This is an
elementary school where children learn and play with their friends. Parents
trust these teachers and the staff with their most precious assets, their
children. School officials and police have been investigating Mark Berndt since
March of last year. Keeping surveillance on him since being fired from his
teaching job, to make sure he comes in no contact with children. Why is this
some of you may be wondering? Mark likes to play cruel and sexual games with
the students at Miramonte Elementary School.
Mark 61 year old teacher for 30 plus years
http://youtu.be/Ec6ngISnWuA
would blindfold children and duct tape their hands together and spoon feed the
children his semen, also putting roaches on their faces. The children ranged
from ages 7-10 and the officials doing the investigations have proof that these
acts have been going on at least from 2008-2010. The parents are in outrage
because they were not notified sooner of this investigation, just to give them
a heads up and to clarify any misconceptions they possibly had about what was
taking place on the school grounds.
Being a parent
this would absolutely outrage me, not being able to have a piece of mind that
my child is safe in their own school. The parents in the video speak about how
can, parents and schools know he didn’t have some sort of disease and pass it
on to the children. Hence the reason the parents should have been informed
sooner, than later. A major concern is how are these sexual offenders getting
pass background and DCFS checks? This is not the only time where there have
been some sort of sexual advances towards children, in the education field. Do
you remember the infamous teacher Mary Kay (35) who had two children with her
student Vili Faulaa (12) and after getting out of prison married Faulaa, after
a divorce from the husband she had an affair on? It’s common for this to go on
and it seems as not much is done although it is in the media for a while it
tends to fade out of existence until another incident happens. Schools public
and private need to find better ways to crackdown on things of this nature, so
innocent minors will not get hurt in the process.
The classroom
where Mark Berndt taught was tested through forensic and semen was found all
around the class. Berndt is said to have molested at least 23 children. If
convicted of this crime, Berndt will face life in prison without the
possibility of parole. Parents should be more aware of their children schools
by making unannounced visit and talking frequently to teachers to ensure there
is nothing different in the teacher’s behavior. We as parents can’t always
blame police and schools officials, parents must act as the security guard for
their child and be their voices. Children this young maybe scared to speak,
because of what was told to them by the authority figure, this means parent
should take time out of their schedules and ask the children questions. Digging
deep may stop the next Mark Berndt from preying on other young innocent minors.
RESOURCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Kay_Letourneau
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/mark-berndt-arrested-miramonte-school_n_1247317.html
http://youtu.be/Ec6ngISnWuA
Interesting post! I have not heard about this particular incident. That is so disturbing! I find it very scary to think that these poor parents had no clue. In most cases, people think that school would be one of the safest places for their children. It's sad to say but parents can't hardly trust anyone anymore! The world has become so messed up that it is hard to leave your children with anyone. I hope this guy is convicted for life. I also feel that people need to start doing a more extensive background check on teachers or anyone that works around young children.
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DeleteVery disturbing post to say the least. I couldn't agree with you more that parents need to be more involved in their kid's life. It's really unfortunate that incidents like this, the Cleveland child abuse scandal of 1987, as well as the more recent Penn State scandal occur. Child abuse scandals put a black eye on our already struggling education system and leave parents worrying for their kid's well-being.
ReplyDeleteA problem that I can see with background checks for teachers and those that work with young people is that many of these individuals have no prior criminal history so they won't show up during a screening prior to being hired.
I can't believe stuff like this happens in schools, and I'm sure it happens more often than most people think. The fact that in this case the parents weren't notified immediately about the investigation being done is outrageous. When sending their children to school no one expects things like this to happen. It is disturbing how schools can be unsafe for the children and people like this are being hired. I noticed someone else talking about how the teachers may not have a prior criminal history and that is why they are passing the background checks. This makes sense and then they are getting away with these crimes for many years before it is brought to attention. Clearly something needs to be done to prevent these crimes from happening in schools.
ReplyDeleteThis post is very disturbing and eye-opening. I had not heard about this scandal, but I'm sure I won't soon forget! I think it's very sad that this went on so long undetected. I would have thought that some of the kids would have spoken up about this to their parents, but I think it's a sign that parents need to be more active in their children's education and lives. Not that this is the parent's fault. It is the fault of a seriously sick and twisted person, but perhaps he could have been discovered more quickly if the parents of these kids had been more involved.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is so crazy. I was just joking, well kind of joking, to a friend saying how after watching the Penn State thing and other stories, that I was going to spy and just randomly pop up on my kids classes and practices. Now after reading this, I really do think I am going to do that. I understand why the police would not want to compromise the investigation by telling the parents, but at the same time, as a parent I would want to know first. I think that situations like this really stress the need to embedd in your children at the youngest age possible that it is okay to tell you ANYTHING. No matter what, good, bad, confusing because you never know who the people are that have access to you children.
