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Willard principal Dennis Cole will strangle the cute little kitten if he doesn't get his way.
So long, Willard Intermediate Chess Club. Sayonara, Willard Gardening Club. Say good bye to the “Claws” Club at Willard, run by a security officer there, teaching the tougher kids respect for law and order and having them help with hall monitor-type duties.
What’s happened, at Wednesday’s staff meeting, is that Willard principal Dennis Cole, on learning that his “Jaguars For Jesus” teacher-led prayer/bible study club was unconstitutional and would likely result in a lawsuit, reacted by banning ALL of Willard’s student clubs.
As you can hear in the recording below of the staff meeting, Mr. Cole’s reasoning is that it’s “unconstitutional” for some kids to be able to have one kind of club and others not to be able to have another kind of club. What utter BS sophistry! It’s the Cole-initiated, teacher-led religious club “Jaguars for Jesus” that’s unconstitutional. There’s nothing unconstitutional about the chess club or the “Claws” club; banning those is theatrical and cruel on Cole’s part. (The first 8 minutes or so of this recording are relevant to this story.)
[Adding insult to injury, according to several witnesses, the teacher-led “Jaguars For Jesus” have met twice, even after the Wednesday announcement of all clubs being banned!]
It’s unclear what the “lies” are that Cole claims, in this recording, have been told about him. The facts are not in dispute – a while back he approached three or four similarly devout teachers and asked them to lead a prayer and Bible study group for students. The Supreme Court has ruled that public school students can lead their own religious clubs, and teachers can also have their own little prayer group, but for teachers to lead a student prayer group is a breach of the separation between church and state, giving the impressionable young people the idea that a particular religion enjoys the school’s (ergo the government’s) endorsement.
The horrible scary “atheist group” Cole refers to early on in the above recording is the “Freedom From Religion Foundation,” a national nonprofit representing 16,000 members and dedicated to preserving the separation of church and state. Here’s part of the letter they sent to Supervisor Russo and Principal Cole which prompted his passive-aggressive over-reaction; it’s got all the facts and legalese you could wish for :
…It is our information that Willard Intermediate School offers a religious club called “Jaguars for Jesus.” It is our understanding that this club meets during the lunch hour. We were informed that Principal Dennis Cole has approached teachers and other staff to lead this club. It is our further understanding that there may be some participation by persons from a local church.
First, it is a fundamental principle of Establishment Clause jurisprudence that a public school may not advance, prefer, or promote religion. See generally, Lee v. Weisman, Wallace v. Jaffree, Epperson v. Arkansas, School District of Abington Township v. Schempp, Engel v. Vitale… Therefore, a public school may not sponsor a Christian club. We are deeply concerned that “Jaguars For Jesus” is school-sponsored and not “student-initiated” or “student-run.” We are told that “Jaguars For Jesus” is teacher-led, and occurs on school property during the school day. A reasonable Willard Intermediate student would presume that this Christian club is sponsored by the school. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that the intermediate school, and therefore the SAUSD, endorses religion over nonreligion, and specifically Christianity over all other faiths.
Second, the involvement of school staff in the club raises grave concerns. Even if this club is truly student-initiated, it is grossly irresponsible for teachers, other public school employees or outside adults to actively participate in or promote these student-run religious organizations…
Now Cole has jumped the shark by banning all clubs. Maybe he expected to get sympathy by spreading out the pain, or thinks he’ll unite everyone else in his defense, but it sure sounds like a move that’s bound to backfire. For months now our SAUSD corruption thread has been overflowing with various grievances against this mercurial autocrat – see here, here, here. SAUSD Supervisor Jane Russo should immediately order him to re-instate all the non-offending student clubs.
NOTE: This story will be updated today (Monday 12-13) as I attempt to contact Principal Cole and Supervisor Russo for their perspectives on this mess…
Funny thing is if if was “jaguars for Illegal aliens,” you would be praising the strength of their convictions in challenging an unjust law.
Typical self-pitying rightwing comment.
If it was illegal for there to be a teacher-led student group for illegal aliens, me and everyone else would say “Well, why don’t they just have a student group for illegal aliens, without the teachers?” Same as we’re saying here.
And if the principal rather than make that change, punished the whole student body by abolishing ALL clubs, me and everyone else would have a problem with that. Just like now. Sorry Charlie.
I’m sure you assume I’m not a Christian. Well assume away. I learned my liberalism from Jesus.
