LA schools superintendent fires entire school staff

[n2doc]

By CHRISTINA HOAG
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Faced with a shocking case of a teacher accused of playing classroom sex games with children for years, Los Angeles schools Superintendent John Deasy delivered another jolt: He removed the school's entire staff — from custodians to the principal — to smash what he called a "culture of silence."

"It was a quick, responsible, responsive action to a heinous situation," he said. "We're not going to spend a long time debating student safety."

The controversial decision underscores the 51-year-old superintendent's shake-up of the lethargic bureaucracy at the nation's second-largest school district. His swift, bold moves have rankled some and won praise from others during his first year of leadership.

Hired with a mandate to boost achievement in the 660,000-pupil Los Angeles Unified School District, Deasy has become known for 18-hour days that involve everything from surprise classroom visits and picking up playground litter to lobbying city elite for donations and blasting Sacramento politicians over funding cuts.

more
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/la-schools-superintendent-shakes-1473486.html

[Drale]

1. So people who are not in the same grade

probably teach in a completely different area of the building probably have very little contact with this sick teacher and some of who probably just got hired lose their jobs as well? This is zero tolerance in a different form and its ridiculous. Sounds like this superintendent is only interested in looking good in the media rather then do what is right for the children.

[bluedigger]

2. It's this, or Penn ST.

Last edited Sun Jul 8, 2012, 10:36 PM - Edit history (1)

[msongs]

3. smearing the innocent is ok with you then? have a nice day :-) nt

[NYC_SKP]

10. Nobody was smeared, the super was acting with an abundance of caution.

Something like this happening is shocking to the institution, it's like a bomb threat.

When you're responsible for the welfare of hundreds of little kids...

and a teacher IS FEEDING HIS SPERM TO LITTLE CHILDREN ON COOKIES WITH THE DOORS LOCKED AND TAKING PICTURES OF IT...

Well, you just need to take a couple days to be sure behavior (20 years of it in his case) is limited to the one teacher.

I and the kids' parents applaud the action, and the teachers are all back to work now.

[Drale]

11. I'm sorry but no

this is like blaming every kid in school for a bomb threat because you don't know if it was only one kid or more then one, so just expel them all and figure it out later. Do you believe in the old adage "Shoot them all and let God short them out" because thats whats happening here.

[NYC_SKP]

12. I'm sorry but they closed the school down so that the could be confident that all were safe.

the only person out of a job is the one serving sperm to kids and taking pictures of it.

It was a disruption, just like a bomb threat would have been.

Nobody was shot and everybody has his/her job.

Better safe than sorry, the school has to answer to the safety of the children, first and foremost.

[Zalatix]

14. Nobody was smeared, but a lot of innocent people got fired.

[NYC_SKP]

22. Two teachers in jail. NOBODY was fired. Did you even read the story???

Or just the FOX headlines? http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/08/la-superintendent-fires-entire-school-staff-over-classroom-sex-allegations/

Here, try this one:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8537175

[Zalatix]

24. I guess I didn't read this

He removed the school's entire staff — from custodians to the principal — to smash what he called a "culture of silence."

Figment of my imagination, I suppose.

[NYC_SKP]

25. The teachers, who were warehoused at another location, may now return to the classroom at Miramonte

Read the entire article.

Deasy's removal of the school's staff resulted in protests by parents and a raft of union grievances. The teachers, who were warehoused at another location, may now return to the classroom at Miramonte or another school, Deasy said

ETA:

The drastic measure comes after former teacher Mark Berndt was arrested last week and charged with 23 counts of lewd acts on children ages 6 to 10. The 61-year-old third-grade teacher was fired when the investigation began.

The investigation began after Berndt, a teacher at the school for 30 years, tried to develop photos of students, and a film processor at a CVS turned them over to police.

According to authorities, the first batch of photos showed children blindfolded with cockroaches on their faces and spoons full of semen in front of their mouths.

Wednesday, police said they found 200 more pictures at the same CVS pharmacy's photo printing database, bringing the total number of photos to roughly 600.

[MattBaggins]

15. Of course you would applaud it

This was bone headed muscle flexing just to grand stand.

[Drale]

4. Really?

So you just get hired this year as a teacher and now your fired because of some terrible person and a Super Intendant who does not want to do the hard work of figuring out who is really responsible and who really covered stuff up? How do you think you would feel?

