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Some of the egregious cases of teachers sexually abusing their students are well publicized. Perhaps none more so than Mark Berndt, who did terrible things to children for years at Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles. Shockingly, he would blindfold his second graders and feed them cookies smeared with his semen. The remedy employed by the Los Angeles Unified School District when Berndt was busted in 2012 was to bar lessons involving blindfolds and classroom-made butter. Seriously.
But the disgusting cookies were far from Berndt’s only misdeed. He had a track record of perversity going back to 1983 when he dropped his pants on a class trip to a museum, blaming it on “baggy shorts.” In 1992, several students claimed he was masturbating in class, and another student claimed he touched her inappropriately in the classroom. Then in 2010, investigators from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department came into possession of some of Berndt’s photos, which showed children gagged and bound, “sometimes with live cockroaches on their faces or about to eat a cookie covered in a clear white liquid.”
Due to apathy, incompetence, and union mandates that make it almost impossible to fire any teacher – no matter how incompetent or perverse they are – the school district couldn’t get rid of Berndt without going through a lengthy appeals process costing over $300,000. So, when his crimes were exposed, Berndt gamed the system by accepting a $40,000 bribe and retired – but only after racking up another year of credit toward his pension. The ensuing lawsuits against the Los Angeles Unified School District over Berndt alone cost the district some $200 million. When added to four other sexual abuse cases in Los Angeles, the cost to the district was $300 million.
More recently, the exploits of Santa Barbara teacher Matef Harmachis – a world-class sadistic pervert, not to mention a revolutionary Marxist – have been publicized. A few of Harmachis’ horrific activities include making anti-Semitic and sexually charged remarks to students. He also hugged a girl, told her to “rub her body all over his,” and said, “It’s okay if you come naked to class.” He told another girl, “Just because you’re good in bed doesn’t mean you can eat in class.”
Harmachis always avoided getting arrested or even losing his teaching position; instead, he was merely transferred from school to school.
Things changed in 2017, however. According to a lawsuit, Harmachis repeatedly sexually harassed, groped, and assaulted a student at Santa Barbara High School. It was alleged that Harmachis’ harassment and abuse of the victim often took place in his classroom in full view of other students. Harmachis was criminally charged with battery of Jane OB Doe, pleading no contest, and received a criminal sentence. As a result, he had his teaching credential revoked by the state and was terminated by the district in March 2020. The Santa Barbara Unified School District had to fork over $950,000 because it was decided that a lot more could have been done to get the abusive teacher out of the classroom.
“I have never seen a case where a school district ignored so many red flags and allowed a dangerous individual to have unfettered access to vulnerable students,” said Morgan Stewart, the victim’s attorney.
But how widespread is this sort of abuse?
A report prepared for the U.S. Department of Education in 2004 revealed that nearly 9.6% of students are victims of sexual abuse by school personnel, and these are just the reported cases.
Additionally, Stop Educator Sexual Abuse Misconduct & Exploitation (SESAME), a nonprofit that works to stop childhood sexual abuse by teachers and other school employees, discloses that in 2015, about 3.5 million 8th-11th grade students, or nearly 7% of those surveyed divulged that they had experienced “physical sexual contact from an adult” (most often a teacher or coach). The type of physical contact ranged from “unwanted touching of their body, all the way up to sexual intercourse.” Even worse, the statistic increases to about 4.5 million children (10%) when other types of sexual misconduct are taken into consideration, such as being shown pornography or being subjected to sexually explicit language or exhibitionism. SESAME also explains that one child sex offender can have as many as 73 victims in their lifetime.
Most recently, the Defense of Freedom Institute uncovered “a systemic failure by federal, state, and local authorities to prevent sexual abuse of students in public schools.” Released on May 31, Catching the Trash finds that public schools have experienced an epidemic of sexual abuse and that federal, state, and local authorities have not done enough to ensure that students are protected during the school day.
According to the report, “Between 2010 and 2019, the number of complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) alleging sexual violence against K–12 schools more than tripled. The most recently published Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC)—from 97,632 schools—underscores this unfortunate trend. For 2015–16, the CRDC reported 9,649 incidents of sexual violence; of that number, 394 constituted instances of rape or attempted rape. For 2017–18, the numbers were 13,799 and 685, respectively—an increase of 43 percent and 74 percent.”
DFI finds that when public school employees are investigated for sexual abuse, many school districts are under absolutely no legal obligation to notify parents or note the investigation in the employee’s personnel file. “This allows administrators to pawn off known abusers to different schools and districts in a phenomenon called ‘passing the trash.’”
The report points to collective bargaining agreements negotiated between teacher unions and school districts as a key contributor to the problem, as they “often allow for scrubbing of personnel files,” so no record of abuse is left once an offender leaves the system. State legislators – many of whom are in the pockets of teachers unions – are notoriously lax in this area.
DFI president Bob Eitel explains, “This report uncovers failures at every level to protect students from sexual abuse in public K–12 schools. What’s most shocking is the lengths to which teacher union leaders will go to protect their members suspected of abusing students and the number of states that have ignored their ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) ‘pass the trash’ obligations.”
In Waiting for Superman, Michelle Rhee stated that it took a while, but she finally realized that public education is really about the adults, not the kids. No truer words have ever been spoken. In too many cases, a small group of inept and/or corrupt adults – district administrators, state legislators, school board members, and teachers union honchos – is in charge of what has become an increasingly corrupt public education system.
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Larry Sand, a former classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues.
It used to be that hot looking young English teachers were getting involved with students or maybe they were the only ones who were exposed!! There should be ZERO tolerance for any PROVEN SEXUAL ASSAULTS by a teacher, administrator, or school employee! If the Teachers’ Unions are leading the CONCEALMENT of the predators then thats even MORE reason to abolish them! Maybe we need to hold the DECISION MAKERS accountable as PARTNERS in crime!!
