The Los Angeles Unified School District will report all teachers accused of misconduct to the California teacher credentialing commission, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

On Wednesday, School District Superintendent John Deasy ordered his staff to go through personnel files from the last four years and submit all discipline cases to the state, the Times reported.

The reports could involve hundreds of teachers and alleged misconduct cases could range from excessive absenteeism to sexual abuse, the paper reported.

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The action comes a day after the Times reported that a substitute teacher was able to continue teaching for three years in a different school district after being investigated three times by the LAUSD for allegations of sexual misconduct with students.

Story: LA high school coach held over student sex

California school districts are required to report teachers  who leave or change jobs as a result of allegations against them to the state teacher credentialing commission , the Times reported. The commission identifies problem teachers who apply for jobs in new districts.

The district waited nearly a year to notify the commission that it had moved to dismiss a former Miramonte Elementary School teacher charged with lewd conduct with students, NBC Los Angeles reported. After a second teacher at that school was arrested, the district replaced the entire staff.

 

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LOS ANGELES -- A substitute teacher in the nation's second-largest school district was investigated three times for allegations of sexual misconduct with students before he quit in 2007 and started teaching in another district, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The teacher, identified as 45-year-old George Hernandez, was never arrested or charged in the Los Angeles Unified School District cases.

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The Los Angeles Times reported that when the third investigation was completed, Hernandez quit teaching in Los Angeles and started working for the Inglewood Unified School District.

He taught there for nearly three years before police found a videotape they say shows him molesting a second-grade girl at an Inglewood school.

On Wednesday, the Huntington Park Police Department released information about the investigation involving Hernandez in September 2010. The investigation began with a report of indecent exposure involving the suspect near Gage Middle School.

Hernandez's computer and other items were confiscated after authorities obtained a search warrant for his home. It was during that search that authorities found "a large quantity of child pornography" that included video of the suspect allegedly engaging in lewd conduct with a student, according to the sheriff's department.

Hernandez was arrested and charged with child molestation but posted bail. He failed to appear for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 30, 2010, according to the sheriff's department.

It is believed that Hernandez fled to Mexico, according to investigators.

"This guy should not have been kept in the district," Kathleen Carroll, an attorney who worked for the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing, told the Times on Wednesday. "This is an outrage."

The case is one in series of lewd conduct investigations in the Los Angele Unified School District, including the accusations against two former Miramonte Elementary School teachers. One of the former teachers, Mark Berndt, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of lewd conduct involving more than 20 students.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read NBCLosAngeles.com’s coverage on the Miramonte abuse scandal

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Updated at 1:47 p.m. ET: LOS ANGELES -- The former Miramonte Elementary School teacher accused of taking bizarre photos of youngsters, some with spoons of semen held to their mouths, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of committing lewd acts involving more than 20 children.

Mark Berndt is one of two former teachers at the Florence school accused of lewd acts with students. Three uniformed deputies escorted Berndt into the downtown Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday morning.

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Berndt, 61, was arrested Jan. 30 after an investigation prompted by a film processor's discovery of about 40 photos of children, ages 7 to 10. Berndt allegedly committed the crimes between 2005 and 2011. He is being held on $23 million bail.

Full coverage from NBCLosAngeles.com: Case Timeline, LAUSD 'Rubber Room' | About Miramonte Elementary

The allegations against him and another Miramonte teacher charged with groping two students have led to lawsuits from former students and the temporary removal of the school's entire staff.

The second Miramonte teacher, Martin Springer, has pleaded not guilty to committing three lewd acts on one girl in class in 2009. Springer, 49, was freed on bail early Friday, though the Los Sheriff's Department said he was fitted with a court-ordered electronic ankle monitor. His next court appearance April 16.

The Los Angeles Times reported that civil attorneys also plan to file lawsuits against the L.A. school district on behalf of at least 60 alleged victims.

According to the newspaper, lawyers are making additional accusations that are not contained in the original criminal charges, including claims that Berndt fed students cookies with semen on them.

 

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A teacher's aide who also worked as a girls' volleyball coach at a South Los Angeles high school has been arrested on suspicion of committing a sex crime involving children, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Alain Salas, a teacher's aide at John C. Fremont Senior High School in South L.A., was taken into custody Monday by the FBI, according to KTLA-TV.

Details were not immediately available and is was unclear whether the alleged victims were students at the school.

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Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy confirmed the arrest of a school employee to reporters Tuesday morning. According to KABC-TV, Deasy said he did not know details.

 

"We have well over 100,000 full-time and part-time employees," Deasy told KTLA-TV. "They drive buses, they prepare food, they teach, they lead."

