Los Angeles Teacher Charged with Molesting 23 Kids

Last Tuesday a Los Angeles elementary school teacher was charged with committing lewd acts against nearly two dozen students after a film processor gave authorities bondage-style photographs showing children in blindfolds with their mouths taped, and some with giant cockroaches on their faces, authorities said.

According to an LA Times story, Mark Berndt, 61, was arrested last Monday at his Torrance home and remained jailed on $2.3 million bail, according to an LA County Sheriff's Department statement. The charges involve 23 boys and girls ages 6 to 10 between 2008 and 2010. The investigation started when the film processor gave authorities some 40 photographs depicting blindfolded children in a classroom with their mouths taped shut.

Berndt worked for more than 30 years at Miramonte Elementary School in an unincorporated area of South Los Angeles before being fired as a result of the investigation. Miramonte serves a poor, mainly Hispanic neighborhood. More than half of its approximately 1,400 students are still learning English, according to the school's website.

Some of the photos showed Berndt with his arm around children or with his hand over their mouth. Other pictures depicted girls with what appears to be a spoon up to their mouths as if they were going to ingest a clear-white liquid.

Sheriff's Lt. Carlos Marquez of the Special Victims Bureau said it was determined the children were given semen on a spoon or on a cookie. A blue plastic spoon and container found in trash in Berndt's classroom tested positive for semen, the sheriff's statement said. None of the photos showed the students actually eating the semen, but Marquez said the children reported they didn't like the taste.

What in the world possesses a teacher who holds a position of trust to treat students so ashamedly? How can it go on for so long and not be detected and acted on the principal? This sounds like another Joe Paterno/Penn State-type situation.

There is no excuse for such behavior. Moreover, Berndt targeted the most vulnerable in the school -- Hispanic students trying to learn what they could to get ahead that were grossly mistreated.

Imagine being told by the school district that your son or daughter had been a target of this sick man and that authorities are recommending the children be tested for sexually transmitted diseases.

In another report by AP last Friday, it was announced that a second teacher has been removed from a classroom at Miramonte Elementary School. The teacher was removed after someone made accusations against him, LA Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy confirmed to KTTV-TV.

He declined to provide details but said the district had notified law enforcement investigators. "We have some information and we are currently investigating that" but the teacher has not been arrested or charged with any crime, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Carlos Marquez said.

The development involving the second teacher was made public a day after authorities acknowledged that 18 years ago a 10-year-old girl claimed Berndt tried to fondle her. Prosecutors declined to file to charges against Berndt in the 1993 report, saying they didn't have enough evidence.

Only parents of children identified as victims were told by authorities about the most recent investigation. School officials and investigators said proper procedures were followed to investigate and build a case against the teacher.

To say there is a serious problem at Miramonte Elementary School is an understatement. During the past few years reports of teacher abuse, sexual relationships between teachers and under-aged students, and teaches falsifying testing results have brought into question the whole of public education is this country. We are failing our young people. We are creating an underclass of those who will struggle in society because teachers did not act responsibly and provide an enlightened education experience that should prepare students to contribute to the betterment of society. These are critical issues for our society and economy going forward yet no one on the campaign trail is talking about it in these terms.

It’s not just the teachers fault but parents as well who do not take enough interest in the education of their children. Parents are too busy doing their own thing to spend the time to help educate their kids on subject matter, and to teach them right from wrong. It seems all too often parents follow the approach of communicating with their kids that could be labeled: “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Blog posted by Steven Mintz, aka Ethics Sage, on February 7, 2012