The abuse allegedly occurred between 2005 and 2010. Berndt is accused of blindfolding the children and feeding them his semen on spoons and biscuits in a "tasting game".
Police say Berndt photographed his actions and also put giant cockroaches on the children's faces. The case began in 2011 when a pharmacy worker who processed Berndt's film told police he had seen images of blindfolded children. DNA tests by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department found semen on a spoon from Berndt's classroom.
Berndt, who taught at Miramonte for 32 years, remains in custody in lieu of US$23 million ($27.8 million) bail. New photographs may show more victims. If convicted he faces life in prison.
Last week police charged Martin Springer, 49, with three counts of a lewd act upon a young girl in 2009. Springer, who taught at Miramonte for 26 years, posted US$300,000 bail but could get 12 years if convicted.
Across town in the Pico-Robertson neighbourhood, Vance Miller, 59, a popular music teacher at Hamilton High School, was suspended in September 2010 following "multiple allegations of sexual abuse", according to the Jewish Journal. Miller, Southern California's Outstanding Music Educator of the Year in 2010, has not been charged.
And on February 5, Paul Adame, 37, a janitor at Germain Elementary School in Chatsworth, was arrested on suspicion of committing a lewd act with a young girl, whose mother complained to police. He was released on US$100,000 bail.
The district's Superintendent John Deasy said he was "sickened and horrified" by the sexual abuse allegations. In an unprecedented move the LAUSD decided to replace Miramonte's entire staffof 120.
Tensions flared between the district and the teachers' union, which said this penalised innocent members. Parents condemned the move as they were not consulted. Deasy said the police investigation was disruptive and staff, who will be interviewed by detectives, needed support. Whatever the reason, this diaspora may make it harder for police to gather evidence.
As scores of angry parents staged protests outside Miramonte school, local media reported that a third teacher may face arrest.
The criminal inquiry is paralleled by an independent probe for the LAUSD. Among the questions investigators must answer is why the alleged abuse was not uncovered earlier, and if anyone else was involved. "It's not a witch hunt, it's just that someone is really looking," sex abuse expert Mary Jo McGarth told the Associated Press. "Cases start unpeeling like an onion. It's always the same pattern."
In 1994 Berndt was accused of fondling a pre-teen girl. The Los Angeles District Attorney's office dropped the case, citing insufficient evidence. LAUSD employees must report suspected neglect or abuse, sexual or otherwise, to police or child welfare staff, or face legal penalties. Did the system work?
"Oftentimes they do not do that and there's an internal investigation," says LA attorney Paul Zuckerman, whose firm has pursued civil cases against the LAUSD. "I would be interested to see, in respect to Miramonte, if the LAUSD has failed to follow its own mandatory reporting policy."
In 2005 Ricardo Guevara, a teacher's aide, was convicted for lewd acts with a child at Miramonte and given 15 years. Guevara was accused of prior abuse elsewhere in the LAUSD and US$1.6 million was paid to the parents of three girls.
As several law firms, representing Miramonte parents, prepare to sue the LAUSD, any negligence could be a boon to plaintiffs. The district's worries now include the prospect of complicated, protracted and costly litigation.
In many ways Miramonte encapsulates the daunting problems LAUSD staff face in a volatile, multi-ethnic environment. Latinos comprise 73.4 per cent of pupils in the school district, 10 per cent are black, 8.8 per cent white, and the rest are Asian, Pacific Islander or American Indian.
At Miramonte the 1396 student roll is 98 per cent Latino. Over half - 56 per cent - are English language learners. About 1 per cent are classified as "migrant" students. Even in good times this presents a major challenge. These are not good times, as recessionary woes mean the LAUSD must cut US$500 million from its annual US$6.5 billion budget.
Elizabeth Reilly, a professor of educational leadership at LA's Loyola Marymount University, and a former school administrator for the Latino community, says richer communities would likely pursue allegations aggressively.
Miramonte serves a poor Latino neighbourhood where parents, some of whom may be undocumented immigrants, are loath to approach authority.
As the sheriff's's department works with the US Homeland Security Department's "Secure Communities" scheme - furnishing fingerprints to federal agents, who deport illegal immigrants - forging trust to collect evidence is hard.
At the same time, Reilly says, there is often community respect for teachers as educated experts. One reason why poor people come to America is to better their kids' lives.
Reilly says the scandal means the LAUSD needs to re-examine its policies and procedures with regard to abuse. Accountability and transparency would also protect the large majority of teachers who don't abuse children. Large schools like Miramonte, she says, can sometimes operate like "silos", with different age groups isolated from one another, maybe allowing molesters cover in which to abuse.
Then there are cultural issues, such as discussing sex with children, a sensitive area for conservative Latinos. And while Deasy was handed a petition, with 400 signatures from Miramonte parents, who want access to classrooms and for all doors to be kept open, finding time to work as volunteer staff isn't always feasible for poor families.
The child sexual abuse cases in the LAUSD - and incidents at universities elsewhere - has raised concern the issue might be a wider US problem, and also prompted comparisons with long-standing abuse unmasked in the Catholic Church.
A national study commissioned by the Education and Justice Departments in 2004 found 7 per cent of the 4000 pupils interviewed said they had been sexually abused by staff.
That comes out as about 3.5 million children, says Charol Shakeshaft, a professor in Virginia Commonwealth University's educational leadership department who conducted the study, the only national research to date.
"The abuse went across ethnic backgrounds, across ages, and across socioeconomic backgrounds," she says.
"It was pretty evenly divided between elementary school, middle school and high school. Although males were more likely to abuse [pupils], about 30 per cent of abuse was by females."
Part of the problem here is lack of data. Shakeshaft believes only 10 per cent of children report sexual abuse.
Even when abuse is reported it isn't necessarily followed up. Sometimes children aren't believed, says Shakeshaft. "Mostly we find out from parents, the child's friends who tell their parents. Or someone sees something going on."
