In June 2009, the mother of a fourth-grader made a discovery that is now the latest incident under investigation at Miramonte Elementary School: a teacher's aide was allegedly writing love letters to her 11-year-old son.One letter, meant as a short-term farewell note, included a passage that the mother found especially disturbing: "When I was writing this letter, I was crying. My heart was breaking into pieces," wrote the teacher's aide, who has been identified as Areceli Luisjuan. "Oh! I didn't tell you that I like when you put your arm around my shoulder, and if I told you not to do that it's because I don't want to put you in trouble, but I like it…"The episode has become the subject of a law enforcement inquiry and an internal review by the Los Angeles Unified School District . According to the mother, however, sheriff's deputies and the school system failed to take her seriously the first time she brought the matter to their attention.The second look is part of a wide-ranging review of everything and everyone associated with Miramonte, a school that exploded into public attention with last week's arrest of veteran teacher Mark Berndt.Berndt, 61, faces 23 counts of lewd conduct charges for, among other things, allegedly taking pictures of students who were being spoon-fed his semen as part of what he called a "tasting game."After Berndt's arrest, allegations emerged against a second teacher, Martin Bernard Springer, 49, who was charged Tuesday with fondling a 7-year-old girl in his class.The Berndt case in particular has raised questions about whether the school properly handled misconduct issues in the past.The love letter was first detailed in a July 2009 article in Hoy, a Spanish-language publication that is part of the same publishing group as The Times. In interviews with The Times this week, the mother recounted her experience in Spanish.Efforts to reach Luisjuan were unsuccessful."When you get close to me, even if you give me the chills I like that," continued the letter, which is written in English. "Don't tell nobody about this!" (The word "chills" is underlined.)At the bottom, the writer penned the student's name four times, signed it "Sad Girl" and then added: "Read the letter and throw it away. I don't want your mom or brother to find it."The mother, whose name is not being released to protect the identity of her son, a minor, said she believes there were about three letters, although she only had one to show to a reporter. The first item she found, in 2009, was a drawing of a crying woman that also was labeled "sad girl."She noticed the drawing when it happened to tumble from its perch in her son's room. The fall also dislodged a cellphone number from a corner of the frame. When she confronted her son, he showed her two letters.The crying picture, she later learned, was prompted by Luisjuan's pending relocation to a nearby middle school. The transfer apparently was planned before the mother complained, she said.The mother, who said the aide appeared to be in her 50s, immediately went to see her son's teacher. But the teacher told the mother that she could get into trouble for making up stories.In an incident with Berndt, children who reported that he appeared to be masturbating behind his desk were reportedly told the same thing, a former Miramonte student said.The mother in the latest case said she is struck by the resonance with her experience."When the mother abuses her kid and they find out at school they throw all the authorities at you," she said Tuesday. "But what happens when it's the other way around? I couldn't do anything."She did not produce the letters at the time of her first complaint.She said she next went to the Sheriff's Department, which directed her to return to the school to handle the matter.At a second meeting, those present included the mother, her son, the teacher, Luisjuan and an assistant principal.According to the mother, Luisjuan admitted writing letters and drawing the picture. Luisjuan compared her affection to that of a grandmother for a grandson, the mother said. The mother was sent home, but not before she insisted on a written record of the meeting, which she kept."Why would they pay attention to me?" the mother said. "I'm a single mother and Mexican."The aide delivered the final letter, the one quoted above, on the same day as the meeting, June 23, 2009. She also allegedly gave the boy a gift: a crystal, heart-shaped bowl full of candy.When asked about the incident by Hoy, L.A. Unified spokeswoman Gayle Pollard-Terry said that "as of today" Luisjuan no longer works for the school system.This week, district officials had trouble finding a record of either the employee or what had happened. It was being researched, spokesman Thomas Waldman said. ||||| One of the 130 handwritten notes Brittni Darras sent to her students 
 
 English teacher Brittni Darras had a special gift for each of her students at Rampart High School after they finished finals this week: a personalized, handwritten thank you note. 
 
 She hadn't been planning to write them, but then something powerful occurred during parent teacher conferences. 
 
 A mother of a student who'd been absent for a few weeks came in carrying a list of teachers' names. Next to each teacher's name was the word "yes" or the word "no." 
 
 "She had asked her daughter if she felt comfortable sharing the story and sharing why she'd been absent. That was the 'yes' and the 'no.' Teachers that you can tell, and teachers that you probably shouldn't say something to," Darras said. "My name had a “yes” next to it, so she proceeded to explain to me the reason for her daughter’s extended absence." 
 
 The student's mother told Darras that police had stopped her daughter in the act of committing suicide. Police had received a tip through the Safe2Tell app that the student had deleted all of her social media accounts and even left goodbye letters. 
 
 "We were both in tears, and it just made me realize that something needs to be done to make these kids realize that they're special," Darras said. 
 
 She asked the mother for permission to write a personalized letter to her daughter and she agreed. Darras said it was the girl's reaction that motivated her take things further. 
 
