The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Video shows Greens Farms teacher's alleged sexual comments
WESTPORT — A teacher at Greens Farms Academy has been placed on leave after a Project Veritas video was posted online Thursday that appears to show the middle school educator allegedly making sexually explicit statements about his students.
Project Veritas released the nearly 10-minute video Thursday afternoon. A man identified as Iman Rasti can be seen talking in a restaurant to someone off-screen who is described as a Project Veritas journalist.
According to his LinkedIn page, Rasti is the middle school dean, writing center director and an English teacher at the Westport school.
Rasti, who could not be reached for comment, was hired by the school in 2019.
In the video, James O’Keefe, founder of Project Veritas, said a journalist met with Rasti and he “chose to describe his adolescent female students in a graphic, sexual manner for nearly two hours.”
The Westport private school is investigating the incident, according to Michelle Levi, a spokesperson for Greens Farms Academy.
“Earlier today, we were made aware of an alleged conversation between a member of Project Veritas and one of our faculty members. The employee has been placed on leave and the school is promptly investigating this matter and taking appropriate action,” Levi said Thursday in a statement.
She said the school sent families a message about the situation on Thursday night and provided them with resources for help.
Project Veritas describes itself as a “nonprofit journalism enterprise” established to continue O’Keefe’s “undercover reporting work.” It has been criticized for allegedly using edited secret recordings to unfairly discredit Democratic and progressive groups and mainstream media.
It does not appear the man in the videos knew he was being recorded. It is unclear when the videos were recorded as the clips are undated.
In a span of a few hours Thursday, the video had more than 40,000 views on YouTube.
A man identified as Rasti is seen talking about how his students sit in front of him in the classroom and how “they spread their legs wide open,” revealing their underwear and private area.
“It’s just brutal,” Rasti said in the video.
The off-screen journalist asked the man if he’d ever been “tempted” by his students. The man nodded and said, “Everyday.”
The man said in the video that he had never done anything physical with his students.
As of Thursday evening, the Westport Police Department does not have an active investigation into this matter, according to Lt. David Wolf.
The video comes months after Project Veritas released another video showing a Greenwich Public Schools administrator allegedly discussing discriminatory hiring practices. The footage prompted the state attorney general, education officials and others to investigate the school district.