School District Assailed in Probe of Alleged Molestations

Angry Los Angeles County prosecutors believe that the Los Angeles Unified School District improperly interfered in an investigation of a suspected cover-up of alleged child molesting by a teacher, The Times learned Tuesday. Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner summoned Rita Walters, school board president, to the Criminal Courts Building late Tuesday afternoon to discuss his office’s concerns. The meeting was also attended by Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Gilbert I. Garcetti and Assistant Dist. Atty. Curt Livesay, the second and third in command.

Neither the district attorney’s office nor school district officials would discuss what was said during the 30-minute session, although a spokesman for Reiner described its tone as “serious.”

Law enforcement sources, however, said senior prosecutors are upset about the activities of a school district “psychological crisis team,” which had been dispatched earlier this week to interview and counsel children allegedly molested by Terry Bartholome, 48, of Newbury Park. Bartholome formerly was a teacher at the 68th Street School.

The district attorney’s office and the Los Angeles County Grand Jury are investigating why school district officials waited more than a year before reporting complaints about Bartholome to Los Angeles police. A statement released by the district attorney’s office on Tuesday referred to the probe as an investigation of a “possible cover-up.”

Bartholome, who is charged with one count of rape and 27 counts of molestation and lewd conduct, was arrested in May, five months after school district officials contacted police about allegations that the teacher had molested some of his students.

However, school officials knew as early as the fall of 1983 that children had accused Bartholome of making sexual advances, a school district spokesman has acknowledged.

State law requires school officials to report to police any suspicions they have of physical or sexual abuse of children. Violations can be prosecuted as misdemeanors.

A preliminary hearing is under way in Los Angeles Municipal Court to determine if Bartholome, who remains in custody, should be held for trial.

On Monday morning, sources said, members of the school district’s crisis team went to the home of an alleged Bartholome victim and requested that the child’s parents sign a document apparently intended to release the school district from civil liability for the alleged sexual attack.

One source said team members then asked the parents if their child had been “coached” in preparation for testimony at Bartholome’s preliminary hearing. Members of the team also asked the parents to detail the child’s court testimony, the source added.

An inference that the parents could have drawn from the questions, another law enforcement source said, was that the child had fabricated the story about the alleged sexual attack.

Prosecutors were particularly incensed when they learned that one member of the crisis team sent to the child’s home is also a subpoenaed witness in the case against Bartholome.

“These kids understandably fear retribution from the very people whom they perceive to be colleagues of their teacher,” said one source, who like the others requested anonymity. “The motives of the (school) district now under investigation for failing to help these children are suspect,” the source added.

At the request of the district attorney’s office, Los Angeles police detectives investigating the case have advised parents that if they feel their children need help, the district attorney’s office offers its own counseling program.

School district spokesman Bill Rivera, however, defended the actions of the crisis team and said the district does not believe that there was anything improper about having team members contact the parents of 68th Street students testifying in the preliminary hearing.

“If the district attorney’s office is concerned about people impeding the investigation or have problems with what we are trying to do to help children cope with a traumatic event, they should pick up the phone and call somebody over here,” Rivera said.

Rivera added, however, that district officials have indicated that they will halt the crisis team’s activities if asked.

School district administrator Alfred Clark, who oversees the crisis team, said his group did not talk to the district’s legal adviser before it started to contact the children’s parents.

“We did talk with (Associate Supt. Sidney) Thompson, who gave us encouragement to provide the services and wanted to provide service immediately and not wait until the fall,” Clark said.

Thompson is one of several district employees who were ordered to appear Tuesday before the grand jury.

Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., who represents the parents of three of the alleged victims, said the school district’s crisis team had, at the least, not shown good judgment.

“They should keep their hands off, because this matter should be thoroughly investigated by the authorities who know what they are doing,” Cochran said.

The lawyer said he plans to file “substantial” damage claims against the school district for the harm his clients’ children suffered. If the claims are not honored, Cochran said he will file civil lawsuits.

Cochran’s clients all are parents of 68th Street students. Bartholome was transferred to the school in late 1983, after girl students at 107th Street School in Watts reportedly complained that he had molested them. That investigation ended after witnesses decided not to testify, Bill Rivera said.

Shortly after his arrival at 68th Street School, Principal Alice McDonald reported an alleged molestation by Bartholome to school district region officials, according to Rivera.

She reported new accusations against Bartholome in the spring of 1984 and again last fall. However, it was not until last November that region administrators told Thompson of the accusations, Rivera said. Thompson then reported the charges to school district police, who, in turn, informed the Los Angeles Police Department.