Public schools say they’re cracking down on bullying – but they’re largely powerless when the bullying is done by teachers.

Case in point: A 15-year-old special needs students at Bankbridge Regional School in New Jersey told his family a teacher was verbally abusing him.

But no one believed him until the student secretly recorded the teacher with his cell phone.

The student asked the teacher to stop calling him “special.” The teacher’s response?

“What? Oh my God, f—ing. What does the sign on the front of the school say? Special education … I will kick your ass from here to kingdom-come until I’m 80 years old!”

So far the school board hasn’t fired or suspended the tenured teacher. Whatever the board does, the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s teachers’ union, will fight it tooth and nail.

As union-reform advocacy group Education Action Group points out, firing a tenured teacher in New Jersey takes between 2-5 five years and costs a school district between $300,000-$500,000 in legal bills.

No wonder 77% of New Jerseyans support tenure reform in public schools.

Should this teacher be fired? Let us know your opinion below.

Tags: bullying, chris christie, njea, teachers unions, tenure