[HiPointDem]

19. John Deasy, former Gates Foundation employee & Broad Superintendent = education deformer.

He fired everyone because it furthers the cause, not because of this teacher. Deasy has a fake PhD & had his path greased into the LA position.

http://thebroadreport.blogspot.com/2011/03/john-deasy-broad-superintendents.html

[russspeakeasy]

5. Sounds to me like he was looking for a headline.

[NYC_SKP]

6. This: "feeding students cookies smeared with his semen in "tasting games."

However, there was nothing to prepare him for the case of Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt, who has pleaded not guilty to accusations of feeding students cookies smeared with his semen in "tasting games."

Deasy's removal of the school's staff resulted in protests by parents and a raft of union grievances. The teachers, who were warehoused at another location, may now return to the classroom at Miramonte or another school, Deasy said.

Deasy also ordered principals to pull teacher misconduct files from the past 40 years. Those files are under reviewed by a special panel to determine if further action is warranted. Some 500 previously unreported cases have been forwarded so far to the state teacher licensing commission.

Teachers union President Warren Fletcher lambasted the move as a hasty and counterproductive effort to deflect attention from managerial failures.

---teachers may now return to the classroom, hopefully all but Mr. Berndt:



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2098811/Shocking-photo-Mark-Berndt-posing-tights-Mickey-Mouse-ears.html

[MrMickeysMom]

7. Boy.... Is he strict!

... In a completely incompetent, reckless and illegal way...

[ananda]

8. Well..

Can innocent teachers file lawsuits? Do they
have legal protections or union representation?

I hate to see the innocent tarred with the guilty.

[tammywammy]

9. In the article it notes the teachers can return

Deasy's removal of the school's staff resulted in protests by parents and a raft of union grievances. The teachers, who were warehoused at another location, may now return to the classroom at Miramonte or another school, Deasy said

[RandySF]

13. There was quite a lengthy investigation.

And mentions of a "culture of secrecy". He may have wrongfully fired the entire staff out of frustration, but it sounds like knowledge was widespread.

[MattBaggins]

16. "sounds like" and "what really happened"

are often worlds apart.

[HiPointDem]

18. he fired the staff because he's an ed deformer in the pocket of Gates and Broad. Former

Gates foundation employee & Broad superintendent's grad.

the article is bullshit propaganda.

[HiPointDem]

17. bullshit. that's not why he fired the staff. he fired the staff because he's a Broad Superintendent

-- an education deformer in the pocket of Gates, Broad, and the rest of the gang.

this article is blatant propaganda. because that's basically all the public hears from the MSM about what's happening in education.


http://thebroadreport.blogspot.com/2011/03/john-deasy-broad-superintendents.html

John Deasy, Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2006

The troubled school district of Prince George's County (Md.) thought it was finally going to get a long-term superintendent when they hired John Deasy (BSA 2006) in May 2006, but by September 2008 he was being investigated for having improperly received his doctorate. Deasy resigned three weeks later and went to work for the Gates Foundation.

Deasy conveniently landed in LAUSD in June 2010 after his term at the GF. Questions about his PhD and inconsistencies in his resume still linger. But that proved to be no problem, because in January 2011, Deasy was promoted to superintendent of LAUSD, "without so much as a job interview." (6-0, one abstention).

[FrodosPet]

20. What a terrible person Dr. Deasy is!

From the article:

~ snip ~

He ticks off recent increases in language proficiency rates for English learners, and declines in dropouts and suspensions.

He hopes to see more results from new policies he's pushed through, including giving teachers and principals more autonomy and more rigorous graduation requirements.

Once a week, his driver takes him on a round of unannounced visits to a few of the 1,000-plus schools, a source of both inspiration and exasperation as he moseys around corridors alone, introducing himself to students as "Dr. D."

There's no idle chitchat. Deasy fires questions about grades or graduation at students and enrollment or staffing at administrators.

~ snip ~

------------------------------------------------------

A school superintendent who engages with his staff and students and who is giving principals and teachers more autonomy to do their jobs! But, in the panic of this case, he may have overreacted in a way that pissed off some union members. That's unforgivable!