Vern – Thanks for the post. Willard has been plagued with bad principals for too long. It’s unfortunate the current superintendent continues to ignore the elephant in the room.
No Vern, it is not the same at all. Nuance Vern, Nuance. You are constantly praising those that “valiantly” fight against the “wrong” of enforcing existing immigration laws. You believe current laws requiring deportation, withholding of benefits and related subsidies for those here illegal to be “unjust.” You advocate that these unjust laws not be enforced and praise those that refuse to follow existing law to be “brave” and “acting in the interests of justice.”
Now, you hypocritically attack someone who believes that it is wrong for our laws to forbid teachers and students to have a religious club after school. Clearly Principal Cole believes with all of his heart that he is doing the right thing, and he is, LEGALLY, protesting that law in an appropriate way.
There is nothing in your rambling post about the true underpinnings of the legal issues at stake here. First, the Constitution SAYS NOTHING about the Separation of Church and State!! Those words are not found anywhere in the consititution or other US Law. In its entirety, the Constitution says the following about religion “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Nothing about separation of Church and State. In fact, if you look at the words of the Constitution on their face, it seems like the teacher/student bible study group could not be Constitutionally banned without being an unconstitutional prohibition of the “free exercise” of religion.
About 200 years ago Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Baptist Convention that was concerned that the newly formed government would adopt an official state religion. To assuage those fears, Jefferson responded in a personal letter where he pointed out that the Constitution prohibited adoption of an official state religion and that “everyone would be able to continue to practice their own religion according to the dictates of their heart and conscience.” Anything law limiting the free practice of religion, according to Jefferson, would violate his concept of the “seperation of church and state.” Mr. Jefferson certainly to not see the constitution as limiting the expression of religion.
This concept of the “seperation of church and state” lay fallow for more than a hundred years until it was first quoted around the turn of the 20th century in an isolated court case. It was not until the 1940s that the “modern” notion of Jefferson’s “seperation of church and state” started to be used by courts to limit religious practices – a concept that would have been entirely foreign to Jefferson.
I made no assumptions about your faith Vern, there are illogical screamers in all faiths and non-faiths.
Before I can get past your first paragraph, I gotta shoot down a number of mischaracterizations…
You are constantly praising those that “valiantly” fight against the “wrong” of enforcing existing immigration laws. You believe current laws requiring deportation, withholding of benefits and related subsidies for those here illegal to be “unjust.” You advocate that these unjust laws not be enforced and praise those that refuse to follow existing law to be “brave” and “acting in the interests of justice.”
I guess you’re being a little fanciful and caricaturing me, “valiant” is not a word I use. The more I look at this paragraph I think you really have me confused with someone else. Our immigration policy needs to be reformed is what I say, it’s unworkable, hasn’t kept up with our economic and demographic reality, and is arbitrarily and often inhumanely enforced. I don’t think I ever said the laws shouldn’t be enforced, I do note that they’re generally not because they’re too unwieldy. In fact I’m sure that nothing you put in quotation marks is anything I ever said, can you find it?
Let’s look at your second paragraph now. Although I realize that if you’re trying to build a case of hypocrisy against me, the legs have already been shot out from under that by the fictitiousness of the first paragraph.
Now, you hypocritically attack someone who believes that it is wrong for our laws to forbid teachers and students to have a religious club after school. Clearly Principal Cole believes with all of his heart that he is doing the right thing, and he is, LEGALLY, protesting that law in an appropriate way.
No doubt Cole is a very religious guy. Teachers who were familiar with him when he was named principal placed bets on when he’d start trying to introduce religion into the curriculum. I’m sure that he believes he’s doing the right thing, most people do.
So, you’re saying that he is engaging in civil disobedience. I wonder two things – are you referring to his actions in recruiting teachers to lead student prayer groups (which he may not have even known was unconstitutional) or his banning of all clubs last week? Or both?
And also, is it a good idea for the SAUSD to keep as a principal a guy who uses his students as a tool in his civil disobedience struggle?
And also I wonder, wouldn’t the fellow be happier at a religious school? There are plenty around.