The present sexualizing of youth in schools has opened up a vast harem of gay teens to be ‘taught’ and preyed upon by teachers.
As long ago as 1989, there was a French film called WHITE WEDDING, about a teacher having an affair with a student. They get caught having sex in a classroom. The teacher doesn’t lose his licence, much less go to prison. He is transferred to a schoole in Dieppe. Apparently, the French Ministry of Education doesn’t care about the morals of the minors in Dieppe.
Child abuse leads to sexual confusion and is probably the cause of most homosexuality.
The teachers unions are clearly the. use of this issue y their sheltering and protection of these perverts
When evil perverted scum like Weingarten run the teacher’s union, activity like this is encouraged.
It was once not even overlooked, but pedophile Clinton mainsteamed such activity.
A report prepared for the U.S. Department of Education in 2004 revealed that nearly 9.6% of students are victims of sexual abuse by school personnel, and these are just the reported cases.”
Come on. 9.6%? That means 1 out of 10. Would you really send your kid to school if there was a 1 out of 10 chance they would be sexually abused? Would you get on a plane if there was a 1 out of 100 chance it would crash?
You know what they say, “lies, damn lies, and statistics”.
Would you really send your kid to school if there was a 1 out of 10 chance they would be sexually abused?
Liberals will. They are aren’t just demonstrating that they have no problem with pedophilia and other forms of perversion, they are crusading for it. It’s in their DNA.
So, the question is, how easy is it for conservatives to take their children out of public schools? As easy as choosing to not fly in a plane? I doubt it.
Speaking of schools, I say to my liberal “friends”, tell the DC politicians to take their kids out of Sidwell Friends, and pay for inner city black children to attend in their place. Crickets.
To be fair, most liberals love their children. So I disagree with you that they would actually send them to school if it were that dangerous.
But look at how the left lies and manipulates stats to prop up their causes. Remember the lie that 1 out 5 women in college gets sexually assaulted? You don’t think that is leftist lies and fantasy to portray women as victims of our “patriarchal sexist country” ?
They start changing the definition of words. For example. If a girl out a bar gets groped by some drunk frat boy, that now counts as sexual assault.
Randy Weingarten as always has zero to say on this issue One wonders why
What does it mean to “abuse” children in public schools that sponsor Drag Queen Hour for First graders? If the sexual perversion officially promoted in Drag Queen Hour is not child abuse, then what, pray tell, is child abuse?
Not to mention gay/lesbian-themed story books on the library shelves of sixth graders.
Government schools are funded by the force and confiscation of taxpayer dollars. Therefore, the immorality of government schools begins at the very beginning with the funding. The forced funding is automatic, continuous, and never ending.
So what need or urgency can there be for fixing the problems in government schools, when no matter how abysmal the conditions get the funding never ends?
Rationality and morality do not exist in a vacuum, you might say that they are adaptations to the incentives and disincentives of the reality of a situation. If you’re always guaranteed funding by the force of government coercion of the taxpayer what incentive or disincentive do you have to change your behavior?
You always have quite the knack for obtusely overstating the obvious. As usual, it’s always us who have to do the heavy lifting as you never provide a solution….to anything.
And the reason these teachers weren’t criminally prosecuted is why?
My only daughter was also abused by the Carlsbad high school and the Coast line Church which is a cult. Unfortunately, the police and sheriff’s office where involved, I lost my beautiful daughter to a cult who disguises themselves as a Christian church while the pastors and members traffick the youth. The parents are destroyed in every way and lives threatened.
The school district should report alleged teacher sexual misconduct with students to the police. If they told parents to go to the police, then the teacher likely be subject search. Often these individuals have child porography or indecent text messages. Maybe the police can get a judge to authorize classroom surveillance and tapping phone conversations. Of course, parents will get hysterical if there is an arrest for child abuse of child pornography, but they will calm down faster if they know the school promptly tells police. It’s so much easier to fire a teacher if his credential is revoked! Of course, some teachers are caught in grooming behavior that is not yet illegal. Firing in those cases is more difficult. However, hiring an undercover officer as a teacher’,s aide could uncover bad intentions. The real problem is that school administrators lack the will to act.
We never should have allowed public sector unions, now see what that has gotten us. Teachers unions control almost all local politics and impose a Marxist agenda on our children in a variety of perverse and disgusting ways. They have to be gotten rid of.
The “Sexual Revolution” has been a feature of public school culture for decades now. It’s constantly butressed by social media. Every child has access to constant indoctrination. The reported figure of almost 10% of the vulnerable being abused by a trusted adult is likely even hi9her.
I know quite a few dedicated and honorable teachers who have their hands full teaching in what most of us would consider environments hostile to learning. I know a few, like myself, who realized we were not cut out for such a battle and went on to more fruitful endeavors. Let’s not make the jobs of the dedicated and stellar teachers even more daunting.
That said, it’s no surprise that clever, minor-attracted predators see unfettered opportunity to sate their desires in public school settings. It’s tragic that some of their fellow “professionals” have been found so willing to cover up such heinous crimes.
Reports of child sexual abuse are alarming to most of us. But, since the “Revolution” has so thoroughly soaked the culture with its propaganda, prosecuting and jailing perpetrators of what we used to acknowledge as crime is being framed as the real crime.
The answer for parents of public school children is to spend as much time as possible preparing them with solid traditional values, making sure they have reliable friendships and helping them process all negative public school experiences immediately.
Now we know why they don’t want the Parents to interfere in the way their Brainwashing the kids to serve Big Brother without question