"Some people will make bad choices, and when we know about that, we respond to it," Deasy told KTLA-TV.

This is the third molestation arrest in recent weeks. Two teachers have been arrested after being accused of sex crimes involving children at nearby Miramonte Elementary School. A third case of inappropriate conduct with a student at Miramonte is under investigation, after it surfaced that a teacher’s aide allegedly wrote love letters to a fourth grade student in 2009.

A district spokesman told CBSLosAngeles  that Araceli Luisjuan was fired in July, 2009, after the complaint was made about her letters.

NBCLosAngeles.com reported last week that a 50-year-old former third grade teacher at a Pacoima elementary school had been arrested back in October in connection with allegedly sexually abusing four kids under 14 years old. Officials had not mentioned this arrest before last week, which angered parents.

Prosecutors accused Paul Chapel in a 16-count criminal complaint, alleging "continuous sexual abuse" against three girls and one boy, spanning more than 30 weeks between Sept. 13, 2010, and April 15, 2011.

On Feb. 6, the LA Times reported a janitor at a Chatsworth elementary school was arrested on suspicion of committing a lewd act on a student at Germain Street Elementary School.

Paul Adame, 37, was arrested after the mother of a student went to the police to report “inappropriate contact” between her child and a janitor at the school.

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An attorney is calling for an independent investigation into the Miramonte sex abuse scandal, claiming the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has failed to interview at least one potential victim.

Brian Claypool is representing the mother of a girl allegedly abused by Mark Berndt, 61, who is accused of taking photos of students who were blindfolded, had tape over their mouths and had spoonfuls of semen held to their lips.

At a news conference Friday, Claypool said the Sheriff’s Department failed to even interview the girl before a spokesman disputed her allegations on the radio. He said he was drafting a letter to the state Attorney General's Office asking for its involvement in the case.

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The girl represented by Claypool claimed a female teacher had escorted her to Berndt’s classroom and was aware of the abuse. Berndt was arrested in late January and charged with committing lewd acts against 23 students between 2005 and 2010. Authorities have acknowledged that more victims may be possible.

“It will discourage any child from coming forward,” Claypool said. “It’s irresponsible. You don’t accuse a child of lying on public radio.”

Sgt. Dan Scott, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department, could not be reached for comment by msnbc.com on Friday.

Full coverage at NBCLosAngeles.com | About Miramonte | Timeline of events

At least two dozen students at Miramonte have retained attorneys so far, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Another attorney, Raymond Boucher, said in a statement last week that the district “did not take adequate steps to prevent the abuse from occurring over and over again,” according to NBCLosAngeles.com

Last week, authorities announced the arrest of a second teacher at the school, Martin Bernard Springer, 49.  He was released from jail early Friday after posting bond at about 2 a.m., a deputy told the NBC website.

The allegations against Berndt surfaced in late 2010 after a film processor contacted authorities about photos showing the children in a classroom with their eyes blindfolded, tape covering their mouths and cockroaches on their faces.

In February 2011, the Los Angeles Unified School District suspended Berndt and notified him that he would be fired, NBC. In March, he requested a hearing, which was set for October. But June 2011, the district settled with Berndt, paying him $23,980.10 in back pay and $16,019.90 in legal fees, according to documents obtained in a joint investigation by 89.3 KPCC and NBC4.

Under the agreement, Berndt, 61, is entitled to his full pension and retirement health benefits.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Los Angeles area, a 50-year-old former third grade teacher at a Pacoima elementary school was arrested in connection with allegedly sexually abusing four kids under 14-years-old, including one student, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

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Los Angeles Unified School District paid the teacher at the center of the Miramonte child sexual abuse scandal $40,000 as part of a settlement in the wake of accusations of classroom behavior deemed “immoral” and “unprofessional” as well as a claim of “evident unfitness for service.”

In a financial settlement reached in June of 2011, the Los Angeles Unified School District paid Mark Berndt $23,980.10 in back pay and $16,019.90 in legal fees, according to documents obtained in a joint investigation by 89.3 KPCC and NBC4.

Under the agreement, Berndt, 61, is entitled to his full pension and retirement health benefits.

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Among the accusations levied against Berndt in an administrative hearing:

• blindfolding students and allowing himself to be blindfolded;
• taping several students’ mouths as well as his own;
• spoon-feeding students “an unknown cloudy-colored liquid substance”;
• and feeding students cookies with “an unknown cloudy-colored liquid substance.”

Berndt “exhibited poor judgment, unprofessional and immoral conduct” during the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years, according to an Accusation and Statement of Charges filed by the district.

Full Coverage | About Miramonte | Timeline of Events

The former third-grade teacher also “touched several students by placing his arms around them,” according the document.

