Written on March 25, 2023 12:16pm Published on March 28, 2023 5:00am
Yes, on Thursday night, March 23, 2023, I was in the room.
What room?
The West Park High School Grove Theater in Roseville, CA.
I was in the room to speak / participate as a Roseville resident at the RJUHSD school board meeting. At the meeting, I wanted to give some suggestions on how to respond to the visitation of guests / groups on RJUHSD campuses.
Well, I learned more than I was able to teach.
At 57 years old, I am happy to say, I am still teachable. I enjoy learning.
What I learned that evening? More lessons on – HURTING PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE and boy, did some people hurt a lot of people. Intentionally and unintentionally.
On Sunday or around Sunday, March 19, a Project Veritas video was shared featuring a local Pastor talking about his mission in the LGBTQ community and his organization. I suggest you watch the video with your own eyes and MAKE YOUR ON CONCLUSION! I am not going to give you my opinion of the content of the video or the makers of the video.
In that room were many people in support of the pastor and his organization as well as in support of the RJUHSD response to the pastor and his organization.
The March 23, 2023, school board meeting began with up to nine RJUHSD students (out of close to 10,000 RJUHSD students) passionately sharing their viewpoint of the district’s response to the pastor and his organization / support for their peers who are gaining support from the Pastor and his ‘secular’ organization.
These students are hurting! Not all of these nine students, but many of them made some accusatory comments towards the school board in regards for the board’s response to having the pastor and his organization not welcomed on the RJUHSD campuses. The students’ hurt was now being shared through their words and tone of words towards the school board and the school district.
I have sympathy / empathy for these children / students / young adults.
My empathy for these children / students / young adults may be different than yours (AND THAT IS OKAY!!).
My empathy for them is – why have you (children / students / young adults) been taught to allow others to control your feelings / your emotions? That is AWFUL! The adults need to teach you to not allow others to control your emotions / feelings! You are choosing your emotions / feelings / attitude!
At the meeting, we heard more than once, “I feel unsafe.” “I feel there is no one who supports me.” “I feel ____ ”
The RJUHSD campuses are safe. They are as “safe” as any other campuses in the nation. Sometimes “safe” is in the eye of the beholder.
Are there bullies on the RJUHSD campuses? Are there narrow-minded students – and yes adults – on the campuses? SHOW ME ANYWHERE THERE ARE NO BULLIES AND NO NARROW-MINDED HUMANS!! That land is “make believe.” We need to teach all the students MEAN people will always exist, here is how you deal with them and how you deal with them will make the campus “safe.”
Question: Is the only time you (students who feel unsafe) feel safe on campus is when people are “love-bombing” you? To be “love-bombed” on a regular basis is unrealistic. If that is the only way you will feel safe — that is your problem. All people are going to face “haters.” You are not going to be constantly “love-bombed.” As a white. heterosexual, happily married, Christian 57-year-old male, let me tell you from personal experience – HATE will find you for you being who you are. You could be the most caring wonderful, beautiful human being, but if you don’t fit today’s paradigm, it is what it is!! Thirty years ago, my “paradigm” was loved by many students! Today? Not so much.
Hence, those closest to you need to love you the most.
On the RJUHSD campuses, there are now, more than ever, support systems in place for the ENTIRE student population! The increase of support services offered by RJUHSD is a FACT! Not a “feeling.”
The adults need to show these children / students / young adults how they can receive the help AND THEN, GIVE THE STUDENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES RESPONSIBILITY to utilize the services. If they choose not to use the services, then do not be BULLIED by them / their choice into accepting responsibility for how they “feel.” In fact, I suggest we all learn to NOT ACCEPT how others feel. Why? Because emotions / feelings are constantly changing! I did not write this article intending to hurt you / offend you. Yet, there will be those who read this who will say, “You (me – the writer) hurt me and offended me.” Nope. Not going to own your hurt or being offended.
We need to do a better job teaching our children they are responsible for how they feel. As high school students, they need to begin to accept more responsibility for owing their behavior / feelings / emotions, as well as solutions to their problems.
Following the students who spoke, there were many adult speakers supporting the pastor and the organization he founded. As with the students, these adults were also passionate. Emotional. Highly accusatory of the board and district for not caring about their children’s safety / well-being or the LGBTQ community. Through the comments / tone of comments from these adult speakers, we see how the children have arrived at their feelings. We also see and hear the hurt. They have been through their fair share of garbage! NO DOUBT.
When these “pro” pastor and “pro” his organization disagreed with the speakers who were there to express their opinions / emotions in opposition to the pastor and his organization, they would hold up 8.5″ x 11″ sheets of paper with the word “MISINFORMATION” printed on the paper. I don’t know how that behavior teaches the youth to be respectful for others. Certainly, teaches the children / students / young adults how to be “activists.”
Also, following the students speaking, were also adults who were taken aback by the pastor’s words on the Project Veritas video, as well as his organization founded to help LGBTQ students / families.
The one adult who spoke in opposition to the pastor and his organization featured on too many media outlets was the one who was “hurting” the most. Again, hurting people hurt people. His first name is Jeffrey. Jeffrey’s words and actions were centered on anger, if not hate, for the pastor and his organization. While I can understand his hate / anger, my goodness, sir, find another way to express it and deal with it! Due to Jeffrey’s inflammatory rhetoric, the meeting was abruptly ended and the media and possibly him got what they wanted – to be the story.
Take note: there were people, in addition to Jeffrey who spoke up against the pastor’s actions and his organization. Yet, they were not equally featured on the links I share below.
