[Cooper:] We have another "Keeping Them Honest" report for you tonight. You think your kids are safe at school. It may be far from the truth for more than two dozen students at a California elementary school. Take a look at this man. He's 61-year-old Mark Berndt. A 30- year teaching veteran is behind bars tonight in Los Angeles County accused of lewd acts on a child. Not one child, but many. He's accused of taking at least 400 bondage photographs of students in his 3rd grade classroom, at least 400 taken over a five- year period from 2005 to 2010. They show what some call in-class sex games. The images are so disturbing we certainly can't show them on television. We don't even want to go into details of what went on in the pictures. So for 23 students between ages of 7 and 10 have been identified in the photos. Authorities say there are at least 10 others they are trying to identify. Now this investigation began back in October of 2010 when a photo technician at a CVS Drugstore told police he found disturbing images of kids blindfolded. It wasn't until three months later, January of 2011, when L.A. County sheriff deputies contacted school authorities who removed him from the elementary school. Then he reportedly tried to fight his firing and eventually just resigned from his teaching job at school so he could keep his pension. Because he wasn't fired he was able to do that. He gets to keep his nearly $4,000 a month pension and his health benefits. The L.A. Sheriff's Department said allegations were made against him also nearly 20 years ago. But get this, prosecutors decided not to press charges back then because they determined there wasn't enough evidence to prove that a crime had occurred. Decades later there are charges, serious charges and investigators say he took serious advantage of the students.
[Sgt. Dan Scott, L.a. Sheriff's Department, Special Victims Unit:] The children felt this was a game. They didn't realize they were being victimized. They thought they were just being blindfolded and gagged as a game.
[Cooper:] Well, it went beyond blindfolding and gags. Now tonight, there is another troubling case at the exact same school. Another teacher was arrested today at the same school. This man, 49- year-old, Morton Bernard Springer. He's accused of fondling two 7-year-old girls in a classroom. The alleged attacks happened in the past three years, again, at the same school. Joining me now is John Deasy, Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. I mean, I guess the question on everybody's mind is how could this have happened on school premises in a classroom?
[John Deasy, Superintendent, Los Angeles Unified School District:] That's why we are investigating it. That's why we are working with the police to try to understand that and how it could have happened over that period of time.
[Cooper:] If school officials, if you viewed the charges against the teacher as grave enough to warrant being fired right away, should parents have been alerted what was going on at the school for more than a year?
[Deasy:] So we followed the direction of the police like I assume you do also and when the police tell you to act and do a certain thing, we follow that. The police were very clear that we were not to be involved in the investigation. We followed everything to the letter of the law that they directed us to do.
[Cooper:] What's amazing to me though is this guy still gets a pension. I mean, that this guy still gets lifetime health benefits, nearly $4,000 a month as part of the pension. That's a pension I think that California taxpayers, even the alleged victims' families are paying for.
[Deasy:] I think it's outrageous. I think that's part of the law that absolutely should be changed in California currently. There are other very high profile cases too that raise this question that you raise. I happen to agree with you.
[Cooper:] Even while this guy has been fired though, he was able to challenge the firing and resign, which allowed him to keep his pension. I have read studies about how hard it is in California to fire bad teachers. Not just teachers who have done committed a crime like this, but I mean, just terrible teachers out there. For you, do you want to see the change? Is that one of the things you would like to see change?
[Deasy:] Absolutely. I mean, there are two other parts of the law, which make no sense to me whatsoever and that is in a case like this, not all cases, in a case like this where someone is clearly being investigated for either being involved in drugs and narcotics or being involved in any kind of criminal act involving a youth that investigation should take place when they are not being paid. The second part is that when a person in California, the superintendent and the board recommend the person be terminated, they are not the last say in the process. There is a whole process involving an administrative law judge and a panel of three teachers who ultimately make the final decision.
[Cooper:] So there are other teachers who are really deciding and the administrative law judge, whether or not a fellow teacher gets fired.
[Deasy:] That's correct.
[Cooper:] I mean, that's obviously I mean, that's just a system that's not tenable. There have been so many cases. I just remember reading about a case in California of a teacher who told a kid who attempted suicide that, you know, you couldn't even do that right and making fun of him essentially. That guy got to keep his job.
[Deasy:] You know, we have thousands of phenomenal teachers, but in the cases like this, I agree with you. That law has got to be changed.
[Cooper:] Several of this person's former students reported him in the early 1990s for inappropriate conduct in the classroom. One said he tried to grope her while two others said he appeared to be fondling himself during class. One of them says she was told by a guidance counselor at the time that, quote, "It's not very good to make stories up." She said it was our imagination. It was never talked about again. Were those earlier allegations not taken seriously by your district?
[Deasy:] Apparently so, I mean, I have not spoken to that person. Clearly, it was only recently as a year in this job. We are looking into every administrator who ran that school over that period of time, everybody who is in charge of the school. Everybody who gave advice to that school and the administration of that to try to understand exactly what could possibly have happened.
[Cooper:] Police have now just arrested another teacher in the same school as this teacher who was taking these photographs.
[Deasy:] That's correct. We were there this morning. We were the individuals who the information came forward to us yesterday. We turned it over to the police. He was arrested today and I trust will be successfully prosecuted.
