Editorial:

When Jordan Middle School teacher Amy Beck turned herself in for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old student last year, the hammer of public and media scrutiny was harsh and swift.

The story was picked up nationally as the public wondered how a seemingly well-liked and -respected teacher could stray so far off the legal and ethical path. Nevermind the very real impacts to student and teacher life at Burbank Unified School District, which, combined with impending layoff notices and the death of a 7-year-old student at home this week, has seen its share of battering.

But in the middle of it all isn’t the now-15-year-old boy, or Amy Beck. Her three children, all of elementary school age, are the truly innocent victims who, throughout this ordeal, have had to grapple with these revelations from numerous angles.

It could be some time before we know what really happened. In fact, it may never surface, but out of this, Beck’s children will be left to deal with the ramifications not just while in Burbank Unified, but their entire lives.

It’s a delicate balance: Community stakeholders deserve to know what happened, especially because this apparently could have happened to anyone’s child. But at the same time, Beck’s children deserve to be spared from as much of the fallout as possible.