William McSweeney, the Sheriff's Department's chief of detectives, says his detectives asked LAUSD not to interview witnesses against Berndt because "any kind of double questioning of witnesses can jeopardize a criminal case, especially if it goes ahead of us."
McSweeney said the investigation took more than a year as detectives tried to track down 100-plus possible victims — including grade-schoolers depicted in photos with blindfolds and tape across their mouths.
"We probably could give [the district] enough information to support his termination at this point," McSweeney says. "In June [when the district settled with Berndt] we were not in a position to share much useful information they could make public."
McSweeney called the district's position a "catch-22," saying, "My guess is he could collect more [salary during his] appeals and other things" than the $40,000 buyout.
But that reasoning negates Basalone's argument — that LAUSD is severely undermining its disciplinary system by letting even horrific acts by teachers go unpunished.
Basalone says the LAUSD board won't stand up to the union, which fights hard to back members who appeal their firings.
UTLA spokeswoman Marla Eby says her union has no opinion on the district's decision to pay off Berndt. "We weren't involved in the settlement," she says.
But the UTLA is deeply involved in such settlements, even if its leaders don't call the shots day-to-day.
Three years ago, then–UTLA President A.J. Duffy threatened a political war against the LAUSD school board if its members approved a reform idea by board member Marlene Canter. Canter's plan was hardly radical: She sought to put the school board on record as intending to lobby the California Legislature to change the Education Code so that districts can more easily get rid of teachers who are sexual deviants, or inappropriate or ineffective.
The code, section 44929.22, automatically grants so-called permanent status, or lifelong tenure, to newbie teachers after just two years in the classroom. It kicks in whether their performance merits it or not.
The school board openly feared the antireformist Duffy, UTLA and its members. And on April 28, 2009, Canter's proposal — to merely lobby the Legislature for change — went up in smoke. Even Canter abandoned it, leaving Galatzan the only backer.
At the time, Daniel Barnhart, north area chairman for UTLA, claimed teachers were the best people to "raise their voices about issues of wrongdoing around the schools."
Such sentiments from UTLA leaders have repeatedly proved wrong. In case after case, teachers express shock when authorities find that molesters and alleged molesters are working beside them — as teachers.
Reach the writer at bbarr223@yahoo.com.
Any family with an ounce of sense will flee the district, the city and the State.
California was once a shining example. It is still an example - of what not to be.
What are these people thinking? It's Alice In Wonderland in California. When the time finally comes and the state collapses - good riddance to bad rubbish.
I am a 27 years old doctor,mature and beautiful. and now i am seeking a good man who can give me real love, so i got a sername Andromeda2002 on Agedate.СòM, a nice and free place for younger women and older men,or older women and younger men, to interact with each other.Maybe you wanna check out or tell your friends.
That man needs to have criminal charges brought against him and pay back the school district the $40K AND lose his pension. I'm beginning to agree with my BF that we need to get rid of the teacher's union if this is the type of behavior it protects!
I am a teacher that LAUSD has been trying to get rid of for close to 3 years, because I reported that they were graduating students from high school with low elementary school reading abilities on fixed assessments. For doing this, after a prior 23 year history of teaching with excellent teaching evaluations and no prior bad acts of any kind, I was hit in less than a month with 4 notices of unsatisfactory acts and 4 suspensions totaling 49 days.
Although I am entitled to a hearing under California Education Code Section 44944 within 60 days, the District with the active collusion of Trygstad, Schwab & Trygstad- UTLA's in house attorneys- have succeeded in pushing my 1st hearing before the Office of Administrative Hearings until 9/12/12, almost 3 years after my initial removal from class.
Given LAUSD legal department's main tactic of stalling, one must wonder why they were so quick to settle with Berndt, instead of carrying on the protracted campaign of harassment they carry on as a matter of course against teachers like myself who have the guts to stand against their blatant and longstanding corruption.
Feel free to contact me personally at: Lenny@perdaily.com or check out my website at: www.perdaily.com. http://www.perdaily.com/2010/1...
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