Imagine you’re watching the news one evening and you see a report about a middle-aged man who bound and gagged small children (telling them it was just a fun game), fed them his own semen and took pictures of it all. Now imagine when his picture was shown on the screen that you realize this man was your child’s elementary school teacher. Now you realize that those children were his students and those pictures were taken at school. Horrified? So were the parents of students at Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles county this week when it was discovered that 63-year-old teacher Mark Berndt had been charged with 23 counts of lewd acts on children. Berndt allegedly regularly told children they were going to play a “tasting game”, then blindfolded them and in some cases put tape over their mouths. He then fed students a “milky” substance on a spoon and on top of cookies. Later DNA testing confirmed that this substance was indeed Berndt’s own semen. He also ran cockroaches over the faces and mouths of the children. Berndt took pictures of these encounters. It was an alert photo technician who processed a batch of 35mm photos from Berndt and became alarmed when the first photo that dropped pictured a child blindfolded and gagged with clear tape. Although it was not necessarily explicit, the technician thankfully felt uneasy enough to contact the authorities. “This occurred in his regular classroom with his students,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Scott. “It wasn’t done in secrecy. The only secret was what the ‘game’ was really about.” School officials claim Berndt was immediately let go upon the revelation of the charges. However, that was over a year ago and parents were never alerted that there was even an investigation happening at all. Many of them learned the same way the rest of Los Angeles County did – from the evening news. Understandably, many were outraged that the school had kept this information under wraps for so long. Berndt is currently being held on a 2.3million dollar bail.
All of that is enough to turn even the strongest of stomachs. Outrage is natural. However, the biggest outrage may still be yet to come. According to California state law (negotiated with the teacher’s union years ago) Berndt will still be eligible to collect his full pension and benefits even if he is convicted. Under the rules, a teacher who is fired or suspended is allowed to take early retirement and collect on their benefits packages in perpetuity, regardless of any criminal convictions, even if those convictions came as a direct result of their career in education. As we speak, Berndt is collecting nearly $4000/month. California taxpayers are paying $4000 a month to a man who bound and gagged his own students and fed them his own semen…thanks to the teachers union and the Democrat pansies who run the state. There is no recourse for the taxpayer. This is California law. If you live in California (as I do), I’m sure you feel so comforted knowing the state forces your children to attend failing public schools which deliberately cover up horrific crimes such as playing out bondage fantasies with your children, then send you the bill. Imagine – $4000/month so your kid’s teacher can feed her his semen in the classroom. Still think it’s “all about the children”, as the teachers’ unions remind us every time there’s a cut to their clearly exorbitant benefits packages? The next time your district goes on strike (and they will, they always do), head down to the picket line with a picture of Mark Berndt juxtaposed with his benefits package that he will now receive for life and ask them if they really believe their union negotiates with the best interest of the children in mind. If they say yes, make them defend Berndt. We should all be making the California teachers’ unions defend this monster and the policies that support him. Maybe some of them will finally hear themselves and realize just how much of a sickness these unions have become to the general public who pays them.
crossposted at kiradavis.net