The allegations were levied in a proceeding before the Office of Administrative Hearings, a quasi-judicial court that hears administrative disputes.

Read the original story, watch video on NBCLosAngeles.com

Under the terms of the settlement, Berndt, who had been suspended without pay after teaching at Miramonte for 30 years, was retroactively reinstated to “paid status.”

The settlement, signed by Berndt, his attorney and an attorney for the district, also stipulates that “neither of the parties admits or concedes any of the claims, defenses, or allegations that were raised.”

The deal opened the door for Berndt to receive his full district pension and health benefits.

The district first started looking to get rid of Berndt about a year ago. In February of 2011, the district suspended Berndt from his teaching position at Miramonte and notified him that they intended to fire him.

In March, he objected to the dismissal and requested a hearing, which was set for October.

But in June, Berndt and the district settled.

The case first came to the public’s attention in January, when Berndt was arrested and held on $23 million bail for allegedly committing felony molestation with 23 children ages 6 to 10.

In early February, a second Miramonte teacher, Martin Springer, 41, was arrested on suspicion of committing lewd acts on a child.

Several days later, it came to light that former teacher’s aide Ricardo Guevara was convicted and sentences to 15 years in prison in 2005 for committing lewd acts with children.

LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy shut down the school for two days and moved the entire staff to another school that is not yet open. Miramonte reopened on Wednesday with an entirely new staff.

Follow NBCLA for the latest LA news, events and entertainment: Twitter: @NBCLA// Facebook: NBCLA

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Updated, 12:41 p.m. ET: LOS ANGELES -- New teachers greeted children and their parents Thursday when they returned to class at a Los Angeles elementary school rocked by the arrests of two longtime teachers on lewdness charges.

Miramonte Elementary School reopened Thursday, two days after the nation's second-largest school district closed the campus to hire a brand new staff. New employees include a retired principal and 88 teachers and support staffers who were recently laid off and were on a rehiring list.

Hundreds of children streamed through the front doors of the school under the watch of school police and some 100 protesters, who opposed the disruption of removing the entire staff for the rest of the school year.

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The protesters, who included parents and students at Miramonte, held signs bashing the Los Angeles Unified School District, proclaiming "Give us our teachers back" and "LAUSD Shame on You."

"It's kind of hard," said Lorena Sorian, whose sixth-grader attends Miramonte. "You barely know your teacher, and they're gone. The kids don't know what's going on."

Sorian said the arrest of the two teachers made her think twice about enrolling her younger children at Miramonte next fall.

Sheriff's investigators, meanwhile, say they've found 200 additional bondage-style photos they believe were taken by one teacher who's accused of committing lewd acts on 23 children over a five-year period.

'Devastating'
Parents were invited to sit with their children in class Thursday to help with the transition. They will be allowed to attend the first 30 minutes of class.

Read Miramonte School Reopens Amid Child Abuse Investigation on NBCLosAngeles.com

"We want parents, as much as possible, to feel comfortable under the circumstances here," Tom Waldman, director of communications for the school district, told NBC News. "It's unprecedented. This is a very devastating thing for everybody here. Hopefully, over time, we'll get back to the business of learning."

New staff members attended orientation at the school Wednesday. They met with outgoing staff members to discuss lesson plans.

The removed staff members were transferred to Augustus Hawkins High School, a facility under construction in South Los Angeles. The Hawkins school is expected to open in the fall.

The outgoing staff members will be counseled and interviewed as part of the child abuse investigation. An independent commission led by retired California Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Moreno will conduct the district's investigation. Former students and staff members at Miramonte also will be interviewed.

Costs and counts
The new hires will cost the district $5.7 million, Waldman told the Los Angeles Times. The cash-strapped district will still pay the teachers and staff who were removed.

Allegations came to light last week with the arrest of Mark Berndt, 61, who was charged with committing lewd acts on 23 children, ages 6 to 10, between 2005 and 2010. He is being held in lieu of $2.3 million bail.

Later in the week, another teacher, Martin Springer, 49, was arrested on suspicion of committing lewd acts on children. Springer was charged with three counts of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14, according to authorities.

Another student who accused Springer of fondling her reportedly recanted her story, NBC News reported. Springer was being held in lieu of $2 million bail.

A film processor provided authorities with 40 images that showed Berndt with children, some of whom had blindfolds over their eyes and spoons of a white substance held to their mouths. The substance was later identified as Berndt's semen.

NBCLosAngeles.com's Jonathan Lloyd, John Cadiz Klemack and Toni Guinyard contributed to this report, as did The Associated Press.

