Defense Shifts Blame in Molestation Case : Says Principal Responsible for Delay in Report on Bartholome

It was the principal of the 68th Street School, not school district administrator Stuart N. Bernstein, who was responsible for a two-week delay in telling police that a third-grade teacher was suspected of molesting his students, Bernstein’s lawyer suggested Tuesday as he began presenting his case.

The principal informed Bernstein on Dec. 5, 1984, that a parent had conveyed “disturbing information” about teacher Terry E. Bartholome, but when the administrator asked her “what the disturbing information was, she did not know,” the lawyer, Harold Greenberg, told a Los Angeles Municipal Court jury.

In attempting to raise questions about former Principal Alice McDonald, Greenberg said that even after school district police were called, the principal “was confused, could not follow a thought, was inconsistent, could not discuss body function or areas of the body and could not substantiate any improprieties at that time.”

36-Hour Requirement

Bernstein, 48, who as a regional administrator was McDonald’s boss, is accused of violating a state law that requires school officials to inform police within 36 hours if they “reasonably suspect” that a child has been abused.

Greenberg said he would show that Bernstein was the first official to remove Bartholome from the classroom and insist that enough information be gathered to warrant calling police.

Greenberg’s assertions about McDonald contrasted with testimony by the former principal. On Monday, McDonald said she immediately reported to Bernstein a complaint from a mother on Dec. 3, 1984, that Bartholome was “holding girls in his lap, bouncing them up and down and touching them.”

Bernstein’s trial, which began last Thursday, has focused on the period from Dec. 3, 1984, to Dec. 17, 1984, the day that Bernstein called school district police.

Earlier, McDonald had testified in Bartholome’s trial that a parent complained about the teacher as early as Nov. 10, 1983--13 months before police were contacted--and that other complaints were made in March and April, 1984.

At the request of the defense, Municipal Judge Patti J. McKay, who is presiding over the Bernstein case, has ruled that the March and April reports cannot be mentioned in front of the jury. Prosecutors have said that no charges were filed in connection with the earlier complaints because the statute of limitations had expired. Bernstein is charged with five misdemeanor counts and faces a maximum of 30 months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Bartholome is being tried in Los Angeles Superior Court on 32 felonies and 13 misdemeanors involving 17 female pupils.