 "She couldn't believe that somebody would say such kind things about her and that she honestly thought that if she was gone...that it wasn't going to make a difference," Darras said. 
 
 So, Darras went to work handwriting personal letters to all 130 of her students. She even put off grading essays to get it all done in time. 
 
 Bree Wuthier was one of the students who got a letter after finishing finals. Darras' message starts, "Bree, you are the student I brag about to all of my friends." 
 
 "I was just first of all surprised by how much she wrote," Wuthier said. "Usually when people write letters, it's like one or two sentences, like either 'Happy Birthday,' or 'Merry Christmas,' or 'I hope you're doing fine.'" 
 
 At the time, Darras didn't tell her students why she'd written the letters. Instead she wrote a Facebook post with the back story. Her post went viral. 
 
 Wuthier said Ms. Darras' words showed how intimately she knows each of her students. 
 
 "It was just incredible. She has such an eye, like to see things and to actually listen to her students," Wuthier said. 
 
 Darras' post has been shared more than 85,000 times. She's received messages of encouragement and support from friends and strangers all across the country. Her story serves as proof that a pen, paper, and some genuine words of kindness can still be powerful. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated By Kalhan Rosenblatt 
 
 The family of a 12-year-old New Jersey girl — who took her own life after allegedly being cyberbullied by her classmates — is suing the school district, saying Tuesday that administrators were negligent in preventing abuse that led to their daughter's death. 
 
 Dianne Grossman said when the school failed to stop the harassment towards her daughter, Mallory, she even tried approaching one alleged bully’s parent, begging the woman to ensure her child would stop. 
 
 Her pleas were instantly dismissed, Grossman said. 
 
 “I can confidently say I spoke to one of the parents the night before Mallory — before this. And I can tell you that the mother dismissed it, said it was just a big joke, and that I really shouldn’t worry about it,” Grossman said. 
 
 It was just one example Grossman gave of the abuse she alleges her daughter was subjected to at Copeland Middle School in Rockaway. 
 
 Mallory, a sixth grader at Copeland, took her own life on June 14 after being relentlessly harassed by classmates, Grossman said during a press conference. 
 
 During the conference, the Grossmans’ lawyer, Bruce Nagel, said the family is filing an intent to sue Rockaway School District and all the administrators who “ignored months of pleas” from the family. 
 
 “[Mallory’s] life tragically ended when her own classmates used this cellphone to drive her into this tragedy,” Nagel said. “For months there were texts, Snapchat and Instagram — she was told she was a loser, she had no friends. She was even told, ‘why don't you kill yourself.’” 
 
 Rockaway Township School District Superintendent Greg McGann declined to comment to NBC News about the intended suit. 
 
 Mallory Grossman. via GoFundMe 
 
 Grossman said that her daughter began suffering harassment and bullying at school last October. 
 
 “It got to the point where she didn’t want to go to school. She had chronic headaches, stomach aches,” Grossman said. “Her grades plummeted. [The school's] focus seemed to be strictly on academics, they weren't concerned with her emotional health.” 
 
 Related: Suicide Searches Increased After Release of ‘13 Reasons Why’ 
 
 Grossman said her family talked to guidance counselors, teachers, the vice principal and the principal and was told the school was investigating the matter. 
 
 “I‘m going to make the assumption that the school did something, but I’m also going to make the assumption, based on where we are today, that they didn’t do enough,” Grossman said. 
 
 She said every time she brought her fears to the school, she was dismissed, creating a cycle of inactivity that allowed the bullies to continue “malicious and nasty” behavior. 
 
 Nagel said there are “three or four students” that they have identified as Mallory’s bullies, and said the Grossmans are “contemplating taking action against their parents for letting this go on for months.” 
 
 The family did not publicly identify the alleged bullies. 
 
 In a self-assessment given last year, Copeland Middle School gave itself an “A” grade of 94 percent for how it dealt with bullying within the school, according to NBC New York. 
 
 However, Grossman alleged the school hasn’t filed a single Harassment, Intimidation & Bullying (HIB) report about Mallory's tormentors as required by the New Jersey Department of Education. 
 
 “New Jersey has some of the strongest laws around bullying, and to this day a report has still not been filed,” Grossman said. 
 
 The family plans to file the paperwork declaring their intent to sue this week, and will file the official suit within the next six months. 
 
 Morris County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Fred Snowflack confirmed to NBC News that prosecutors are actively investigating the case, but declined to comment on the suit. ||||| Kendra Turner was brought up right. She’s the kind of kid who says “yes sir” and “no ma’am.” She was "raised up right," with good manners as they are prone to say around Dyersburg, Tennessee. 
 
 So it was not out of character for Kendra to say “bless you” after a fellow classmate sneezed. But that common courtesy landed the 18-year-old in hot water. 
 
 FOX13 News, WHBQ FOX 13 
 
 Kendra said she was rebuked by her teacher at Dyer County High School and thrown out of class for violating the teacher’s ban on the words “bless you.” 
 
