‘Somebody Messed Up’

I agree with the point you made in your editorial (Oct. 22), “Somebody Messed Up,” that the child molestation case against Terry E. Bartholome is truly shocking. Shocking that the Los Angeles Unified School District would hire a man who had been arrested for exposing himself. Shocking that the school district did not take 2 1/2 years of complaints seriously. Shocking that “police were not contacted until more than a year after parents and students first complained about his lewd conduct in the classroom.”

I can’t understand why the evidence against Bartholome was hidden by school officials. Why they chose to protect him, and not the children. If a teacher has been accused of molesting children he should be reported to the police, not merely transferred to another school, enabling him to commit more crimes. The school officials had no right to keep such information away from the police.

We should not allow disturbed individuals, such as Bartholome, to work with our children. In order to save our children from such traumatic experiences we will have to listen to them. Children need to be heard, especially since they may be crying out for our help.

Of course it is frightening for parents (and our society in general) to hear about molestation cases. But I wonder, if the complaints against Bartholome had been taken seriously, how many children would have been saved from his sexual and emotional abuse.

ELIZABETH SARBACKER

South Pasadena