O'Reilly Spins the Facts of NYC Public School Rules

On the May 3 edition of The Radio Factor, Bill O'Reilly claimed that in New York City public schools, "teachers are instructed not to say a word" if a 6 year old says "F you, you mother-F'er."

According to the NYC Department of Education Discipline Code, "using profane, obscene, vulgar, lewd or abusive language or
gestures" is a "level 2 infraction" and carries anything from a parent conference to suspension. A level 2 infraction is pretty heavy, as it includes infractions such as smoking or gambling.

Transcripts from Media Matters:

O'REILLY: Hey, I wouldn't even play the Village People to second-graders. Give me a break, OK. They're not getting "YMCA" until they're in the fifth grade. All right. We know what those Village People are up to.

Um, I'm not gonna send any kid that I could, you know, help to a public elementary school for one simple reason: the conduct outside of the classroom. The, what is tolerated in the public-school hallways and campuses is, to me, intolerable. For example, there are in New York City public schools, 6-year-olds going, "F you, you mother-F'er," in school, in the hallway. And the teachers are instructed not to say a word. You aware of that?

LIS WIEHL [Fox News legal analyst]: I wasn't aware of that.

O'REILLY: OK. That happens every day, all day in the public schools here in New York City. And I know it happens in Chicago and Los Angeles and Boston and Washington, D.C. In any major urban center. It doesn't happen in the small towns; it happens in the cities. I live in New York. I'm not gonna have my 6-, 7-, 8-, 9-year-old go to a school where they're saying that stuff in the hallway and the teacher doesn't do anything about it. You know, private school, that does not happen.

Now that's the most stark illustration I can give you, that even the smear, left-wing websites can understand that example that I just gave you. Something as simple as that. Language. Acceptable in the public school. And you know why it's acceptable? Because they don't want to deal with it. They don't want to haul the kid in, call the parent, have the parent come down, sue them, scream and yell, all of that. They'd rather have the kid say, "Blank you, you mother-blanker." And that is what's going on in public elementary schools in the major urban areas of the United States of America.