26 L.A. Educators Seized in Abuse Cases Since 1980

In the last five years, 26 Los Angeles school district educators have been arrested on suspicion of child abuse or molestation, a spokesman for the district said Friday.

The disclosure of how many educators have been accused of child abuse was first made Thursday by Supt. Harry Handler, who along with teachers’ union leader Wayne Johnson, was interviewed for a taping of the KCBS-TV program, “Newsmakers.”

The school district has been under fire this summer because its administrators failed for more than a year to call police about molestation accusations against a teacher at the 68th Street School.

During the TV program, which will be aired on Sunday at 10 a.m., Handler said 25 district staff members had been charged with some type of child abuse in the last three years. He added that none of those charged is currently employed by the district.

Statement Clarified

District spokesman Bill Rivera later clarified Handler’s statement by quoting an internal district memo that listed 25 teachers and one administrator as being arrested and charged with some type of “child molestation or abuse.”

Not all of the alleged child-abuse incidents involved students under the supervision of the educators, Rivera said.

“This encompasses everything,” Rivera said. “These could be people who were arrested for abusing their own children or they could have been picked up in the park.”