Your third paragraph…
There is nothing in your rambling post about the true underpinnings of the legal issues at stake here. First, the Constitution SAYS NOTHING about the Separation of Church and State!! Those words are not found anywhere in the consititution … bla bla bla
Yeah I know all that, you think I never listen to you righties? We are talking about how the Supreme Court has interpreted the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment over the decades. The passage I copied from the “Freedom From Religion Foundation” names off about six Supreme Court cases. To save myself from tedious typing (I couldn’t copy and paste from the PDF) I left out the paragraph and passage numbers, but the cases are there for you to look at: Lee v. Weisman, Wallace v. Jaffree, Epperson v. Arkansas, School District of Abington Township v. Schempp, Engel v. Vitale.
These of course are all cases of the Supreme Court, the ultimate arbiter of the Constitution, finding similar situations UNCONSTITUTIONAL. So how crazy am I? Obviously you disagree with these rulings, I’m sure a lot of people do. Maybe Principal Cole would like to take his fight all the way up to the Roberts Court, and maybe you can represent him. Maybe you could even prevail. I’m not sure I approve of Willard students – and especially the perfectly innocent secular clubs – being pawns in all of this though.
Okay, I see that in the rest of your comment you are schooling me on the history of the “separation” question. I know all of this. I was actually going to write a few paragraphs about it in my first version of the story – the version simply about the unconstitutional teacher-student religious club. I was even going to go back farther to 1644, when the Baptist theologian Roger Williams argued for a “wall between church and state” – just to point out that the original idea was to protect religion itself from the corrupting influence of politics! People forget that. Jefferson got the phrase and concept from old Reverend Williams.
But then events overtook me and my story became more a story about the vengeful Principal Cole banning all student clubs at Willard.
In fact, that is the main gist of my story. I notice you haven’t said anything about that. Don’t you agree that he is being an inveterate prick by banning all clubs just because he can’t have the one HE wants? Or are you on the same page with him there too?
So the ASB is going to determine if we can have “Jaguars for Jesus”? Are you kidding me? This man will only allow clubs if he can have his bible study club. Jane, where in the heck are you? He is so twisting the separation of church and state.
Why are the Christians so often a whiny little bunch of “victims”? As if they don’t have a disproportionate share of governmental influence. “Oh the bad atheists, trying to stop us from believing.” What bs.
Christianity is at its best when it is pitted against the power structure, as in its first couple centuries in the Roman Empire and 20th-century Communist nations, and the liberation theologians of the late-20th century rightwing dictatorships of South and Central America. I think Christianity first started going downhill when Constantine made it the official state religion of the Roman Empire.
But the desire for victimhood, even imagined victimhood, seems to be built into it, so that the simplest rules protecting the equality of religions and non-religion in societies where Christianity is dominant seem like huge intolerable injustices to some of them.
Gotta write about that some day – it’s also true about some white people. They feel so, so victimized when oppressed minorities are protected or given a hand up.
Wow Vern, talk about over the top. Christianity is at its best when implemented in our daily lives – it means helping those that need help, showing love to our neighbor, being honest and forthright, the power of forgiving, the power of humility, the power of truth and aiming toward sinless behavior yet knowing that we can never attain that – that is when Christianity is at its best.
OK yeah, that too.
Just sayin, when it’s wed to state power, it can become dictatorial and lose its rebel mojo.
The interesting thing is that you don’t need to be a Christian, or belong to any religion, to have all of those good qualities (although I have no idea what “sinless behavior” is). The problem is the abject self righteousness of so many Christians — they’re all better than the rest of us, you know.
Sorry you feel that way Rapscallion. Haughty superiority is actually a sin – unless that is just your insecure perception rather than their behavior.
See Nietzsche’s discussion of the “slave morality” in the Genealogy of Morals, particularly his argument that this type of morality needs enemies (real and imagined) in order to sustain itself.
“By contrast, imagine for yourself ‘the enemy’ as a man of ressentiment conceives him—and right here we have his action, his creation: he has conceptualized ‘the evil enemy’, ‘the evil one,’ and as a fundamental idea, from which he now also thinks his way to an opposite image and counterpart, a ‘good man’— himself!”
I was wondering WW where you Went. Was just about to e-mail you! Don’t be a stranger.
Good Nietzsche quote, we see this all the time these days, mostly on the right, don’t we?
1. The caption under Cole’s photo is unfounded and does not “argue the facts”, therefore it relies too much on the same type of “bashing” usually supplied by Michelle
2. Cole seems to imply that “all clubs are equal”: if J for J has to be eliminated, then all clubs must be eliminated. Does this lead to the conclusion that any subject should be open to “clubs”, i.e., pot growing, tagging, cheating on tests???? How does Cole come to the conclusion that his special project must be allowed?
