MANDATORY REPORTERS SENTENCED
Two Los Angeles school administrators each pleaded to failing to report child abuse.
Neither will, of course, lose their teaching or administrative licenses, although there are few crimes that warrant it more.
When children are not the first concern of educators, when they act to protect colleagues rather than students, the system that does not punish them and remove them is a gross violation of the public trust.
May 1, 2008 - Prosecutors today charged two school administrators, Jesus I. Angulo, 35, principal of South East High School, and Maria Sotomayor, 36, assistant principal, with one count each of failure to report child abuse.
Angulo and Sotomayor, both of Downey, allegedly learned of a sex between a minor female student and a 30-year-old substitute teacher seven months after it took place and failed to report it. Angulo and Sotomayor now face as many as six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The teacher, Jesus Salvador Saenz, 30, was arrested in March and has been charged with a felony for having unlawful intercourse with a minor, prosecutors said.
Case No. TA095986
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Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office Press Release (dated May 1, 2008)
"The complaint alleges that the two willfully and unlawfully failed to make a report as required by law when, in their professional capacity and within the scope of their employment, they learned that a student had been the victim of child abuse."
Case No. 8CA03401
TT - Typical for Los Angeles, there are no online stories of Saenz's arrest. The arrests of the school administrators came on the same day that three girls testified against Steven Thomas Rooney, a vice-principal at a middle school who was transferred to the middle school despite allegations of sexual misconduct at a prior school. TT entry for Rooney
TWO ADMINISTRATORS REMOVED - May 7 - Two senior Los Angeles school district administrators have been removed from their jobs for failing to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against an employee and then clearing him to work at a Watts middle school, where he allegedly molested two additional students.
Local district Supt. Carol Truscott and Scott Braxton, who formerly worked for Truscott, have been relieved of duties and assigned to the central office pending further investigation into how they dealt with former Assistant Principal Stephen Thomas Rooney.Senior Deputy Supt. Ramon C. Cortines noted that 75 current employees are on hold in "non-school" positions pending investigations into alleged inappropriate conduct.
TT entry for Truscott and Braxton.
ARGULO PLEA & SENTENCING September 4 - Argulo pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of failure to report child abuse. He was sentenced to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service.
SOTOMAYOR PLEA & SENTENCING November 3 - Sotomayor pleaded guilty to failing to report an alleged sexual encounter between a teacher and a student and was sentenced to a year of probation and 100 hours of community service.
See also - Los Angeles District Attorney's Office Press Release (dated Nov. 3, 2008)
