LAUSD Whitewash: Girls molested, principal charged, rules broken, mistakes made --no one's to blame or held accountable
One more reason to give LAUSD $7 billion more: No one is ever held accountable.
The sordid story of what happened at Markham Middle School in Watts -- a school designated for a model program on keeping kids safe -- has an ugly new chapter thanks to Howard Blume in the Times who had to use the California Public Records Act to pry loose a
"confidential" $200,000 report on how Assistant Principal Steve
Rooney got a second chance to molest girls.
Rooney was pulled out of Foshay Middle School and given administrative duties after LAPD warned the district he was suspected of having an affair with a student and threatening her stepfather with a gun.
In the end the girl wouldn't testify and administrators put Rooney into Markham without following the rules and conducting an internal investigation or letting each other know the whole story about Rooney.
The result is he is charged with molesting four girls now and awaiting trial.
In LAUSD, the result is nothing has changed. The same haphazard notification system is in place. The local district superintendent and another administrator were allowed to plead ignorance of the rules they didn't follow and the district is on the cuff for millions in damages.
"A teacher is exhibiting bizarre behavior, brandishing a firearm, and you're also told he's having sex with a minor," said Gordon Phillips, the attorney for the girls.
"What else do you need to hear?"
T'is the season for political dirty tricks even in Beverly Hills
It's the end of another election season -- this one featuring a seemingly endless multi-billion-dollar presidential campaign -- and that means political operatives are pulling out all stops to win at any cost.
"In the hours before Election Day, as inevitable as winter, comes an onslaught of dirty tricks - confusing e-mails, disturbing phone calls and insinuating fliers left on doorsteps during the night," the Associated Press reported.
It is happening all over the country even in Beverly Hills of all places where voters decide whether to back developer Beny Alagem's massive project at the Beverly Hilton or reject it as "way too big" as opponents argue.
One of the opponents, Councilwoman Nancy Krasne, has found herself the victim of a dirty trick in the campaign's waning days.
On Friday, the Beverly Hills Courier -- recipient of lots of advertising revenue from Alagem and an ardent supporter of what he wants -- ran his full page ad claiming Krasne had switched sides and now supported the project, according to Martha Groves' story in the Times.
In fact, Krasne -- one of the two council members who opposed overturning the Planning Commission's unanimous rejection of the project -- had not changed sides but she did get a dose of Alagem's hardball style.
When she called the president of Alagem's company recently, she was put through to the big boss himself who she said became "extremely agitated and shouted numerous insults" at her, according to an incident report she filed Oct. 18 with the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Krasne quoted Alagem as saying: "I'm going to bury you, Mayor [Barry] Brucker and planning commissioner [Noah] Furie." Brucker voted against the project in May.
Whether naive or just intimidated by Alagem's threat, Krasne tried to make peace by giving Kahan a handwritten conciliatory note last week and a 1990 bottle of Dom Perignon champagne.
He turned down the champagne as inappropriate but used the note "Ted, All my friends seem to be voting yes . . . Good luck! Nancy" --.in an ad in the Courier.
It was headlined: "A Message From Councilwoman Nancy Krasne. Join Nancy Krasne's Friends and Vote YES on Measure H"
One more reason to give LAUSD $7 billion more: No one is ever held accountable.
The sordid story of what happened at Markham Middle School in Watts -- a school designated for a model program on keeping kids safe -- has an ugly new chapter thanks to Howard Blume in the Times who had to use the California Public Records Act to pry loose a
"confidential" $200,000 report on how Assistant Principal Steve
Rooney was pulled out of Foshay Middle School and given administrative duties after LAPD warned the district he was suspected of having an affair with a student and threatening her stepfather with a gun.
In the end the girl wouldn't testify and administrators put Rooney into Markham without following the rules and conducting an internal investigation or letting each other know the whole story about Rooney.
The result is he is charged with molesting four girls now and awaiting trial.
In LAUSD, the result is nothing has changed. The same haphazard notification system is in place. The local district superintendent and another administrator were allowed to plead ignorance of the rules they didn't follow and the district is on the cuff for millions in damages.
"A teacher is exhibiting bizarre behavior, brandishing a firearm, and you're also told he's having sex with a minor," said Gordon Phillips, the attorney for the girls.
"What else do you need to hear?"
T'is the season for political dirty tricks even in Beverly Hills
It's the end of another election season -- this one featuring a seemingly endless multi-billion-dollar presidential campaign -- and that means political operatives are pulling out all stops to win at any cost.
"In the hours before Election Day, as inevitable as winter, comes an onslaught of dirty tricks - confusing e-mails, disturbing phone calls and insinuating fliers left on doorsteps during the night," the Associated Press reported.
It is happening all over the country even in Beverly Hills of all places where voters decide whether to back developer Beny Alagem's massive project at the Beverly Hilton or reject it as "way too big" as opponents argue.
One of the opponents, Councilwoman Nancy Krasne, has found herself the victim of a dirty trick in the campaign's waning days.
On Friday, the Beverly Hills Courier -- recipient of lots of advertising revenue from Alagem and an ardent supporter of what he wants -- ran his full page ad claiming Krasne had switched sides and now supported the project, according to Martha Groves' story in the Times.
In fact, Krasne -- one of the two council members who opposed overturning the Planning Commission's unanimous rejection of the project -- had not changed sides but she did get a dose of Alagem's hardball style.
When she called the president of Alagem's company recently, she was put through to the big boss himself who she said became "extremely agitated and shouted numerous insults" at her, according to an incident report she filed Oct. 18 with the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Krasne quoted Alagem as saying: "I'm going to bury you, Mayor [Barry] Brucker and planning commissioner [Noah] Furie." Brucker voted against the project in May.
Whether naive or just intimidated by Alagem's threat, Krasne tried to make peace by giving Kahan a handwritten conciliatory note last week and a 1990 bottle of Dom Perignon champagne.
He turned down the champagne as inappropriate but used the note "Ted, All my friends seem to be voting yes . . . Good luck! Nancy" --.in an ad in the Courier.
It was headlined: "A Message From Councilwoman Nancy Krasne. Join Nancy Krasne's Friends and Vote YES on Measure H"