3. Let’s get back to the main issue, which, apparently, includes more schools than just Willard: “Prayer/Bible Study” groups which are backed/led by school personnel and/or “volunteers” from designated churches. One of the original photos posted when this thread started was a circle of students AND adults in a so called “prayer club”. At which school was the photo taken? Has that school also been instructed to end this “club”?
4. There is a second issue looming large in these blogs: Cole is incompetent and should be relieved of his administrative duties. According to some of the latest entries, he was specifically granted this position by a newly elected board member. Is this correct? Since he is seldom at his assigned school, or so it was stated earlier, where does he spend his time?
5. Where was Cole prior to Willard? Is there anyone from previous assignments who would care to weigh in on the topics?
The caption was intended as a humorous, over-the-top takeoff on how he seems to take out his frustrations on innocent parties. Did the humor not come off? Humor is an important element on the Orange Juice.
Agree on the need for true humor, however, in this case, so many of the blog entries forgot the point of the discussion that perhaps this is not a good “place” for such humor.
Cole was at Sierra prior to Willard and I do not recall (although I have no experience) any such issue over there. I believe he was an AP there though. I could be mistaken.
Vern, The Rev. Martin Luther King got that whole “religion” vs.” State” thing pretty well too .
Dennis Cole was a teacher at Sierra, got a Assistant Principal spot at Villa, was there for 1 year and got promoted to Principal at Willard Intermediate.
He has no experience,
The only thing he is good at is sucking up to Jane and Dawn Miller.
Ignorance is no excuse. He knew what he was doing was wrong and still does. But, he has the mentality of a child, with his thinking, of, If I can’t have mine. You can’t have yours.
No one, here at Willard has any issues with the kids praying. The issues are;
Dennis Cole, initiated, recruited and brought in individuals from his church to lead Willard students in prayer. this is against the law….for those of you who can not under stand this.
Dennis Cole, recruited me and other teachers here at Willard. When, I said no, because I knew it was wrong. Dennis Cole, started breathing down my neck. Nothing I did or said was right. I was always wrong. I am not considered by Cole, to be part of the team. He has isolated me, and now the other teachers, specially the newer ones, are afraid to be seeing talking to me. Dennis Cole is a bully, he will call you into his office, one on one and reprimand you for not volunteering to host his bible study groups.
I have not read, nor have I heard any of the staff here, say that the kids shouldn’t be praying. As long as it is initiated by themselves, not the administration or staff.
Dennis Cole is immoral, his favorite word.
Several staff members have been reprimanded by Cole for not following or questioning his views.
Dennis Cole is as incompetent as they come.
Neither Jane or Dawn Miller will act or respond to anyone, because they will not admit they made a mistake by promoting someone in less than 2 years. Jane, does not make mistakes!
Dennis Cole
will not outlast the dedicated hard working staff that genuinely care about this kids.
Perhaps it is time for a class action suit: hostile workplace. One of the “weapons” administrators everywhere, not just school districts, use is keep the workers from talking to each other.
Haven’t been able to get thru to Cole or Russo today, and they haven’t returned my calls. Will try again tomorrow.
John Bennett is one of Dennis Cole’s recruits. Dennis gives John a mission, John goes and sells it to the staff, just like he did with the prayer club. After Dennis Cole was running into bumps in the road and was called on the carpet for starting his bible clubs.
You see John running around for the most part of the school day, talking to teachers on Dennis Cole’s behalf. Just like here John selling the compact hours, they illegally forced the teachers to go along with.
Vern,
Like the previous post said, they will not return your calls.
They are afraid of the truth getting out.
We keep on posting and posting like we have.
I send an email to a news channel, will see how long before they show up at Willard or the district office, would like to see Dennis Cole and Jane try to hide then. lol
Does anyone know if Cole gave any advise or direction as to what teachers should say to students if the students asked why all clubs were disbanded?
I wonder how it was put to those students in the Bible Club?
Cole’s legacy:
http://www.sausd.us/147220718135350230/site/default.asp
Willard,
Is there a John Bennett at Willard?
there hasn’t been a John Bennett there for 5 years. The only Bennett is Lloyd, I can only wonder if he is the wonderkund that Cole parades. If that is the case it is a sad day.
