OUTRAGE

I have been biting my tongue here, caught between too-much and not-enough information.

But I’m afraid there is no room for consensus or middle ground, no midpoint between the two levels of outrage described in the missives below. No explanations to parents in 140 characters or less will fix this. This is not an opportunity for  “Crisis Communications”. There’s no room for Press Release/Sound-Byte Community Engagement. There can be no spin doctoring, no controlling the message, no framing – no outsourcing of the problem to disinterested third parties or community-based-organizations.  No promotoras to assuage the community.

Because disinterest in this case – or failure to take it on head-on - is acquiescence to evil.

There is law enforcement and there is LAUSD - and between them they hold accountability and must be held accountable.

Because the safety of the children is society's first obligation. - smf

“Casserian Engeri” - which means: “And how are the children?” – is the traditional greeting of the Masai warriors of Africa, acknowledging the high
value the Masai place on the well being of children.  Even Masai with no
children of their own will always give the traditional answer: “All the
children are well”.  | http://bit.ly/wpTlsb

Miramonte Elementary School: TWEETS FROM DrDeasyLAUSD DrDeasyLAUSD John Deasy As an educator and a father, I’m appalled and sickened... notebook.lausd.net/pls/ptl/url/IT…

Berndt Molestation Case: THE FAILURE IS CATASTROPHIC AND ACROSS THE BOARD by Joseph Mailander | CityWatch | http://bit.ly/ArefMO

DrDeasyLAUSD John Deasy Though this has been an extremely difficult week for entire LAUSD community... DrDeasyLAUSD John Deasy We must never lose sight of the fact that the great majority of the teachers are caring, nurturing, and understanding toward their students. all Feb 3 – 3:54pm Los Angeles Unified School District OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA RELATIONS 333 S. Beaudry Ave., 24th floor Los Angeles, CA 90017 Phone: (213) 241-6766 FAX: (213) 241-8952 www.lausd.net 1200 N. Cornwell St. Los Angeles, CA 90033* News Statement February 3, 2012 #11/12-110 Deasy Reacts to Arrest of Second Miramonte E.S. Teacheron Charges of Sexual Misconduct Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy said today that he was “appalled and sickened” at news of the arrest by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department of a second teacher today on suspicion of sexual misconduct at Miramonte Elementary School. “As an educator and a father, I’m appalled and sickened by the allegations against this teacher,” said the Superintendent. “The District is working closely with the entire Miramonte community to deal with the terrible trauma that has arisen as the result of the arrest of Mark Berndt earlier this week and today’s arrest of Martin Springer.” Deasy noted that the District removed Springer from the Miramonte campus yesterday when he first learned of the allegations. He said he will ask the Board of Education early next week to immediately terminate Springer’s employment. “Though this has been an extremely difficult week for the entire LAUSD community,” said Deasy, “we must never lose sight of the fact that the great majority of the teachers in this District are caring, nurturing, and understanding toward their students.” ### * Why the address of Bravo Medical Magnet High School appears on LAUSD Press Releases eludes me – Student Journalism?

02.02.2012   ::  THE MEDDLERS HAVE OVERLOOKED THE KIDS - How could it happen? How could it be that there are so many reprehensible allegations against the same man over the course of a few years, and yet there is not even one public record of a single complaint against him? The allegations coming out of the Mark Berndt case--some of which the LAUSD has had in pocket since last March, when he was fired--are not for the squeamish. In fact, they are barely palatable to hardened detectives. But how--how could it be that there isn't a comprehensive paper trail of parent complaint available? How could not a single child express concern to a single parent, and not a single parent express concern to the failed LAUSD?  "There was no student who ever came forward," Deasy insists. Beyond that, we are only told that the parents of the children are "mostly poor Latinos." The tipoff that Berndt may have committed crimes came from outside of the system--too late for dozens of families. The people who dared to tinker with the education system over the past decade--from the Mayor to the billionaires to the board members to the Superintendent to the perpetually sparring groups who say they're all there for the children--the people who have created the climate of perpetual scapegoating, perpetual finger-wagging, perpetual conflict--these are the people who have given us the kind of system, after so many decades, that produces a result like today's. John Deasy and Monica Garcia should resign their posts immediately. The Mayor should point a finger at himself, for six years of "reforms" that have stressed the District to the point of criminal omission. The UTLA leadership should join him in owning a most grave mea culpa. Education charlatans Eli Broad and Dick Riordan should as well, and should never be allowed to touch education again. Together, these various player-bandits have all failed the children, creating the possibility of this most shameful, most infamous day in the history of public education in Los Angeles, and the nation's worst school day since Columbine. (Joseph Mailander is a writer, an LA observer and a contributor to CityWatch. He is also the author of The Plasma of Terror. Mailander blogs at street-hassle.blogspot.com where this article first appeared.) –cw