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Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies on Wednesday rushed to dispel rumors among Latino families that they would be deported if they come forward with information about child sexual abuse allegations at Miramonte Elementary School, where two teachers have been arrested.

"We've seen a reluctance among families to come forward on the advice of lawyers," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Dan Scott told msnbc.com. "The sheriff has assured the community that a person’s legal status will not be questioned."

But many remain silent.

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"People are afraid to talk. They are confused. They are scared," Jessica Dominguez, a Los Angeles lawyer who specializes in immigration cases, told msnbc.com. "Parents are worrying that if they speak out to authorities they will be deported, because some of them are undocumented."

Parents fume over accused LA teachers' pensions

The case erupted last week with the arrest of third-grade teacher Mark Berndt, 61, who was charged with committing lewd acts on 23 children, ages 6 to 10, between 2005 and 2010. He is being held in lieu of $2.3 million bail.

Later in the week, another teacher, Martin Springer, 49, was arrested on suspicion of committing lewd acts on children. Springer was charged with three counts of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14, according to authorities.

Another student who accused Springer of fondling her reportedly recanted her story, NBC News reported. Springer was being held in lieu of $2 million bail.

Second teacher from LA school arrested

The allegations have stunned families like Sergio Blanco and his wife, Marisela Blanco. The Blancos have five boys. Their 9-year-old son, Andres, is a third-grader at the school. 

Marisela Blanco told NBCLosAngeles.com immigrant families now face the difficult decision of whether to speak out or not.

"They think something is going to happen, like the immigration will come to get them," Blanco said.

Read more on the Blanco family on NBCLosAngeles.com

The school will reopen Thursday with an entirely new staff hired from a list of recently laid off workers.

“The parents and children of Miramonte are going through an unspeakable nightmare," Lynn Tramonte, deputy director of America’s Voice Education Fund, said in a statement. "The fact that many of them are afraid to work with law enforcement only adds to their tragedy."

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Updated Tuesday at 12:54 a.m. ET: The Los Angeles Unified School District is replacing the entire staff of Miramonte Elementary following the arrest of two teachers on lewd conduct charges last week, Superintendent John Deasy told parents at a meeting Monday night, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Positions will be filled by qualified teachers and other workers already on a placement or rehiring list, the Times report stated. But the displacement of the current staff could be temporary, according to the report.

Teacher Mark Berndt was charged last week with committing lewd acts on 23 children. Another teacher, Martin Springer, was arrested Friday on suspicion of fondling two girls in his classroom.

Deasy said staffers are being replaced because a full investigation of allegations is disruptive, and staffers require support to get through the scandal.

All employees will be paid during the investigation, district spokesman Tom Waldman said. Officials didn't know how long the investigation will take.

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There will also be a psychiatric social worker in every classroom to help students and staff cope with any issues that need to be dealt with.

United Teachers Los Angeles said in a statement that union leaders and staff have met with instructors at Miramonte.

"We support a thorough, vigorous and fair investigation of all allegations," the statement said. "It's everyone's responsibility to ensure that any and all allegations are thoughtfully and carefully investigated."

Maria Jimenez, 51, said the parents of children enrolled at Miramonte are divided over the move. "Some are in favor. Others are against it because they did this without advising us or consulting us," she said.

Many children stayed home Monday while parents demanded more protection at an elementary school where two teachers are suspected of molesting students in class.

More than a quarter of the students at Miramonte Elementary School were absent, with attendance reaching just 72 percent, according to figures from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

About three dozen parents and supporters protested in front of the main doors of the school earlier Monday, some carrying a banner that read, "We the parents demand our children be protected from lewd teacher acts."

As night fell, about 100 angry parents marched from the elementary school to the nearby meeting with administrators.

School police watched and sheriff's deputies were on hand, but there was no violence.

The district set up a toll-free hotline on Monday to receive reports of suspected abuse at Miramonte, said school board President Monica Garcia in a statement.

Garcia added that the district would step up efforts to ensure students and staff realized the importance of reporting misconduct.

In the same school district, a janitor at a San Fernando Valley elementary school was arrested on suspicion of committing a lewd act with a child on a campus.

Paul Adame, 37, was taken into custody after a mother told police on Sunday that he had inappropriate contact with her child during school hours Friday at Germain Elementary School in the Chatsworth area north of Los Angeles, police Capt. Kris Pitcher said at a news conference.

The captain declined to provide details but urged anyone who might know of other possible victims to contact police.

Adame was booked and released on $100,000 bail Monday. It could not be immediately determined if he had an attorney.

There was no immediate connection between the arrest of the janitor and the cases at Miramonte, which is 15 miles away in an unincorporated county area of South Los Angeles.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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