There is no John at Willard anymore. The person who has come up to me is Lloyd Bennett. He is the person whom I believe is doing all the work for Cole. He was the person who stood up and gave us this big speech on the compact hours after Cole couldn’t explain the difference between the compact hours and the teachers MOU.
Half of us didn’t even know what an MOU was, until Lloyd jumped in.
How are the students dealing with this adult situation?
Depending on how the restructuring of Willard’s clubs is handled from this point forward will make a great impact on many of the students. What will they learn from all of this? Talk about your teachable moment. They might learn a great lesson about the Constitution or they might learn that it is ok to be deceptive and manipulative if that’s what it takes to make sure you get what you wanted from the beginning. Kind of “the means justifies the end” type of thing.
I’m not sure how this will be played out but all concerned must remember that how this is resolved will be a lesson many of the students will learn about dealing with life.
The problem with allowing the “government” run the school systems.
Why doesn’t the church schools have this problem, they also get ADA monies, correct?
Willard Students are being fed a line, by Cole. They don’t know the real truth. Cole like always is also being deceptive with the kids. Not, even the bible club kids know why their club, along with all others were canceled.
Dennis Cole never told the students. He only directed staff to terminate all clubs effective immediately, but not all followed, his bible club still held meetings.
Dennis Cole has not made any effort to bring back the clubs he canceled.
My take;
clubs won’t return. anytime soon.
Reason, Dennis Cole.
He will not allow anyone to return without his employee led Jaguars for Jesus or his bible club.
Students read blogs. Can some parent out there with a Willard kid pass along the link to this story, tell ’em to send it to all their friends?
email from cole to staff.
“As we have been meeting with teachers to support aligning their work with the compact we are seeing some common areas to grow. One area of concern was over documenting the hours toward the compact, and we addressed that at the staff meeting last Thursday. Lloyd and Paul are also holding an informational meeting today to answer any further questions you might have.”
Confusion!
Don’t execute the deliverer of the message. If the person has the type of position which requires “meetings” and “explanations of policy”, s/he is probably stuck doing things not of their choice.
From what I heard today, Mr. Cole does not plan to be at school tomorrow.
You can’t really read too much into that because not being at school is IN character for Cole.
Where does the guy go all day?
I have never worked at a school where the principal is MIA as much as he is.
In this day text messaging I suppose you can “just phone it in”.
I thought they are the Willard Indians!
This is not “funny”. How degrading to Native Americans.
Willard’s was, at one time, known as the Willard Indians.
Several years ago, through a very long process lasting several years, staff and students voted to change their mascot to Jaguars.
Interestingly enough, when Cole first came to Willard he wanted to bring back the indian head sculpture that used to hang in front of the school.
In his first speech to the staff Cole said, “I guess there were a few teachers at Willard that were just too “PC” (he made the little air quotation marks as he said this).
A teacher came to school to speak to Mr. Cole on the Saturday before school started so as not to embarrass him in front of his new staff.
Much to Mr. Cole’s credit, after speaking to the staff member Mr. Cole decided not to bring the sculpture back.
http://www.aistm.org/1indexpage.htm
http://www.aics.org/mascot/mascot.html
Red Man
aka
Dennis Cole!
His face turns the color of his shirt when he gets mad or when anyone questions him.
Dennis Cole also reminds most of us, of Hitler. An Administrative Assistant in the front office has and continues to feel the Wrath of Cole.
He reprimands, harasses, and calls her immoral, call her a poor excuse of a human being and over loads her with deadlines not humanly possible to meet,
just so he would have another excuse to reprimand her again. She was finally force to go see a doctor for stress and on going medical issues.
All caused by Dennis Cole and his vindictive administrative ways.
There are several employees are at Willard, with the similar story. All because, they are not of Dennis Cole’s religious beliefs.
Dennis Cole is a lonely individual. I actually feel sorry for him. No one at Willard is Loyal to him.
He has no one he can count on. He does not know the meaning of “Friend”. The few, and by few I mean, 1 or 2 that actually embrace his views and direction are led by
greed and self enrichment. Not,
as Cole might think.
The few that embrace him, turn around and talk smack behind his back as soon as his gone.
He does not know what a true friend or what loyalty is!
He will never be able to succeed, until he takes a hard look with in himself. Willard, We are a hard, dedicated group of teachers and Classified employees. Dennis Cole has
done nothing but put us a corner. He wants collaboration amongst the staff. But, he does not understand, his leadership skills are null to none.
