THE ABUSE ABYSS Most recently, the Defense of Freedom Institute uncovered “a systemic failure by federal, state, and local authorities to prevent sexual abuse of students in public schools.” Released on May 31, Catching the Trash finds that public schools have experienced an epidemic of sexual abuse and that federal, state, and local authorities have not done enough to ensure that students are protected during the school day.
Some of the egregious cases of teachers sexually abusing their students are well publicized. Perhaps none more so than Mark Berndt, who did terrible things to children for years at Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles. Shockingly, he would blindfold his second graders and feed them cookies smeared with his semen. The remedy employed by the Los Angeles Unified School District when Berndt was busted in 2012 was to bar lessons involving blindfolds and classroom-made butter. Seriously.