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Attorneys representing 14 mothers of students at Miramonte Elementary School announced Tuesday the filing of a lawsuit that alleges the school district did not protect their children from a teacher accused of lewd acts involving children.
The lawsuit claims the Los Angeles Unified School District was negligent in the case of former teacher Mark Berndt, charged with lewd acts involving at least 20 children at the school.
Berndt was arrested in January.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday morning, claims the children were sexually abused by Berndt between 2002 and 2011, and that the LAUSD "was negligent and did not protect their children from sexual abuses; and that the Los Angeles Unified School District completely ignored previous complaints," according to a statement from attorney Luis A. Carrillo.
See the original report at NBCLosAngeles.com
"Fourteen moms have suffered anguish and emotional distress as a result of what their children went through," Carrillo said Tuesday.
None of the plaintiffs were aware of Berndt's alleged activities, Carrillo added.
David Holmquist, LAUSD General Counsel, issued a statement Tuesday morning regarding the lawsuit: "The safety and well-being of our students, staff and the entire Los Angeles Unified School District community is our paramount priority. The District is committed to working with the Miramonte community and everyone impacted by these incidents to improve trust and promote healing. While the District has yet to receive the latest complaint, we are continuing our efforts to ensure that we are doing everything possible to provide a safe learning and working environment for our students and staff.
"As we gear up for the new school year, we look forward to continuing the healing process as we welcome back the teachers and staff, who were displaced during last year’s investigation into these incidents, to Miramonte and other campuses. We recognize how difficult the past year was on the entire Miramonte community, and are moving forward together."
In May, parents of about a dozen ex-Miramonte Elementary students filed another lawsuit against the school district. That complaint alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress.
NBCLosAngeles.com timeline: Miramonte school sex abuse scandal
A similar complaint was filed earlier that month on behalf of 20 former students at the school.
The charges against Berndt involve 23 children who were 7 to 10 years old. His arrest stemmed from an investigation that began after a film processor -- mandated by state law to report child abuse -- provided photos to sheriff's deputies.
Some of the photos depicted children with blindfolds over their eyes, cockroaches on their faces and a blue plastic spoon held to their mouths. Some pictures showed Berndt with his arm around the children or his hand over their mouths, according to investigators.
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Detectives found a blue plastic spoon and an empty container in a trash bin in Berndt's classroom, according to the sheriff's department. Both items tested positive for semen, and DNA testing matched it to Berndt, according to authorities.
Deputies recovered more than 100 similar photos at Berndt's home, according to investigators. The film processor later discovered more photos.
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Berndt was suspended without pay in February 2011 and allowed to resign in June 2011 after a $40,000 settlement with the LAUSD.
Berndt pleaded not guilty.
His arrest was followed by another Miramonte Elementary teacher and the dismissal of the entire school staff. Martin Bernard Springer is charged with three felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14.
The cases led to legislation designed to expedite the disciplinary review process for teachers accused of sexual abuse. That bill failed to clear the Assembly Education Committee last month.
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When are people going to start connecting the dots?
These predators have taken over the world like a plague, and there is no shortage of people protecting them.
Yes. Some get caught; those that get too sloppy.
But, if you look into former Senator John De Camps book "The Franklin Cover-up" (there is also another book on the subject by another author that I believe was published last year), or just go online and start researching just those who have been CONVICTED of child molestation you can see they are in all walks of life even politicians and law enforcement.
Look at the child porn rings that have been busted, and look at the massive human trafficking going on all around the world. Look at how countless children are sold or forced into prostitution.
We tend to focus on the individual cases that pop up in the news, but people need to start waking up and realizing these predators are the ones running things.
As "they" told me themselves "We are the silent majority."
If anyone is interested, you can go to my Facebook page (my name is Valerie Guastavino, and my Facebook profile picture is of an upside down American flag) to perhaps get an idea of that which I speak, and even then, it's not even the "tip of the iceberg".
There is a horrifying truth people need to know about.
You sound like a real nut. Maybe the aliens that the government is covering up are in cahoots with the child molestor majority you envision. Bad people assume everyone is like them, but they aren't.
Where are the 14 fathers? Are the women not married?
Try firing a public/union worker-the steps you have to go through are next to impossible. This is part of the problem in the US-BIG LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE GOVERNMENT. Allow parents school choice and throw out the unions.
You are just a moron who doesn't know his ass from his elbow. Try looking farther, and you'll see teachers fired for posting things on Facebook! Yeah, real tough to get fired. But what do you care about the truth? It just gets in the way of your point.
It's hard to believe that none of these chrildren told there parents, maybe they did and nothing was done. It only took a year to find out, someone had to know something don't you think. we live in a sue happy nation, hang him and hanghim high
Kill Him !!! Kill him deader than a doornail!!!
