"Former Miramonte Student Allegedly Beaten At New School" by Howard Blume

In the Los Angeles Times, Howard Blume wrote an article about a former Miramonte student who was beaten at her new school. At Miramonte Elementary School, a student who is among a group who is suing for sexual misconduct between student and teacher, transferred to another school in order to be safer. After transferring she was beat up by other students, which was unrelated to the incidents that occurred at Miramonte. An attorney representing the family, alleges that the principle and staff at Drew Middle School were slow to respond to the bullying against the student. The mother, on the first day of school told the administration about a text-message threat that her daughter received, a week later she was beaten by three girls, and lastly she received a threat on Facebook, said Luis A. Carrillo. The girl is among twenty four alleged victims, and the teacher Mark Berndt is arrested for twenty three counts of lewd conduct. Berndt has pleaded not guilty. Parents feel that the district did not respond properly to the allegations presented by the parents before Berndts arrest. A district attorney says that a transfer was made, but they did not know whether the allegations were proved or that the students were disciplined. Carrillo says he found out about the transfer approval on Thursday. Greg Mcnair, an attorney for the Los Angeles Unified School District says that if a parent feels that their child is not safe or is threatened can file for a transfer. He also mentioned that alleged victims are not automatically transferred, because that could be punishing the victim, and that it could be hard for the district to verify and evaluate text-messages. If a student feels unsafe or threatened they should not be afraid to speak up and tell their parents or an adult, because as long as one is quiet about the situation it will continue and get much worse.