Edison primary candidate accuses some teachers of being racist

EDISON — A township school board member who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for state Senate made polarizing comments on a popular social chat app, according to one report.

Mohin Patel recently said that all public school teachers should be "psychologically evaluated" and that some teachers have been accused by students of being racist, as reported by New Jersey Globe, which cited a WhatsApp group thread.

Patel himself made a public apology in April for anti-Muslim Facebook posts on his personal account and has been named in an ongoing investigation into racist flyers found in the township days before the 2017 local election, as reported by NJ.com

Both past issues were brought up by a local teacher's union rep, in response to Patel's recent comments.

“It’s ironic that a man who publicly apologized for anti-Muslim Facebook posts and is currently under investigation by a grand jury for a racist mailer would call for psychological testing of teachers and allege that educators are racist,” Middlesex County Education Association President Lois Yukna said in a statement to New Jersey Globe on Friday.

Patel is challenging incumbent state Senator Patrick Diegnan, D-Middlesex, in Tuesday's primary.

Patel is among eight people who have been named as having potential connections to the 2017 racist flyers which read in part “The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town," according to NJ.com.

The state Attorney General's Office also has begun investigating the flyers, as reported in January by MyCentralJersey.com.