Suprise Girls !!! You might get 3 cents on the $ after your attorney cops a bargan with the insurance co... They are NOT thinking about you or your kids... All this for what! Not compensation for what this creep did to those kids,
"Execution !!!... no drugs and going to sleep either... not equal to the crime,,,,, total public humiliation, and a lingering death!!!
20 mothers had to go to one father to file the suit. Why dont dads get any respect??? Moms are staying at home with too much time on thier hands get a job ya bums....
cut his wiener off!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and shove it down his own throat !
Poor moms. Suing because they suffered so much distress when they found out their children were molested. Never mind the innocent children It's all about the moms. That's what happens when lawyers smell money! That's as sickening as what was done to the children. Name of the game invented by lawyers is "go after the money." How much is the lawyer getting for bringing this suit? This is the same as ambulance chasers and borders on scum.
No it isn't the same at all! Lawsuits will make schools KNOW that if they do not police their teachers and their classrooms - there will no longer be a school. I can always tell people who post who do not have children. If we refuse to protect our children in this country, we might as well fold up our cards right now!
I am tired of this happening to our kids!but there are other dangers that i never hear about, like, What about the people who sell drugs to our kids? Should they get off with a slap on the hand? Are they a danger to your kids?
Our society is blowing up right in front of us! All these people who want drugs legalized, we keep hearing about these awful abuses of kids. I don't understand why so many people think we don't have to protect kids! This is so scary!
You are both idiots to equate drugs with child molestation, and especially to equate legalizing a choice a person makes about their own body with it. Disgusting. You make things worse by this type of misdirection. I guess you want to return to alcohol prohibition, since it worked so well! No? You feel that the drugs you like should be legal but the ones you don't shouldn't? Yeah, hypocrites.
School districts live in fear of lawsuits and try to sweep incidents under the rug or transfer teachers to avoid them, so they deserve getting sued.
Having said that, the move to make consolidated schools that are sprawling in size and number of students contributes to this. In a smaller setting this perverted behavior should have been more obvious. I teach in small school of less than 500 and we know pretty much everything that goes on there.
Look at the proliferation of pornography and of sex in the media. Oh, wait, there is no connection to that and molestation, it's all just "innocent" fantasy. Yeah, right. Pornography is a disease that poisons the mind and spirit, and using sex to sell everything has it's consequences. Every show on television is filled with sexual references and depictions of it. We live in an ever increasingly perverse society, and our kids are the ones paying the biggest price.
You got that right, Jeff!
Not only do these moms need to sue the school district , but they also need to sue the teachers union The Union makes it next to impossible to fire teachers, even the lowlife scumbags. I hope the also sue the teachers union.
I totally agree John! Schools MUST be held accountable for the teachers they hire. They also need to be accountable for what happens in the classroom. As parents, how can we "send out kids to school" if we have to be afraid they might be abused by teachers? This is awful and horrendous! Should never, never happen! Who checks on these teachers?
why do Americans think suing is the answer to everything?
Because the pocketbook is the only part of a corporate anatomy that can be hurt, and a school board is in essence a corporation.
jeff - If they don't sue, how else can they remedy a horrible situation like this? Go beat up the school board? The pocketbook is what people understand. All schools need to realize "they will be out of business" if they do not police their teachers and know what is going on in every classroom! There is no excuse for this!
The school district not acting after the first complaint is wrong and sad. Good to see the parents taking action, but why did no other parents back when do the same?
Lastly, even though Berndt committed terrible wrongs, he is still human and should have at least one chance at rehabilitation. Using violence as a form of justice is just as bad as what he did, plain and simple.
I was abused as a child, at 11 yrs old and still know it's wrong to hurt another as a form or justice. It's wrath, revenge, and spite. If we build a world where that is called justice, then we are no better than the criminals.
If he can't be rehabilitated then life imprisonment. He should be punished but not in a barbaric way. Two wrong don't make a right.
You do not rehabilitate a pedophile. You do not. It is impossible. They do not change. Ever. You can castrate them, and it does not take away the desire. It only takes away the ability to act on it.
screminmimi is another moron who thinks he knows everything about everyone just because they like to spout opinions. How the hell do you know this unless YOU are a child molestor and realize that you can't be changed!?
@!$%# jail @!$%# prison,kill these sick @!$%#s,put them away so us tax payers dont pay for them,just get rid of these sick @!$%#s,they need to die anyway.
As long as board members, both at the local and state level, are allowed to retain their positions when these worms crawl out of the woodwork, they will never be rooted out.
