Normally, I'm not for the death penalty, but...

[Tyrannical]

Well, I'm just about always for the death penalty.
In fact, I think it isn't used nearly enough and should cover a much wider range of crimes.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That story is so disgusting it feels manufactured to order rather than real.

Fiction doesn't hold a candle to reality.

[Bella Fortuna]

The galling addendum to this story is reported here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/1 ... 68537.html

They fired Berndt. He appealed. The school district counsel was told by law enforcement that they could not investigate the allegations because it might compromise the investigation they were doing for the criminal charges. So, not having any hard proof or the ability to examine witnesses at the appeal hearing, they had to settle with Berndt because they would have lost the case. They settled for $40K. Must have been a terrible thing to have to do but they were between a legal rock and a hard place. Let's hope the criminal trial socks it to him...

[Coito ergo sum]

The galling addendum to this story is reported here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/1 ... 68537.html

They fired Berndt. He appealed. The school district counsel was told by law enforcement that they could not investigate the allegations because it might compromise the investigation they were doing for the criminal charges. So, not having any hard proof or the ability to examine witnesses at the appeal hearing, they had to settle with Berndt because they would have lost the case. They settled for $40K. Must have been a terrible thing to have to do but they were between a legal rock and a hard place. Let's hope the criminal trial socks it to him...

That makes no sense to me. Something doesn't sound right about that.

The cops don't have the authority to tell the school they can't "investigate" something.

My guess is that $40,000 severance was probably in exchange for a complete release of all claims that the teacher might possibly bring against the school. So, just in legal fees alone to handle the "appeal" of his termination and the fees associated with a threatened suit against the school, would be a good bargain. It gets it put to bed, and they wouldn't have to interview students and get the parents all in an uproar. I bet they got him to agree not to participate in any suits against the school by parents of children looking to cash in on the school's failure to properly supervise and failure to properly train. And, if the school knew something about this freak before this happened....well, they will want to keep it all hush hush as much as they can.