Yet, again, the response to Jeffrey’s words and actions were choices. No one had to yell him. No one had to walk out of the room as he was talking. In fact, I wish they would have stayed in the room to show he could not bully them.
However, you talk to any of those people (adults / students) who yelled at him and/or walked out of the room and they would have responded with, “there was nothing else I could have done.” And that is the problem: relinquishing your power of your choice of action to a hurting man (in this case – Jeffrey). Sad. Again, you should have stayed and allowed the other people the opportunity to speak! He would have eventually shut up!
At that meeting, I am grateful to God that I was able to share my friend’s thoughts – that I agree with – with the school board.
My being able to share these thoughts is a miracle! I was right before Jeffrey.
Below, I share parts of the “position paper” created by the organization “Education Impact” that is the basis of my statement shared with the RJUHSD school board:
Roseville Joint Union High School District possibly (my word “possibly” means according to what we have seen in the public / media / excerpts of Project Veritas video with pastor) neglected to properly vet youth service organizations and adults counseling in the Wellness Center and regularly visiting school clubs.
From what we know (my emphasis) The Landing Spot was providing counseling without a memorandum of understanding with RJUHSD, functioning as a youth service organization without being registered as a 501c3. Due to not having a memorandum of understanding, The Landing Spot provided no evidence that it was complying to undergo a background check to exclude persons with a history of child abuse. (AB-506 took effect January 1, 2022)
The Landing Spot was effectively making contact with students under the guise of a youth service organization then setting up clandestine meetings with adults not vetted by RJUHSD or confirmed to be screened for child abuse though a legally operating youth service organization.
Providing The Landing Spot access to students is not the only instance of referring students to unvetted adults. RJUHSD refers students to the Trevor Project through its Wellness Center website via genderspectrum.org. The Trevor Project provides chat spaces for minors and unvetted adults (ages 13-24 years old) to connect and talk about sex and sexuality.
This is another example of RJUHSD endangering the LGBTQIA+ students with abuse or trafficking by referring them to spaces with unvetted adults. Unvetted online spaces about sex and sexuality become hot spots for sex abusers and sex traffickers to make contact with their next victims.
RECOMMENDATIONS
RJUHSD should implement the following polices (I add: if the policies are already in place, please enforce them):
- RJUHSD must obtain background checks on all volunteers that regularly visit on campus clubs.
- RJUHSD should set policy to NOT REFER students to any youth organization or online website that provides counseling, mentorship, or chat groups with unvetted adults. To be approved for referral to a website or youth service organization, the entity must ONLY provide access to vetted trained adults interacting with youth.
- RJUHSD should set a policy that the Wellness Center will provide two sessions counseling to assess student mental health needs then obtain written consent from parents to continue providing mental health services to students on campus.
Parents are the best protection for students against sexual predation. Excluding parents from supporting their students’ safe access to mental health services opens the door to predation.
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I am very grateful for the above letter from the organization http://www.educationimpact.us
I encourage you to research “Education Impact” and contact them.
As cliche as it is, what has happened in this situation with the pastor and his organization needs to be a “learning moment.” I hope the pastor and his congregation would agree with me, they have opportunities to learn from this moment, as well. For example, in the Project Veritas video, the pastor’s comment about “Mormons” is hurtful. I am not Mormon, and I had a pit in my stomach when he singled-out the Mormons. There needs to be hope the pastor will apologize to the Mormons for singling them out. Hey! I can have hope the pastor will acknowledge his mistakes and ask for forgiveness!
I trust in God we will get through this tumultuous time in our area, state, and nation.
Today (March 25, 2023), I heard a beautiful prayer by John Eldredge I will share with you:
Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit – I pray that your Eden Glory would fill my heart and soul, my mind and strength. May the River of Life flow into every barren place in my heart and soul. May your springs flow into every valley. Turn the desert places in me into Eden. Fill me again with your Eden Glory. And Father, may your Eden Glory shield me from the Desolation coming over my life. I renounce every agreement I might have made with Desolation. I pray your Eden Glory would fill my life – restoring me, renewing me, giving me supernatural resilience. I also invoke your Eden Glory over my life as a shield over my household and domain.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, ruler of heaven and earth. Thank you, Lord!
I sincerely hope you will find in your heart and then have your heart grow LOVE / the “Eden Glory.” We all need to overcome the EVIL. In this case, “evil” is pain. The pain in your heart that is causing you to hurt others – intentionally or unintentionally. BTW – just because you are who you are doesn’t mean you are immune from hurting others. There are people on BOTH sides who spoke at that school board meeting who hurt people! Sure. You see Jeffrey and you go, “See! They (right wing) hurt people.”
Not so fast.
At the meeting, there were people (liberal) accusing people of lying (holding up sign). Accusing someone of lying is not hurtful? There were people shouting at speakers, even though they were told not to. People yelled at the school board and administration. All humans are capable of hurting others.
One cure for you hurting others? Sincere love for and obedience to JESUS CHRIST. Correct pastor?
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Take note of the picture the ABC10 people chose. Interesting display of “decorum” holding signs inferring people who were speaking were lying!
Fallout from Project Veritas video cuts short Roseville meeting | abc10.com
I pray for people like Jeffrey and the others who are hurting. Again, the media focuses on people like Jeffrey. The media did not focus on the other speakers who were also “passionate” against the pastor’s words on the Project Veritas.
Here is THE video of the meeting. I encourage you to watch the video and form your own opinion(s).
https://www.youtube.com/live/QgaTJZcYsLE?feature=share