Protecting Children by Punishing Whistleblowers

Carol Buchanan, a former Moraga School District teacher (in the SF Bay Area) was told by students in the 1990s that science teacher, Dan Witters, had been sexually abusing them. She reported it to school officials, but was ignored and punished, Cheryl Hurd reported last week. While she was never fired, Buchanon claims the district did strongly urge her to take a “leave of absence,” which she ultimately did, retiring after a 25-year career.

Last year, University of California, Berkeley swim coach, Kristen Cunnane, came forward saying she was abused by Witters and another teacher. Cunnane later release the following statement: “I can’t believe how many people at the school knew about the sexual abuse and how many warnings the district ignored. To find out that there was someone at the school actually trying to help us and that she got punished for it is incredible.”

While it is tragic that so many children were thrown to the wolves by administrators who were either too lazy to do the right thing or too concerned with covering up the potential bad PR, it should no longer come as a surprise, either. Indeed, it is relatively common for large institutions to value their own reputations over the safety of children (and the law). Consider the way in which the Catholic Church, at virtually all levels of its hierarchy, has protected accused priests. This case is also strikingly similar to the case of Mark Berndt, in LAUSD, who had been reported by numerous parents, and allowed to remain in the classroom for decades, before finally being arrested last year. In Berndt’s case, not only did the district fail to investigate thoroughly the prior claims, but it also punished innocent teachers, by firing the entire staff at Miramonte Elementary school, even though only two of its teachers had been accused of abuse.

Deasy Sued in Miramonte Molestation Scandal

When Los Angeles school teacher (LAUSD) Mark Berndt was arrested for molesting students at Miramonte elementary school, Superintendent John Deasy fired the entire staff at Miramonte in a lame attempt to whitewash the tarnished image of LAUSD. Yet there was ample evidence at the time that LAUSD had engaged in years of incompetence and outright obstructionism in the investigation of molestation and abuse claims, though Deasy did not fire any district administrators. Now a lawsuit has been filed against current Superintendent Deasy, plus four former superintendents—Ramon Cortines (who has been sued independently for sexual harassment of an employee), Ruben Zacarias, Roy Romer and David L. Brewer—for deliberately not reporting complaints of teacher abuse.

According to the LA Times, the lawsuit claims the superintendents created an environment in which administrators were discouraged from investigating complaints of misconduct or reporting them to state authorities and law enforcement, while shielding teachers from scrutiny. The lawsuit also accuses the superintendents of lacking a clear and effective policy on child abuse allegations and deliberately not maintaining files on such complaints. A state audit released last November found that LAUSD officials failed to promptly report nearly 150 cases of suspected misconduct to state authorities.

The attorney leading the lawsuit said the officials had a “calculated plan over 20 years to facilitate child abuse at the expense of the safety and welfare of the kids.”

LAUSD’s Rubber Room for Victims of Abuse Hysteria

Following the January arrest of former teacher Mark Berndt, who was charged with 23 counts of lewd conduct in the classroom, the entire staff was fired at Miramonte Elementary School, in Los Angeles. Last week, at least 40 displaced teachers and staff members rallied outside Augustus Hawkins High School in South Los Angeles, the “Rubber Room” where they have reported for the past three months while awaiting reassignment. (Hawkins High is not currently in operation). More than 150 students and parents also joined the demonstration.


Superintendent John Deasy said he was replacing the staff to restore confidence in the school. Yet only 2 staff members have been charged or even accused of misconduct. Teachers at the rally expressed anger and frustration at having “been publicly punished and humiliated for the alleged acts of one person," according to the Los Angeles times. Another teacher said, "I no longer tell people I'm a teacher. Until very recently, I was proud to be one."


In a particularly disturbing consequence of the mass firing, staff members who are also parents of Miramonte students have not been allowed on campus to drop off or pick up their children, or to meet with a teacher during school hours.


In related news, a lawsuit was filed this week against LAUSD for negligence on behalf of 20 former Miramonte students (see LA Times Blogs). The lawsuit claims the district did not do enough to protect students who had complained about inappropriate teacher behavior and that it ignored student allegations. Berndt’s personnel records contained no records of prior sexual abuse allegations, despite the fact that there were at least four past sex abuse allegations against him prior to the most recent case. In fact, the Los Angeles Times reports that LAUSD has no record that it ever conducted an internal investigation.

Collective Punishment For LAUSD Teachers

Image from Flickr, by Vector Portal

In a phenomenal case of collective punishment, Los Angeles Schools Superintendent John Deasy is firing the entire staff of Miramonte Elementary School in response to two of its teachers being charged with lewd conduct. Miramonte is one of the largest elementary schools in the U.S., according to the Los Angeles Times, with over 150 teachers and administrative staff.

In the wake of the accusations, parents kept more than 25% of the student body home from school on Monday. Parents also held a demonstration at the school.

It is certainly understandable that parents would be scared and irate—the two teachers were accused of some absolutely dreadful behavior. LAUSD emphasized that the allegations have “placed a cloud over the campus that can be lifted only with a drastic response,” the Los Angeles Times reported. However, no other teachers have been accused of any misconduct or are under investigation. Therefore, firing them does nothing to lift this cloud. On the contrary, it creates a bigger cloud that makes the innocent teachers appear to be part of the scandal, tarnishing their reputations in the process.

The mass firing is not only unfair and abusive to the innocent teachers, it does nothing to make the school safer or heal the wounds. Firing just the administrators, however, who are responsible for ensuring the safety of the school and for hiring and firing teachers, would have been much simpler and cheaper for the district, which must continue to pay the salaries of the displaced teachers. John Deasy, himself, ought to step down, since he is ultimately responsible for what happens in LAUSD schools.

Deasy continues to claim that student safety is district’s first priority. However, there had been numerous student and parent complaints against one of the accused teachers, Mark Berndt, over the past 20 years which some parents claim were either ignored or not taken seriously. One student was transferred from the classroom of Berndt to the classroom of the other accused teacher after the family complained about him. The L.A. county district attorney’s office also refused to bring molestation charges against Brandt in 1994 due to insufficient evidence.