LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Unified School District has recently received reports of five separate incidents of employees engaging in inappropriate activities with students.
Paul Adame, a janitor at Germain Street Elementary, was arrested Feb. 6 for allegedly performing a lewd act on a student, the Los Angeles Times reports. The mother of the student went to police on Feb. 5 to report that “inappropriate contact” had occurred between Adame and her child.
The mother of another student reported to authorities that her 11-year-old son received love letters from a teacher’s aide, the Associated Press reports. The aide acknowledged that she wrote the letters, but said she had a “grandmotherly affection for the boy.”
Additionally, the entire staff at Miramonte Elementary School was removed in response to two investigations of abuse. Former teacher Mark Berndt has been accused of blindfolding children and feeding them semen. Martin Springer was arrested Feb. 3 for allegedly fondling two girls in his classroom.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is also investigating claims by a former student that he showered with Hamilton High School music magnet teacher Vance Miller, 59, along with two other students, reports KPCC.
According to Ashley Willis, who formerly attended Hamilton High School, for years there were rumors on campus that Miller was engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct with students.
“There were so many allegations about him when I was there from 1998 to 2002,” she tells Campus Safety. “Some students would joke about it, but some were afraid to report it because they were afraid of the repercussions.”
In 2010, Vance was named “Southern California Outstanding Music Teacher of the Year.”
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