If every sorry low down maggot that helped keep the incidents quiet and covered up had to, by policy, lose their position and refund their salary from the point they were first made aware of the situation and did nothing, these types of horror stories would become less frequent.
As long as the taxpayer is the one on the hook for the payout, and those responsible for the cover up get to retain their positions and income, nothing will change.
Well, with all this sexual abuse coming out in the open, schools had better know what is going on in their classrooms! No parent should have to send their children to school and be afraid they will be sexually abused by teachers! Every classroom should have spot checks and teachers knowing what is happening. That goes for all kids - all schools! There is no excuse for this in any of our schools!
anther SCHOOL DISTRICT under fire....how many does this country need to see before it is relized there is a problem some where ?
you folks like to be in the know, I challenge you to do some research and just see for your self, the WHOLE education system is corrupt in the name of helping the community and forging the future....
maybe the solution is dump a trillion dollers here ??
And your solution moron? Let me guess, privatization. You know, because private companies, that value secrecy and profit, are going to do what? Hire robots? Pay MORE money to teachers and hire private investigators to follow them around and make sure they never do anything wrong? Yeah, right. Give private corporations control of the schools and you'll hear about this stuff DAILY, and worse, but it will be too late for America, when corporate sponsers tailor the curriculum for their customers.
nambla will get the a.c.l.u. involved and the court will award him all the children he can handle. Don't laugh and don't send or reply with your worthless retorts. nambla is using the same strategy to legalize pedophelia, and californicators are so enlightened, they will be the ones that lets this monstrous deed become legal, along with the sexual perversions that belonged in the closet and bedroom, but the marxists felt they needed to jam down our throats and make their sexual 3 ring circus public.
This country is paying for the sins of it's fathers. America has lost it's morality, we have allowed the freaks to take over, make laws to protect their perversions. They have made it against the law to say the word GOD. They have twisted righteousness, and now demonize you when you pray to the only true GOD, Jesus Christ.
Go screw yourself, jerkoff. The ACLU would be there for you if you needed them, and they have NOTHING to do with child molestors or nambla, jerk. Take your stupid partisan lies and choke on them and die, soon, please, and make our country just a little better. Pray to your magical man in the sky, weirdo, I'm sure Zeus will help you.
This gets me, this creep gets to resign, and gets $40.000 dollars to live swell on in prison? W.T.F.??? And another thing, this school district had plenty of warnings, yet failed these kids? W.T.F.??? I say, good for the parents! Sue the bricks off that school! You parents know that the tax payers can afford it, right?
So, you figure he'll be going to the store and driving around in a Ferrari in prison, huh? What a silly image you have of prison, where criminals are allowed to take their money in with them and live high on the hog! What prison in what reality are you referring to?
i wonder why so many white men do these things i read about this almost everyday
Just close the school. Why bother open it or any other schools. Send the kids some where else. The odds it is going to happen some where else it will. In fact why bother sending them school just home study them or send them to a private school well that might not work either. Save the tax payers money. People cry about not having enough money for the educations. Some people don't think so. Like the fourteen parents you do notice that fathers where not mention. I see they just don't care. BULL ! It bothers you so much keep your little rug rats at home.
Heck, just get rid of child labor laws and send them all to work at seven, huh? I'm sure they'll be well treated by heartless profiteers in the private sector.
bring this piece of garbage to me for 10 minutes...I will make everyone happy !
he is blessed this didnt happen to one of mine.....
why does he still get a pension ? that money should go to a childrens charity of some sort..wtf !
The sexual abuse gets worse for kids each year from elemetary school all the way through high school. This is the fault of our lousy public school system that just warehouses kids and the good teachers look the other way when this kind of abuse happens. A lot of the teachers are in the professsion for the paycheck only and won't turn another teacher in if the know sexual abuse is happening because they don't want to be involved in a lawsuit and go through the headaches of being a snitch and dealing with lawyers.
The parents are too busy working just to pay the bills and they don't pick-up the subtle signs of child abuse. The message is just do your homework, get good grades and don't bother me because I'm too tired. Today many parents have to work 2-3 jobs just to make it and just don't have the time to question the kid about what is going on in school with their teachers. The problem is that the mothers work too much and are not spending enough time rasing their children. The kids want to be good kids and don't want to rock the boat and tell on their teacher. I think the only solution is to separate the boys from the girls in school and have teachers of the same sex teach the kids. Mental evaluations should be a prerequisite for a teaching job to weed out sexual deviants from the classroom.
Just a bunch of hysterical, stupid, imaginings. You have a rich fantasy life. Sadly, you get to vote.
More stupid lawsuits. The mothers wanting to make money off of this is sickening too.
I don't see where lawsuit against the school is an effective reconciliation of damages other than money for therapy.