Aide Who Delayed Child Abuse Report Given Probation

Los Angeles Unified School District administrator Stuart N. Bernstein was placed on two years probation Monday and ordered to spend 400 hours instructing other educators on the child abuse reporting law he was convicted of violating.

A jury found Bernstein, 49, guilty July 24 of failing to notify city or county law enforcement agencies of suspected child abuse within 36 hours, as required by state law.

The prosecution contended that he waited two weeks to report child molestation complaints about Terry E. Bartholome, a teacher at the 68th Street School in South-Central Los Angeles, and that when he did take action on Dec. 17, 1984, he informed school district police instead of an actual law enforcement agency.

Bernstein, who is believed to be the first person ever convicted of this particular misdemeanor offense, faced a possible maximum sentence of six months in County Jail or a fine of $1,000, or both. But Deputy City Atty. Mary E. House, who prosecuted the case, asked the judge to impose probation and order Bernstein to work in an agency dealing with victims of child abuse “so he’ll see what damage has occurred.”

In choosing instead to have Bernstein inform school and child care personnel about the child-abuse reporting law, Los Angeles Municipal Judge Sidney Cherniss said this was a “message that Dr. Bernstein ought to be heavily qualified to put forward.” The judge also said Bernstein must pay the costs involved in his supervised probation.

Defendant’s View

Bernstein’s attorney did not allow him to be interviewed, but in a statement filed with the court, the administrator said, “I honestly believe I acted in accordance with the law as I understood it. . . . I do not claim ignorance of the law. However, the law is not clear.”

He said in the statement that the case has taken a heavy toll. “Though I am not a child abuser, nor have I been charged with child abuse, media accounts of the events left the impression that I condone that behavior.

“The truth of the matter is that I do not condone the behavior and that I was the only person in the Los Angeles city schools who reported the teacher to the police and removed him from the classroom,” he added.

Bartholome was convicted July 1 in Los Angeles Superior Court of molesting 13 third-graders in 1983 and 1984. He is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.

Effect on Career

Bernstein’s attorney, Harold Greenberg, said outside the courtroom that while the sentence was “relatively mild” it should be seen in the context of how the case affected Bernstein’s career and reputation. Bernstein, a 26-year veteran of the school district who was considered a rising star before the charges were brought, was removed as a region administrator pending the outcome of his case.

School district spokesman Bill Rivera said Bernstein’s future in the school system will be determined at a future meeting of the school board. Two school board members, Roberta Weintraub and Alan Gershman, Schools Supt. Harry Handler and Associate Supts. Jerry Halverson and Irene Yamara were among 25 people who wrote letters in support of Bernstein that are contained in the court file.