that area and all you're doing is not being heard.

[Ariel Bonzai]

07:33 AM on 02/24/2012

Wow, they can not only film us without permission they can promote our humiliation and professional destruction on you tube. Obviously he teacher didn't deal with this situation too well. He was provoked sand set up but he is the adult so he must absorb the blame. What is troubling is the lack of any accountability for the students. The kid clearly tried todo something with the gum, he swatted at the teacher and was openly insubordinate. His accomplice filmed the incident and somehow it fell before the school leaders, who rewarded hese miscreant misbehavior by punishing their frustrated teacher. Perhaps this is why classroom management is so difficult to master? Let's see these judgemental paper pushes hold it together with students like this one. When they can keep peace for a full hour while delivering a successful lesson teachers will respect their rulings.

[Ian Wagner]

04:52 PM on 09/06/2012

the Teacher broke the Code of Ethics for Educators, which every teacher voluntarily signs. Teachers don't have to be there, the students do, and who's the adult here??? If the Teacher had a problem with the student then you send him to the counselors office, you don't act like a child yourself...

[Verriderrti]

10:50 AM on 02/21/2012

Bad headline. Should be Student puts chewed gum in Teachers mouth, Teacher spits gum at student. Apportion blame equally HP. Stop the bias.

[Ariel Bonzai]

07:38 AM on 02/24/2012

HP does what it's told. I resent the same things you do, but surely you haven't missed what they give us with links and hyperbole that makes us look deeper. Propoganda about bad teachers is just out of control. Mainstream media spin courtesy of philanthropists and EducRAT$

[Jene88]

09:24 AM on 02/21/2012

Teaching today is a very hard, no, dangerous job. You can easily be physically hurt by the children, especially a small female teacher. These children fear nothing. The threat of the principal's office is a hollow threat. A threat to have the parent see the principal is meaningless, the parent will protect the child, if the parent will even come. There are too many students for one teacher, too many disruptive students for those who want to learn, and no real system to isolate the children that disrupt. A poster suggested a boot-camp type of school. I can't think of a teacher in this country that wouldn't applaud that. On the other hand, so many students are simply incapable and are just pushed ahead. Get these struggling minds into special slow classes and that might take care of some of the problem. Get the disturbers into another situation, i.e., boot-camp class, and then one might be able to teach, which was the original function of the teacher, rather than having this person act as baby-sitter.

[Ariel Bonzai]

07:45 AM on 02/24/2012

Dear god, you don't slow things down you bring they ork up to challenge and empower them. While they do require rigor, routines and reasonable guidance, students like this one usually don't respond well to Authoratative gestures. I am sure the teacher likens his approach to that of a drill seargent. In boot camp a Sargent can gain contriol with threats about physical consequences, the group think and fear. But teachers are not promoting fear or preoccupied with obedience. We want these kids to learn and they won't unless they can trust us.

[Jene88]

09:50 AM on 02/24/2012

Ariel: Unfortunately, there are a lot of students, in one class, with different needs and attitudes. Getting the trust might be good in a class with 20 or so students. A teacher can challenge the capable, but sometimes you merely frustrate by challenging without having the child have a good core knowledge. So, ideally, yes, getting students' trust would be wonderful. However, today's teacher is sometimes more like a peace-keeper in a very volatile situation.

[A truthseeker]

02:24 PM on 02/25/2012

Read my post on this individual - he is not a kid. He's a 20 year old adult. He's an abuisive punk. Even other teachers have labled a piece of S**t before this incident occured.

[gonro2]

12:33 AM on 02/21/2012

Unfortunately for teachers, students outnumber the teacher and they always have their electronic devices on in violation of school policy so it's only natural that you will witness "bad" teacher behavior more often. Of course if a teacher video tapes unruly behavior on the part of a student he will still be suspended because they are not allowed to video tape students without parental consent. Kinda damned if you do ----and so on

[Barbara Craker]

12:20 AM on 02/21/2012

You all must have seen a different video than I saw...I saw a young adult who is forced to stay in a corrupt system that is completely boring and disrespectful to him. I saw a grown man antagonizing the student, and threatening him with forcibly locking him up in a jail by armed men. I saw a young adult who if he'd lived two hundred years ago on another continent would be a respected young man or warrior who was ready to take a wife, grow his own food, and live a healthy life. Not a young man forced to be a boychild, who possibly has a meth-head mom and a missing father, and hasn't learned to deal with this complex institution that tells him he's failing, but that it doesn't matter anyway, because there's no jobs for young black men out there anyway, and that he'll just have to sell drugs anyway. And you want to punish him?

[fashionwhipped]

01:41 AM on 02/21/2012

boy was hispanic lady.

[Verriderrti]

10:47 AM on 02/21/2012

Lol...

[Barbara Craker]

11:32 AM on 02/21/2012

sorry, My copy of the video was compromised and it was all in shadow, but hispanic or black doesn't change the situation that was happening. If there was reference to his name I missed it. My point is the same, the young man is in a situation not of his creation. Yes, his behavior might have aggravated the situation, but how can he behave differently in the circumstances? Others would have gone ahead and punched the teacher. He had some restraint at least. He was trying.

[bikeguymi]

02:54 PM on 02/21/2012

You are right we all see a different video than you.

We do not see a corrupt system, but rather a system that has failed to hold children accountable for their actions for so long that they think they can do break any law or disrespect anyone without punishment.

You see a young adult who if he'd lived two hundred years ago on another continent would be a respected warrior who was ready to take a wife, grow his own food, and live a healthy life ...WE SEE a young man in the present day who is too immature and irresponsible (because he has been protected by people like you) to get good grades, hold a part time job, learn a skill, so he is employable.

You want to blame his future unemployability on his race - I see that as a very racist comment. Check your racism at the door. I don't care what race he is ....if he ATTEMPTS to stick chewed gum in someone mouth he will be fired. If a potential employer suspects this is his personality, he won't get hired -regardless period.

I see a different video.
I see a student that has been placed at a table by himself. I see a student who was never taught responsibility for their actions, was never taught the value of education, and was never taught respect for others. I see a teacher who has become frustrated with his own inability to teach students like this.