Google Maps

Gratts.

That contrasts with the situation the erupted at Miramonte Elementary School in South L.A., where district officials kept parents in the dark for months regarding the unspeakable allegations levied against teacher Mark Berndt.

In this case ...

Villaraigosa / Facebook

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who once vowed to take over the L.A. school district and who has tried to reshape its elected board in his image, had been silent for weeks on the matter, even as it was revealed that one of the accused at Miramonte, Mark Berndt, had been paid $40,000 and was allowed to leave quietly with is pension intact.

But now ...

Nishihara's Twitter photo

The 29-year-old was arrested yesterday after a student said he touched her inappropriately.

That report was made last Thursday, but after interviewing students and others Monday, sheriff's special victims detectives went to Nishihara's Cerritos home ...

Wouter Kersbergen

One of the stranger outcomes will be that fourth graders will no longer be blindfolded for an exercise designed to test and strengthen kids senses.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the sex scandal, but:

Claremont Colleges Digital Library

Despite what we've been told about federal Title 9 guidelines requiring parents and students to be notified when someone at their campus is accused of sexual improprieties with students, the public was kept in the dark. Even the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing, which can pull an instructor's teaching papers, was out of the loop.

Following the Miramonte Elementary School sex abuse scandal, no longer:

A scene from L.A. Unified.

The crux of the story: George Hernandez, a career substitute teacher, was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior in front of or with grade-school students three times but continued teaching and, when he came to the end of his ropes at the district, simply left for Inglewood Unified.

We already know that the L.A. Unified School District paid alleged student molester Mark Berndt $40,000 to go away.

It's an astonishing fact, even though the district contends that the payoff was the only way to get him to leave as he appealed the disciplinary case against him (last spring, long before his arrest last month on similar allegations).

But here, thanks to intrepid Weekly reporter Beth Barrett, we have the actual document that put this suspect in the money:

KPCC

Not a child molester?

Yet for once, nobody really cares.

That's because the accusations are coming from alleged Miramonte Elementary sex monster Mark Berndt, in whose possession Sheriff's investigators found hundreds of photos of third-graders ...

Audra B.

This morning we told you that claims of sexual improprieties at public schools were through the roof following the horrific allegations at Miramonte Middle School last month.

This latest case involves a teacher at Gleason Middle School in Tujunga, and L.A. Weekly has learned his name and even the apparent nature of the accusations:

Brad Flickinger

But now we have to ask if the scandal at Miramonte Elementary School has inspired victims to come forward, or if it has simply opened a door for people to complain about things that might not be criminal.

The Daily Breeze this week cracked open the abuse-allegation books at L.A. Unified School District and found that claims of sex abuse have gone through the roof in the wake of Miramonte:

Dumb parents at Miramonte.

A school district that failed to let parents know an alleged molester on the loose for nearly a year. A teachers' union that puts its people over your kids (suspect Mark Berndt will keep a pension no matter what). The alleged pervs themselves -- Berndt, Martin Springer and Ricardo Guevara (actually that last one was convicted).

But really, there's only one dark force we can truly blame here:

Getty Images

The Miramonte effect: molester-phobia is spreading across L.A.

The October 8 arrest of a former third-grade teacher at Telfair Elementary -- Paul William Chapel, 50 -- is the latest big reveal in the media hunt for more LAUSD child molesters, after Miramonte Elementary was found to be a cesspool for pervy adults.

The LA Daily News reports that Chapel...

KPCC

A photo of Berndt released by attorneys suing the district.

If it weren't for his eventual arrest, we might have never found out about the atrocities alleged to have happened in Mark Berndt's Miramonte Elementary School class.

That's because the L.A. Unified School District's elected board quietly paid Berndt to go away, according to an astonishing report by KPCC's (89.3 FM) Tami Abdollah today.

Taxpayer money was given to Berndt:

As if they don't have enough to worry about.

And that should come as no surprise: Rough estimates have placed close to 1 million illegal immigrants in Los Angeles County. And whenever law enforcement or press come sniffing, the paperless are at risk of being outed.

This fear has reportedly played a large factor in the sheriff's probe of Miramonte Elementary in unincorporated South L.A.:

LAUSD

Who's right and who's wrong shouldn't even matter at this point. Sheriff's investigators believe there might be as many as 25 additional victims of suspect and ex-Miramonte teacher Mark Berndt.

But the union, silent on the matter until Monday, is whining:

A photo of "Mrs. Luisjuan" on what appears to be her MySpace profile.

There are certainly some creepy bits:

Berndt.

In fact, according to the suit, the school's resolution following her father's complaints about inappropriate photos allegedly taken by Berndt was to move his daughter to the care of Springer, who was charged this week with three counts of lewd acts on a child.

Berndt, as you know ...

Springer.

A firestorm was sparked when ex-Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt was charged last week with 23 counts of unspeakable acts against children under his care: But he wasn't fired because he's retired. And, FYI, he's taking home more than $3,800 a month on pension pay.

Anyway, the lucky winners of today's unemployment are ...

LAUSD

Miramonte.

Actually, he's not accused. He's convicted.

The story of Ricardo Guevara is getting renewed attention this week after the Los Angeles Times and Univision 34 broke his story last Thursday.

According to the Times:

LAUSD

However, many staff members would be allowed to eventually return, according to the Los Angeles Times.

It appeared to be a move to appease angry parents, who pulled one out of every four students from school today: