The L.A. Times – Howard Blume
“In the wake of the Miramonte child abuse scandal, the Los Angeles school district took unprecedented steps to better protect students: Hundreds of teachers were removed from classrooms, an investigative team took over probes from principals and officials lobbied for state laws to make it easier to fire instructors. School officials scoured personnel records and reported far more cases of potential misconduct to law enforcement authorities and the state teachers credentialing agency. But the removal of a renowned educator from his classroom in April has raised questions about whether the new approach to teacher discipline has gone too far. It also overshadowed recent efforts to treat accused instructors more humanely. Supporters of fifth-grade teacher Rafe Esquith say the investigation has been unreasonably secretive and more of a fishing expedition than a focused probe.”(more)