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy. Stuff like this should not happen in the schools but sometimes it unfortunately does. I don't know how a man like this was able to pass background checks and get the job, but this shows that background investigations have to be much more strict. I feel for these children having to be put through this. This man should be punished in the worst way possible. If this man did those kind of things to my children then I would personally beat his a** with no remorse(sorry and excuse my language).
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely disgusting. I found many parts of this specific situation that were infuriating. Beyond the fact that this disturbed individual spoon fed his semen to young children, the fact that parents were not immediately told about the investigation is wrong. The authorities should have informed all parents in the school district immediately. This man had no place in a classroom full of innocent children. The reality is there are many messed up individuals in this world, background checks are essential when the nature of work involves children. Ultimately, they are the victims of a flawed system.
ReplyDeleteThis man is repulsive and I am just as appalled at these findings as everyone else is on this blog/comment thread. I found this article on CNN.com explaining that the entire staff of the elementary school will be be replaced and moved to different schools. In this new article which was updated today, it states that two teachers have been arrested for lewd acts upon students. I have to wonder who the other teacher was and if anyone else in the school knew about the incident. Penn State all over again?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2012/02/06/justice/california-teacher-bondage-photos/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
This is honestly sick. Besides the main issue of sexual harassment and that the children’s parents were not being notified, how is it possible this man got hired in the first place? Schools need to have extensive background checks and interviews to ensure that these types of people are never allowed near a school, let alone teaching in one. It’s quite sad that these children didn’t speak up to their parents about their teacher’s behaviors. I feel that it is the responsibility of the school system, fellow educators, and the parents to make sure that any unusual or specious behavior is reported. I feel sad knowing that this situation could have been avoided and that these kids will have to grow up having the mental and emotional drawbacks of being sexually harassed.
ReplyDeleteI'm seeing in other posts people are wondering how he was ever hired; clearly he has never been caught or else he would definitely be on the sex offender lists. It is very sad that this went on for so long and no child spoke of it to their parents and I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that these children were between 7-10 years of age. These innocent children are naive and most likely did not really understand what was going on and if it was right or wrong. Maybe schools should start teaching about sexual perpetrators, sex ed, what is right or wrong when it comes to such issues, at an earlier age, before high school. Obviously "too young" should not be an issue, especially when these children are the main targets and are experiencing these horribe things first hand.
ReplyDeleteThis does nothing but piss me off. It is amazing how mentally sick some people are. I agree that the parents should definitely have been told what was going on. It is the schools responsibility to care for these children when they are in their custody. I agree that parents should make random visits to school and know their childrens teacher personally to possibly catch something like this if going on. I just feel terrible for these children who will have to live with these incidents the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteWow i almost couldn't finish reading the first paragraph of this, how absolutely horrifying. I cant believe that stuff like this is happening within our schools and it is truly disgusting. It amazes me how some people get teaching jobs i mean how do they clear their background checks and what not. I think that school districts should go above and beyond when deciding on what teacher should work in their schools. Those could be our children that were victim to that teachers horrible doings and i know that i would be enraged if that ever happened to my child.
ReplyDeleteMark Berndt is a disgusting human being. A 61 year old man that has taught for 30 plus years and now he is under investigation? My question would be for how many years has this been going on and why is it all of a sudden coming into the public’s perspective. I cannot believe a man that is suppose too be a promising educator for young elementary students would stoop to the level of feeding his own semen to his students in addition to putting roaches on their faces could possibly think that is morally correct. This baffles me to think that this has been subsequently going on from a number of years and not one student had thought of telling their parents what was going on, or that the other educators had no idea what was being done. Where was the administration while this was happening? I thought that teachers were supposed to know what was happening in their classrooms to help keep the children safe, so can any of the blame be on them should be the question. The schools need to crack down and make sure that the educators they hired are individuals that can be trusted if not and something like this happens they need to take part in being responsible to those children and parents in which this happens to.
ReplyDeleteIt just goes to show you what kind of sick and disgusting people that live in this world. Things like this shouldn't be happening in elementary schools. Parents and schools need to be more involved and be on the lookout for warning signs. It seems to me that this is happening way to often and it just needs to stop.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard about this case until now, but that is an absolute disgrace to the human race. He deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest possible extent of the law. It really does go to show that it is hard to trust people in this messed up world we're living in. It just furthers my belief that parents need to be as proactive in their childrens lives as possible. It also goes to show that a healthy relationship between children and their parents is key in being able to uncover things such as this. If kids felt comfortable talking to their parents about things that were happening at school, things like this could be uncovered sooner. It also goes to show the need for better supervision in our schools and opens up the debate about whether or not schools should have security guards or surveillance in the classroom. But none the less, very interesting post.
ReplyDeleteI agree that parents are in some cases to blame for the misconduct being able to continue. I am a parent of two and let me tell you that I would be more then outraged if this or anything like this ever happened to my children. I talk to my children everyday. I don't understand how this could have gone on for so long. I would think that the police and the parents are both to blame here. I have to stop I am very mad at this subject.
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