SAUSD, has had very few Administrators that understood, their role at the school level. Sad to say Dennis is not one of them. 99.99% of Administrators come with baggage,
negative baggage that is.
If you really want to know what makes a good Administrator, ask the school site employees. They will have one thing in common. Their answers will be the same. Don’t go
asking other Administrators, most of them don’t know what they are doing, but will never admit.
If you must talk to other Administrators, talk to someone like Johnny Williams. Johnny, should have written a book in Administration. He didn’t only know what it took to run
a successful school, but followed his own advise.
Dennis,
I for one, would stand by your side, but am compelled not too. Your actions speak louder than words. After seeing how you treat most employees, I can’t.
It is sad!
We as employees have a natural bond to each other, we might hate each other most of the time, but we are still co-workers. Bad administrators don’t get this, they go into
a school with their primary mission to get employees to turn on each other. They will, but not for long.
Then, they will turn on you, and turn they have, and it only took a year.
Dennis, you might think that it is only a hand full of Willard staff, Classified or Certificated. Your wrong, it is the majority, but you will never know who, because that’s how
bad you have made it for everyone. The majority of us are in self-preservation mode, but the ultimate goal for us remains the same.
Unless you bring change within you first, nothing will change.
You are only looking at the negative side of each employee, start looking at the positive side and build from there.
Positive reinforcement.
How do you expect to change the Willard culture. Your emails reflect the direction in which you wish to go, but your actions have been the opposite.
The choice is yours.
Stop being deceitful, talk to us with the truth.
Stop attacking us.
Stop being a bully.
Stop going after good employees and you will see the difference it will make.
Why do you “hate each other”? How sad. Do you even really know any of those you say you “hate”? When this happens at any place of business, the “bosses” win.
Well said Unanimous
Have worked there! Won’t as long as Cole is there. I don’t trust the individual and won’t put myself at risk. I do feel incredibly sad for Willard. I knew it at a time when the staff was amazingly supportive of *all* staff and would come together for any and all. There was no need for forced collaboration because it was already happening between the teachers and admin. Why the district has seen fit to saddle this site with one poor untested, untrained and inept principal after another one is a question only they know. I’m afraid it’s because they know no parent will complain, either because of language issues or immigration issues. Neither of which is excusable.
I received a Xeroxed copy of an envelope and a Xeroxed copy of a flyer in my mailbox at school. I don’t know who put it there but the quickly written note attached simply said, “This is what Cole wants to turn the students into.”
The envelope was addressed to Willard Intermediate, Faculty Sponsor – Bible Club. The return address reads: Turn Your Campus, Southern California Youth For Christ and a Long Beach address was given.
The flyer was for an upcoming conference.
Before I go any further I must say that I have no idea how Willard got on their mailing list nor do I know if Mr. Cole has any connection whatsoever to the group sponsoring the conference. I did find the information given on the flyer unsettling to say the least.
I did a little research on the Christian Educators Association International mentioned in the flyer. This is what I found:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/groups/pacific-justice-institute
Such issues are of special interest to the institute and Dacus, who with his wife Susanne is the author of a book informing public-school teachers, students, and parents of “strategies to practically and legally evangelize your school.” Titled Reclaim Your School, the book calls separation of church and state “the big lie” and covers everything from pastor visitations to special school-hours Bible study through which, Dacus writes, “a large number of students … make commitments to receive Christ by the end of the year.” Another passage states, “because public school employees are cautious not to display their faith inappropriately or in a manner that might violate the law, it may take a few visits or conversations before you can determine the religious or non-religious views of the staff at your public school.”
The flyer for the upcoming conference reads as follows:
Educators…
Come by yourself or with your student leadership and join us for a day devoted to encouraging and training you and/or your students in effective campus ministry & evangelism that includes…
Main sessions with Albert Tate & Gabe Veas designed specifically to help and encourage you and your students as you work as a team to share Jesus. Albert spoke at TYC two years ago & works with kids in Pasadena through the Lake Avenue Foundation. Albert is also the Intergenerational Pastor at Lake Avenue Congregational Church. He has deep passion for kids & for Jesus. Gabe is pastor of Authentic LA Church & serves as Director of Academic Programs for Urban Youth Workers Institute. Gabe was also a student leader of the Bible Club at his school during his junior and senior years. Gabe has a passion for seeing students move into Healthy Christian leadership.