(Do I need the sarcasm thingie every time? Go forward, Dr. D! Our world and our children need dedicated people like yourself in charge of the schools)

[HiPointDem]

21. do you always believe every puff piece you read in the paper? deasy lied about having a

doctorate, deasy is destroying adult & career ed, deasy gutted la's libraries *against a mandate* that set aside funding for said libraries and used that money elsewhere, deasy fired the librarians, deasy is the lapdog of the gates foundation and the broad academy, an operative who's getting paid to take down the system & privatize it.

and deasy's hiding administrative malfeasance while firing teachers, janitors and other staff and trying to tar them as possible abusers:

We're heading there if LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy doesn't clear the air. But instead he was evasive on KNX today. He should explain now why LAUSD Superintendent Sid Thompson in 1994 let Berndt teach AFTER L.A. County Sheriff's detectives urged the D.A. to prosecute Berndt for fondling. Deasy is protecting the legacy of the disastrous Sid Thompson.


It wasn't other teachers who let berndt continue in the classroom, it was the administrators of LAUSD. And rather than deal with that little fact, deasy fired an entire school, tarred its personnel as likely child abusers -- all in the service of the gates agenda.

deasy is a fucking liar in multiple ways. fake phd, fake resume, gates' gopher.

[NYC_SKP]

23. I'm with you. Can't believe people are calling this bullshit.

I just don't get it.

Two teachers in jail, the things one of the teachers was doing is just unimaginable, with 6-10 year olds.

[HiPointDem]

27. 100 teachers and 40 support personnel fired. the teacher had been brought up on charges in

1994, and it was the DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION, not the teachers or the union, who allowed him to remain in the classroom.

Deasy also didn't do squat until an independent investigation forced him to.

[Sgent]

26. I would have seriously considered the same thing

he's lock his door with students in it, etc. The culture had to be extinguished.

That being said, its my understanding that the teachers at least are being allowed to transfer elsewhere -- which seems like the right move. Its very difficult to change the culture of an organization, and often times removing or separating the entire staff is the only way to do it.

[HiPointDem]

28. "the culture"? wtf are you talking about?

[Sgent]

29. Organizations have a culture

Organizations have a culture or esprit de corps which can be positive or negative, and have a huge impact on how individual members perform. If this culture was dysfunctional (and it seems like an initial investigation showed it may be) then the best way to "reset" it effectively is to use the employment equivalent of a nuclear bomb. That doesn't mean any given employee is a bad employee, it means the school is dysfunctional, and just changing the principal may not be enough -- as the new one often will start assuming the faults of the created by the existing system.

In this case other teachers / counselors / whatever may not have done anything illegal, but that doesn't mean they didn't hear things, or keep concerns to themselves. We had a teacher in my HS that was sleeping with female students (legal at the time, but not acceptable) -- and no one wanted to be the one to "tattle". I know of other similar cases, where even if they didn't have hard evidence, many people had indications something was wrong.

More:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/02/mark-berndt-molestation-victims_n_1250145.html

UPDATE: Former teacher Mark Berndt was once investigated in 1994 for allegedly attempting to fondle a young girl near her genital area, reports the Los Angeles Times. A detective from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department investigated the claim and presented it to the district attorney's office, but the case was rejected.

Nadine Martinez Rodriguez, a former student of Berndt's, spoke to CBS2 about how school officials didn't listen when she complained about him. Rodriguez remembers that he often kept his hands in his lap and and a jar of vaseline in his desk. "When I first saw the news about Mr. Berndt getting arrested, I thought 'Wow,' " she said to CBS2. "It just took 22 years for him to get caught."

[HiPointDem]

30. it wasn't the *school* who kept berndt in his job, it was the then-superintendent of schools, i.e.

the district administration and the LA District Attorney, who wouldn't take the case.

Nadine Martinez said that she also saw Berndt’s behavior behind his desk and told her mother. The former student said her mother did not take the claims seriously enough to report it to authorities or school officials.

http://research.lawyers.com/blogs/archives/18929-District-Attorneys-Office-Rejected-1994-Sexual-Abuse-Allegations-Against-Bondage-Teacher.html

there was no culture of protecting berndt at miramonte.

Superintendent John Deasy is a former Gates Foundation employee and a Broad Superintendent. I.e. he's a trained education deformer whose mission is to destroy public education in the US.