A 3rd grade teacher is given $1 million bail for each of his 23 felony counts of lewd acts on a child. Taxpayers will spend $47,421 a year to imprison this teacher for the rest of his life. What is the total cost of throwing the teacher into a shark tank?
Source: Washington Post
Why-oh-why did the Los Angeles Unified School District keep a lid on having removed Mark Berndt from Miramonte Elementary School after the bad photos were found? Granted, investigators were trying to build a better case, but doing so likely prevented other children’s parents from asking what their kids may have been exposed to in that classroom and encouraging them to come forward.
So which of the children yet to be identified in the photos confiscated by authorities will fail to receive the counseling they need because of the secrecy? And are we okay with potentially perpetuating the cycle of molestation? Studies show that sexually abused children often exhibit familiarity or interest in sexual acts inappropriate to their age; where does that leave unaware parents if and when those traits start to show? To blame themselves or other family members? To rely on guesswork? What of a parent’s own struggle with denial or flat out revulsion?
What is it with people not jumping up and down and shouting, “SATAN!!” when it comes to child molestation? First there are the A-holes who protect priests (I had to go outside and spit on the ground before I could continue typing here…); in more recent news there’s Mike McQueary, witnessing a sex act perpetrated by Jerry Sandusky. Why didn’t McQueary just take a mop handle to that mutherf_cker right then ‘n there?
I’m not saying L.A.U.S.D. acted to protect Berndt, not at all. But there’s no excuse for going along with the secrecy of an investigation when it results in a failure to stand up for a child – or children – in need.