Amazing worship with TYC’s great house worship team
Special luncheon just for educators with special guests from The Pacific Justice Institute –come and ask all your legal and campus questions!
WORKSHOP TRACKS FOR:
Middle School & High School Student Leaders… to help them be effective for Christ in their world of friends, family and school… some classes will be designed for girls only, guys only, and middle school only.
Youthworkers… workshops taught by veteran youthworkers covering a wide range of topics, along with an interactive Youthworker Oasis with Larry Acosta from UYWI.
Educators… to help equip and connect Christian educators in the public schools with the latest in legal and expert help taught by a team from Christian Educators Association International.
TYC 2011 Mission Statement: to equip and motivate middle school, high school students, educators and youthworkers to reach their friends and their campuses with Jesus Christ
Has anything happened since or have you found out anything new?
Keep in mind that these people truly believe that they are doing the work of God and anyone in their way is an agent of Satan. They will not stop, no matter what you do because they believe themselves to be God’s agents. They have been indoctrinated from day one in their churches to believe that anyone who doesn’t believe as they do is damned to hell and they are God’s salvation agent on earth. It is a powerful and egotistical view they take. They have no tolerance for other religions, in fact, if you were to pin them down on their beliefs, they actually think Catholics are going to hell also. I am glad that you and a few others at Willard are willing to stand up for what is right. Keep fighting.
I was going to stay away from further comment, but then “tmare” you went and pushed the one button that will always get me going? “THESE PEOPLE?” Who exactly are you talking about? If that phrase is used to refer to anyone but white, male, (and usually) Southern christians it is viewed as spiteful words of hate. Christianity is based on tolerance, humility and subservience and rants like yours, tmare, are just demonstrations of ignorance.
Tmare,
You just described Dennis Cole. He does not tolerate anyone outside his religious beliefs, unless of course you are responding “YES” to everything he tells you.
Sad!
The one person Dennis Cole needs to address is his Office Manager, Maria Gutierrez, she is the most inept person ever. Most of the time she is yelling at the office staff and causing a
hostile work environment. She belittles the front office workers. It doesn’t surprise me, because shes being trained by the best.
Maria Gutierrez needs to learn how to treat the office staff as well as the rest of the Willard employees with respect. You can hear her annoying screeching voice from a mile away.
She can’t talk with a normal tone of voice, she always yelling or screaming, and she wonders why she has no friends either. Most of the time you will see her having lunch by herself,
no one wants to sit with her.
Students,
there have been several instances, I have dropped of my attendance during my prep period, when here comes a student into the office looking for the nurse. She immediately
turns to the students and sends him or her back to class without asking whats wrong. It frustrates me, if that was my kid, I would be calling down town and reporting her A$$$.
The students turns around and tells her, “but I don’t feel good, can I call me parents” With and angry voice,
she screams at the kid and tells them, “we don’t have a nurse, just go back to class”.
My heart melts to see the little one turn and walk away.
Employees like her are the one Dennis Cole needs to take a hard look at and force her to do her job and stop treating kids like dirt.
I have personally witnessed this in several occasion, this is why I make it a habit to turn my attendance sheets myself instead of sending a student or just walk by the office durng my prep.
People like her don’t get it, if it wasn’t for the kids, she wouldn’t have a job, but like bad Administration, that knows, the Willard kids will most likely not tell their parents how
rude or disrespectful the adults were to them.
I invite you or anyone, to stop by the Willard front office. Don’t say anything just come on in. Wait for the office staff to address you. Mostly, you will get to meet Maria
Gutierrez and then you can form your own opinion.
How will you know who she is..
Trust me,
you will know when you meet her.
Talk about a rude, disrespectful and someone who literally does not know what she is doing.
It’s almost comical to watch her, run in circles trying to get a simple answer.
Maria isn’t Cole’s choice. She’s left over from Jeff Bishop. Yet nothing changes.
I would also like to say, this will be my second year at Willard.
At my previous school, we didn’t have any of these issue. Now, I understand the horror stories I heard about this place. I was warned by friends not to come hear, not because the area or the kids, but the Administration and some of the employees stab you on the back the first chance they get.
I will be looking to transfer out, and back to an Elementary by next year. I had enough of this place. I can work with the kids, the adults are a different story. I don’t scream or yell at my own kids, I don’t expect the person or persons in charge of educating them too.
“I was warned by friends not to come hear.”
. . . really, from a teacher?