 The school would have us believe that a child telling a classmate “bless you” after a sneeze somehow caused a classroom commotion so severe it warranted a punishment? It’s a good thing Kendra didn’t offer her classmate a tissue. 
 
 “She said that we’re not going to have godly speaking in her class and that’s when I said we have a constitutional right,” Turner told Memphis television station WMC. 
 
 Another student sent the television station a photo taken inside the teacher’s classroom showing a list of banned words. Among the censored words are "dump," "stupid," "my bad," "hang out" and "bless you." 
 
 CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW TODD ON FACEBOOK FOR CONSERVATIVE CONVERSATION! 
 
 She wrote about her incredible story on Facebook. It was then picked up by the MomDot.com blog and then, as they say these days, the story went viral. 
 
 “I stood up and said, ‘My pastor said I have a constitutional right – 1st amendment freedom of speech,’” Kendra wrote on Facebook. “She said, ‘Not in my class you don’t.” 
 
 Kendra says she was tossed out of the class and sent to the principal’s office where things apparently went from bad to worse. 
 
 “The assistant principal said if I didn’t want to respect my teacher’s rules then maybe my pastor should teach me because my freedom (of) speech and religion does not work at their school,” she wrote. 
 
 As you might imagine the school has a very different take on what happened inside that classroom. 
 
 “We can’t discuss discipline issues because of right to privacy of students,” assistant principal Lynn Garner told the Dyersburg Gazette. “But I can say there are two sides to every story. Sometimes people spin things and turn them to make them seem one way.” 
 
 The assistant principal said Kendra was sent to In School Suspension as a matter of protocol. She was allowed to leave at the end of the class period. 
 
 “In this case, this was not a religious issue at all, but more of an issue the teacher felt was a distraction in her class,” Garner told the newspaper. 
 
 To be clear – the school would have us believe that a child telling a classmate “bless you” after a sneeze somehow caused a classroom commotion so severe it warranted a punishment? It’s a good thing Kendra didn’t offer her classmate a tissue. 
 
 Kendra’s pastor is among those not buying the school’s explanation and he’s taking a public stand in defense of the young girl. 
 
 “I believe this young lady,” said Steven Winegardner, the pastor of the Dyersburg First Assembly of God. “Everything she said took place.” 
 
 Winegardner told me he’s hoping students will lead a petition drive to force the school to overturn the classroom ban on the words “bless you.” 
 
 “Christians have been told to be quiet, to shut up,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. Everybody has a right to their beliefs. I’m glad Kendra stood up.” 
 
 Winegardener’s wife told WMC that the teacher had issues with other students using the words “bless you.” 
 
 “There were several students that were talking about this particular faculty member there that was very demeaning to them in regard to their faith,” she told the television station. 
 
 Every now and then a story will land on my desk that seems too outrageous to be true. And to be certain there are two very different versions of what happened in that classroom. But I’m prone to believe Kendra, too. 
 
 That’s because Tuesday, a school official tried to convince me this young lady was a trouble maker. They were clever with their words – but that was the impression I received. 
 
 That same school official told me there was no ban on the words “bless you.” But a classroom photograph proves otherwise. 
 
 They said she was not punished. But Kendra’s pastor saw the slip of paper that ordered her to In School Suspension. 
 
 For whatever reason, the school will not explain why the teacher has an issue with the words “bless you.” This one is a head-scratcher, folks. But one thing is clear – religious intolerance is nothing to sneeze at. 
 
 Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is "God Less America."
– A Pennsylvania middle school teacher is in hot water over his spelling of "Hillary Clinton," and no, Benjamin Attinger didn't forget an "L." The Daily Item reports the Shikellamy Middle School teacher was asked by 6th-grade student Mary Reinard for help in sending a letter to Clinton. Mary wrote the letter, in which she reportedly asked Clinton if she really spoke to the dead (a 1996 book said she had imaginary chats with Eleanor Roosevelt and Gandhi, but not Jesus, as a "therapeutic release," per a CNN article published at the time). She and Attinger put it in an envelope bearing the school's return address, and Attinger addressed it: to "HILIAR RODHAM CLINTON." Mary brought the letter home to stamp and mail, and stepmom Shannon Reinard spotted the "liar" in the name and called the school on Friday. In a voicemail Attinger left the Sunbury mom, he apologized and claimed it was a "kind of a joke ... because I was telling her it (talking to the dead) wasn't true." The family met with Attinger and administrators on Tuesday and say they've accepted his apology and don't want him fired. Mary says she's relieved she didn't mail the letter as it was; she hadn't spotted the typo. "I would have felt embarrassed. I wouldn't have been able to go to school for a week." Now, instead of embarrassed, she's "nervi-cided." That's nervous and excited, because after Chelsea Clinton on Wednesday tweeted she'd be happy to hand-deliver the letter to her mom, she was connected with Shannon Reinard on Twitter and told her they'd be on the lookout for the letter, which had been properly mailed. "Please thank Mary for her courage," Chelsea Clinton wrote, per the Meadville Tribune.