Miramonte Elementary School... A Scene of Anger and Uncertainty

Many outraged parents say they're planning to keep their children away today from Miramonte Elementary School, where two teachers were arrested last week on allegations of lewd acts and sexual crimes against students.

The campus is expected to remain open today but stay closed on Tuesday and Wednesday while the allegations remain under investigation and two Miramonte teachers face criminal charges for sexual misconduct with students.

Parents have said their kids may not be in classes at Miramonte today while they participate in a 7 a.m. rally outside the school and await a 6 p.m. meeting with Los Angeles Unified School District officials.

Former third-grade Miramonte teacher Mark Henry Berndt, 61, was arrested Monday for allegedly taking photos of students who were blindfolded, had tape over their mouths and spoons of his semen held to their lips. He had taught at the school for 30 years.

Four days later, on Friday, a second Miramonte teacher, Martin Bernard Springer, 49, of Alhambra, was arrested on suspicion of lewd conduct including allegedly fondling two female students.

Several attorneys, including Luis A. Carrillo of South Pasadena, have scheduled a 10 a.m. news conference outside the school today to announce the filing of claims against the District on behalf of three victims in Berndt's case.

The attorneys allege that school officials have "failed to provide the counseling that the school district promised to provide to students, and the parents have had to hire their own psychologists for the children." District officials have scheduled at 6 p.m. meeting with Miramonte
parents at nearby South Region .2 High School.

LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, who has described the allegations against Berndt as "despicable," said he would ask the school board Tuesday to fire Springer, as it has done with Berndt.

"As an educator and a father, I'm appalled and sickened by the allegations against this teacher," Deasy said. "The district is working closely with the entire Miramonte community to deal with the terrible trauma that has arisen as the result of the arrest of Mark Berndt earlier this week
and 1/8Friday's 3/8 arrest of Martin Springer."

Berndt, who is charged with abusing 23 children between 2005 and 2011, is being held in lieu of $23 million -- $1 million per alleged victim -- and scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 21 at the Metropolitan Branch Courthouse. Springer is being held on $2 million bail after being arrested as he emerged from a LAUSD building at 107th Street and Western Avenue. The allegations against him involve girls who were about seven years old when they were "allegedly fondled in a classroom" sometime in the past three years, according to Sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker.