(LifeSiteNews) — A disturbing new exposé on how public schools shuffle around predatory teachers to different institutions instead of firing them eerily mirrors the way in which Catholic dioceses shipped abusive clergy to different parishes for decades rather than remove them from active ministry.
On her Straight to the Point podcast this week, investigative reporter Catherine Herridge – formerly of Fox News – sat down with attorney John Manly. He represented female victims of former Team USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who is now in prison for having abused female minors.
Manly and Herridge spoke for just under 20 minutes. While their conversation was brief, the substance of their remarks was eye-opening in that Manly alleged that teachers’ unions protect abusive teachers in what he called a “pass the trash” scheme.
“It’s next to impossible to fire a bad teacher, and typically you don’t fire them. They actually pay them to go away, even if they’ve sexually abused children,” he explained.
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Top Attorney Claims “Epidemic of Sexual Abuse” in California Public Schools by Teachers, Coaches, or School Employees And Reveals That New Data Estimates 17% of Students Nationwide Will Face Sexual Misconduct During Their Public Education
This week on… pic.twitter.com/yUOeK6x0KK
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) February 19, 2026
Herridge’s podcast is rather timely given that just this month a 37-year-old English teacher in New Jersey was sentenced to 10 years in prison after she was found guilty of grooming two male students – one of whom impregnated her.
Julie Rizzitello taught at Wall Township High School in Wall Township, New Jersey. Local media reported that she engaged in a “year-long pattern of manipulation.” Rizzitello pleaded guilty in August to two counts of second-degree sexual assault. One count involved a student between the age of 16 and 17 while the other was with a student between the age of 18 and 22.
While Rizzitello, who aborted the child she conceived with the student, was not “shuffled” to another school, her behavior has become far too common in recent years. In 2024, the Daily Mail reported that more than 25 female teachers were arrested in 16 states over the previous 12 months. Minnesota law firm Anderson Advocates has said that statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice indicate that less than 1 percent of sexual abuse of minors is carried out by women, but that the actual number could be far higher.
Manly told Herridge that unions are aware that there is “widespread non-reporting” on sexual abuse but that they won’t take the necessary actions. He also said there is “no legal requirement” for schools to notify parents if abuse occurs. Herridge noted on her X account that roughly 17 percent of students in K-12 public schools will experience some sort of sexual abuse by school personnel.
Last month, President Donald Trump issued a declaration commemorating National School Choice Week. In his statement, Trump touted the “the God-given right” of parents to “forge their family’s – and our Nation’s – future.” He also said that “our glorious American future depends on the next generation’s ability to learn, lead, and innovate.”
Trump would later tell the National Prayer Breakfast that his Department of Education is “officially issuing its new guidance to protect the right to prayer in our public schools.”
“To be a great nation, you have to have religion. You have to have faith. You have to have God,” he explained.
Hopefully, Trump’s initiative will have its intended effect and that with prayer but also better laws removing abusive teachers once and for all from the schools they operate in. At the end of the day, schools should be a safe space for children to learn and grow so that they can better understand that they are made in the image and likeness of God. Trump alluded to that when he said at the National Prayer Breakfast that prayer is “America’s superpower” in that it “strengthens, heals, empowers and saves.”