Suit Says Teacher Threatened to Out Student

A lawsuit filed in New York this week alleges that a former charter school teacher in the Bronx bullied students with tactics including an attempt to out a 9-year-old boy.

The New York Post reports on the suit charging, among other things, that the teacher forced the boy to tell his crush, a girl, that he was gay.

"According to court papers filed this week, the teacher, Jared Alessandroni, 29, threatened to 'out' a straight 9-year-old boy, James Pastrana, to his class at the South Bronx Charter School for International Cultures and the Arts, unless James told his crush he was gay."

The student said that the experience humiliated him. Alessandroni, who left the school last year, told the Post that the Department of Education investigated the allegations and no wrongdoing was found.