[Cooper:] He's accused I believe of attempting to molest two girls around 7 years old. Is that in any way connected to this other guy who was taking the pictures?
[Deasy:] It was a separate set of students and it was a separate type of incident. Whether they are connected or not I don't know.
[Cooper:] I guess at this point, how do you reassure parents that their kids are safe?
[Deasy:] By doing the very things that we do. When this administration finds an individual who crosses the line, who at all breaks that sacred trust of having a student in their care, we will remove and fire them.
[Cooper:] Listen, Superintendent Deasy, I appreciate you being on. We'll obviously continue to follow this. Thank you.
[Deasy:] Thank you, sir.
[Cooper:] Let's get a different perspective on this incredibly troubling case. Areva Martin is a children's advocate and disability rights attorney, she joins me from Los Angeles. Does it sound to you like this 1994 allegation against the teacher were handled properly?
[Areva Martin, Children's Advocate:] Not at all, Anderson. I'm really concerned about the fact that the allegations that were made by the students earlier in the 1990-1991 school year were not apparently a part of the 1994 investigation. So you have students complaining about this teacher as early as 1990-91 saying he's fondling himself. He's involved in inappropriate, you know, activity before these students, but yet, no one takes them seriously and that's not a part as far as we know today of that investigation.
[Cooper:] The district attorney's office said there wasn't enough evidence back then to justify charges being brought and if you can't bring charges, you can't fire the guy, can't get rid of him.
[Martin:] Yes, I have a real problem with that, Anderson. You know, the school district is not held to a criminal standard. So the school district doesn't have to have criminal charges before it can say, you know, we have concerned about you being in the classroom. We don't think that you're fit, that you're going to be appropriate. Ultimately, the school district has a responsibility to keep children safe. Just hands down, unequivocally that's their responsibility. This is a case where the system has failed these kids.
[Cooper:] But isn't that one of thing that, you know we just talked to the superintendent who said, I would like to be able to fire teachers more easily, but it's not even up to the superintendent. They have to go through this review panel of fellow teachers and the school districts spend millions of dollars every year just trying to get rid of a few bad teachers and often are unable to do that.
[Martin:] Well, Anderson, you know, there is something wrong with a system that says we can't do anything except warehouse teachers. We take them out of the classroom and we put them in a district office and we go through months and months, you know, of hearing and investigations before we can do anything. Here are the kids, the most vulnerable people in our society. You know, parents entrust their kids to the school. Professionals who are supposedly vetted and who are supposed to be there to protect and teach and it's not acceptable to say, you know, my hands are tied.
[Cooper:] It's also incredible to me that this teacher will continue to get his pension and the superintendent says his hands are tied. There is really nothing he can do from keeping him from cashing in. Health benefits the rest of his life and his pension, $4,000 a month.
[Martin:] You talk about creative lawyering. I would like to see some really incredibly creative lawyer make the argument that this guy should not receive those benefits because he should have been taking compensation for engaging in moral turpitude. He was being paid to teach. Now we know he wasn't teaching. He was doing everything except what he was being taught. There is a provision that says you somehow gained those benefits fraudulently, you are not entitled to them. So I think we should keep our eye on this because there may be some creative lawyering that makes it possible for this guy not to receive those benefits.
[Cooper:] Is the school district, could they be liable from the parents of some of these kids? I mean, that this teacher was able to stay in the classroom and abuse kids for years?
[Martin:] Absolutely, Anderson. I think we are going to see some lawsuits. I think we're going to see of parents filing lawsuits saying that there was negligent supervision. That this guy had a history. That there wasn't proper investigation of some complaints made by the students in the 1990-1991 school year and that the school district knew reasonably were put on notice that this guy his conduct was reprehensible and he was a danger to these kids. I think we're going to see lots of civil lawsuits being filed.
[Cooper:] It's such an unthinkable case and yet but the fact they have now arrested a second person in the same school, whether or not it's directly related is just stunning.
[Martin:] Wake-up call, Anderson, a true wake up for school districts all over the country to take note of this. These kids need the adults. They need protection. We have to do better.
[Cooper:] Areva Martin, I appreciate you being on.
[Martin:] Thank you. Always my pleasure, Anderson.
[Cooper:] Yes, wakeup call indeed. Let's get some of the other stories we are following. Susan Hendricks is back with the "360 Bulletin."
[Susan Hendricks, Cnn Correspondent:] Anderson, we start in Egypt. The health ministry said two people were killed and more than 1,400 injured in clashes between police and protesters. Reports about lax security at the deadly soccer game riot have led to new protests on the street there. The United Nations has declared an end to famine conditions in Somalia citing long awaited rain as well as humanitarian aid over the last six months. Still more than two million people need emergency humanitarian assistance down from four million. To Colorado, blizzard conditions have shutdown 70 miles of interstate and cancelled hundreds of flights at Denver International Airport. Parts of the area could get up to two feet of snow before it starts tapering off about tomorrow morning. Check this out. Dare devil, Bellow Knox soared over a circus tent in Sarasota, Florida performing on a trapeze attached to a helicopter. Why not? The circus said there is no safety net and the only thing holding him up is his own strength and maybe his hair Anderson.
[Cooper:] All right, have a good weekend. Coming up, not familiar with one little piece of baseball jargon and all hell breaks loose around here. "The Ridiculist" is next.