Teacher May Have Had Sex With 3 Minors

As colleagues of Granada Hills High School teacher Florine Strimel expressed dismay at her arrest on suspicion of having had sex with a student, police investigated Monday whether the 35-year-old special education teacher had sexual relations with at least two other minors.

“Phone calls continue to come in regarding [Strimel’s] activities over the past five years,” said Sgt. Rick Young, spokesman for the Glendale Police Department. “We have information of at least two other [potential victims], possibly more.”

Young said the two were high school students in the San Fernando Valley and were under 18 when they reportedly knew Strimel, a Glendale resident. He said detectives had yet to interview the two students, and declined to provide further details.

Strimel was arrested late Friday and faces charges of having had sex with a 17-year-old Granada Hills High School special education student.

She is being held on $265,000 bail, and was not available for comment on Monday. She is scheduled to be arraigned today in Glendale Municipal Court.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials acknowledged Monday evening that police had investigated Strimel on similar allegations when she was a substitute teacher in 1996 and 1997. The allegations were not substantiated, said district spokesman Pat Spencer, and no action was taken.

Strimel’s sister, Melinda, said the current allegations are false.

“It’s just ridiculous,” Melinda Strimel said in a telephone interview from her home in Pennsylvania.

Melinda Strimel said the allegations may result from a misunderstanding regarding her sister’s habit of helping students in need.

“She likes helping people--maybe too much,” Melinda Strimel said. “I think that’s how this got started. She was trying to figure out the best course of action for this young man.”

Melinda Strimel said her sister is fastidious about hygiene and had complained in a phone call from Twin Towers jail that she has not been allowed to shower since her arrest.

“She’s not doing that well,” Strimel said. “This is very trying on her.”

Melinda Strimel described her sister as an art enthusiast, workout buff and animal lover. She said she received two art degrees from Penn State University before moving to California about five years ago and is working toward a master’s degree.

She said Florine Strimel dated frequently, but that the men in her life were her own age. “There was nothing strange,” she said.

Hanging in the front window of Strimel’s house on Salem Street is a print of Jesus Christ carrying the cross that her mother, also Florine, said her daughter had made herself. Next to a chair on the porch is a Bible. And Strimel’s neighbor, Danny Walsh, said he would sometimes hear religious programming blaring from her TV.

Investigators said they learned of the alleged relationship with the boy after Strimel dropped him off at the high school on Friday. The boy, who had been reported as a runaway by his parents two days earlier, told police he went home with Strimel. Detectives said they determined that Strimel had been dating the boy for about a month.

On Saturday, Walsh said, detectives took numerous videotapes, photo albums and journals from her house.

Young, the Glendale police spokesman, said a preliminary review of the items suggests that some may provide evidence in the case.

Los Angeles Unified School District administrators on Monday declined to comment specifically on the case, except to say they are cooperating with the police investigation.

Strimel is on leave until the investigation is completed, school officials said, noting that employees who are arrested usually go on unpaid leave.

At Granada Hills High, secretaries fielded phone calls from concerned parents and Principal Kathleen Rattay met with teachers to prepare for students’ return today from an extended weekend.

“I imagine all our students will need to talk,” Rattay said. “We’re all devastated. We’re concerned about how students are going to handle this very adult situation.”

At least eight crisis counselors will be on campus to help students. Teachers, particularly those with students who had classes with Strimel, will devote part of the day’s lessons to talking about their feelings.

Dan Isaacs, LAUSD’s assistant superintendent in charge of school operations, said guidelines prohibiting inappropriate teacher-student relationships have been in place since before he began working for the district in 1962. LAUSD periodically issues updates to remind principals and teachers about what is inappropriate behavior, he said.

In October, for example, the district sent schools the guidelines, which included the following: Teachers should not take students off campus without district and parental approval; teachers should not drive students in their personal vehicles, and teachers should not call students at home.

Strimel was a substitute teacher last spring and became a full-time special education English teacher this school year. “She was a fine teacher,” Rattay said. “Students held her in high regard.”

Strimel was one of 140 teachers at the 3,500-student campus. She wasn’t involved in extracurricular activities at the school, and Rattay said she had had minimal to average contact with her.

“Nobody knew her that well,” Rattay said.

Larry Klevit, a special education science teacher and coach who worked with her this year, described Strimel as cordial, somewhat serious and professional. He first heard the news Monday morning.

“Oh my God, no” he remembered saying. “I hope it’s not true.”

At school, he hung his head low as he pondered how this could affect students. “Every one of us is a role model at all times,” Klevit said. “Students need to be able to look up to us.”