Second Teacher Arrested At Miramonte Elementary School

A second teacher arrested at Miramonte Elementary School on suspicion of committing sexual crimes against students was behind bars today.

Martin Bernard Springer, 49, of Alhambra, was arrested Friday on suspicion of lewd conduct with two female students, just days after the arrest of an ex-third-grade teacher who allegedly took photos of students who were blindfolded, had tape over their mouths and spoons of semen held to their lips, among other things.

Springer, held on $2 million bail, was arrested as he emerged from a Los Angeles Unified School District building at 107th Street and Western Avenue about 10 a.m., sheriff’s Capt. Mike Parker said.

The allegations involve girls who were about 7 years old when they were “allegedly fondled in a classroom” sometime in the past three years, Parker said.

Springer’s arrest came in response to tips received Thursday, Parker said.

On Monday, 30-year Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Henry Berndt was arrested.

LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy said he would ask the school board on Tuesday to fire Springer.

“As an educator and a father, I’m appalled and sickened by the allegations against this teacher,” Deasy said. “The district is working closely with the entire Miramonte community to deal with the terrible trauma that has arisen as the result of the arrest of Mark Berndt earlier this week and today’s arrest of Martin Springer.”

Springer started with the LAUSD in 1986 and became a permanent teacher in July 1992. He taught second grade at the school at 1400 E. 68th St.

Miramonte parents were reeling from bizarre allegations involving Berndt, who is charged with abusing 23 children between 2005 and 2011.

Bernt is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 21 at the Metropolitan Branch Courthouse. He was investigated for alleged inappropriate touching of a child in 1994, but no charges were filed, sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said Thursday.

“I’m about ready to pull my child out of the school, ’cause I don’t know, there’s just, there’s too much going on at this school right here right now, I don’t know, so it’s a lot of think about,” parent Latanya Morris told reporters outside the school.

“We can’t trust no teacher here no more, so we’re just going to take our kids home,” parent Aida Santiago told ABC7.