Video: School officials in Los Angeles will remove the entire staff of the elementary school where investigators are looking into two separate cases of alleged child abuse.(Feb. 7)
LOS ANGELES — The entire staff at a Los Angeles elementary school is being removed while authorities investigate horrific allegations of sexual abuse by two of the school’s teachers, one of whom is accused of blindfolding children, taping their mouths and photographing them in a classroom.
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy said Monday night that more than 120 staff members at Miramonte Elementary School — everyone from the principal and teachers to the cafeteria workers — were being replaced because a full investigation of the allegations will be disruptive and staffers will require support to get through the scandal.
“We intend to interview every adult, every adult who works at that school, whether they are a teacher or administrator, or whether they are an after-school playground worker or a custodian or a secretary. I mean every single solitary adult who works at Miramonte,” Deasy said to parents who packed a high school gymnasium.
An entire staff has been selected to come into Miramonte’s classrooms to take over teaching for the time being, and there will be a psychiatric social worker in every classroom to help students and staff cope with any issues.
All employees will be paid during the investigation, district spokesman Tom Waldman said. Officials didn’t know how long the investigation would take.
“The last thing I’m worried about is a budget issue,” Deasy said. “The No. 1 thing I’m worried about is the students.”
School officials canceled classes on Tuesday and Wednesday as a cooling-off and transition period, Waldman said. All current staff members will report to another location, where they will be interviewed, he said. The new staff will report on Thursday.
Deasy emphasized that all new staff members being brought into the classroom went through a “very rigorous screening process.”
He added Miramonte staff members are having a difficult time understanding this situation.
“I’m mostly overwhelmed by how grieved they are, how upset they are, how broken their own personal trust is. In many ways, they are victimized too,” Deasy said. “They taught in this school for years and assumed everyone else was doing good things.”
United Teachers Los Angeles said in a statement that union leaders and staff have met with instructors at Miramonte.
“We support a thorough, vigorous and fair investigation of all allegations,” the statement said. “It’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure that any and all allegations are thoughtfully and carefully investigated.”
Miramonte parents were happy to hear the news first from the superintendent. They have complained bitterly that they weren’t informed about the yearlong investigation. Many heard the sordid details on news reports or from the TV crews camped out at the school’s entrance.
School officials said they deferred to sheriff’s detectives, who asked them not to divulge details that might affect their investigation.
Maria Jimenez, 51, said the parents are divided over the decision to remove the school’s 88 teachers and 40 other staff members.
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