I just read the last few posts. They are horrifying .I could cry when I hear about children being yelled at and sent back to classroom when they are ill. Please, do not give up. Keep up getting the word out. Someone must be listening in your district office.
I too, have walked into the front office as Maria Gutierrez is sending ill kids back to their classroom without asking them whats wrong.
it was around 10 to 10:30, when I walked into the front office last Tuesday or Wednesday. I don’t remember seeing anyone else in the office besides Ms. Gutierrez. Then, a boy walked in. The instant Ms. Gutierrez saw him, she asked him what he needed. The Boy responded, by saying he was there to see the nurse because his stomach was hurting.
I couldn’t believe my ears. Ms. Gutierrez immediately, with this dramatic loud voice tells him. What do you expect me to do! I am not a nurse! I’m the only one here, can’t you see I’m busy! who send you, do you have a pass! Don’t they know there’s no nurse today! What do you want me to do? Go back to class, I can’t help you!
My jaw dropped to the ground. I was shocked and awe!
The boys just stood there. Waiting for Ms. Gutierrez to finish yelling at him, then the boy asked her if she could call home. She replies, I don’t know your number, do you know it. How I am suppose to know your parents number..
The boys tells her, If she could please look it up, like the other lady did last time he was in the office.
Again, to my surprise. She tells the boy no. She sends him back to class and tells him to return later, if he still feels sick.
I couldn’t take, I rushed out of the office, before I said or did something and got fired for it.
What is being completely overlooked here is the idocy of this whole arguement.
What the fuck is Dennis Cole thinking? His school scores among the lowest 5% of California intermediate schools in six of ten catagories). It has a 600 API score, it is 100% Hispanic (for Michelle’s benefit there are 7.96 kids who have identified them self as white, non-hispanic on state records). More than 92% of the students speak a language other than english at home, presumably spanish.
The school itself sits in one of the most densely populated square miles in the nation (save Baltimore and Philadelphia according to the 2000 census).
There is the greatest teacher turnover of 150 similar schools in the county.
Yet, Mr. Cole put’s hosting a “prayer club” at the top of his list??
Maybe thats what this guy needs is a prayer, because he is ill suited to turn things around here.
It’s just like the Jesus Freaks to go after the most vulnerable in society, just like predators. This guy is guilty of derilection of duty and should be dismissed. He should go back to Calvary Chapel and save those kids.
I wish Dennis Cole would call me out.
OMG!
If any adult at my kids school did that to her. I would be calling the district and I would be speaking in front of school board demanding answers and accountability.
How dare this person behave in such an ill manner towards a child. She must not have any children, because if she did, she would not want anyone mistreating her child like she does. Specially when they are sick.
The least she could do, is call the child’s parents and let them decide what they want to do with their sick child.
How dare she!
I hope someone is listening or reading this. She should be fired on the spot.
From, what I have read, these kids don’t go home and tell their parents. That’s why people like her get away with such malfeasance.
I couldn’t have spelled it out better
dkmfan..
Maria Gutierrez does not have any children. She is completely incompetent and is a snitch to the principal. The staff knows all this is going in and is powerless to do anything about it. If we speak up, we are not a “team” player.
We’re all there for the kids but you would never know it by the actions of Ms. Gutierrez. She should have been removed from her position long ago. The whole school talks about her incompetence.
And she’s always talking about Jesus. In any other district, she’d be out the door. It’s just shameful what the staff and the kids have to put up with.
And there’s the issue of keys…… OMG, don’t even get me started on that one.
You mean, there’s someone else at W. with a “key issue”? and I thought I’d done something “bad” and was being punished.
Incompetent, your being nice to her.
She yells at the rest of the office staff for not doing their job..
How could she know when they are not fulfilling their job duties, when she doesn’t even know hers.
Retard!
Vern, did you ever get your calls returned or any communication/comment from SAUSD or Mr. Cole?
Not yet, I’ll try again tomorrow.
I thought I could drop by there yesterday after the Fairgrounds court hearing, but that went too late.
Now there’s a radio reporter who’s interested in the story; she might have better luck.
No luck getting through to Jane Russo or Dawn Miller either?
I am not surprised Mr. Cole isn’t eager to discuss any of this but certainly SAUSD has an obligation to keep the public informed about district policy.
I would like to know what steps SAUSD is taking to ensure teacher led prayer groups or Bible study groups aren’t occurring in any of its schools.
Will SAUSD take a proactive stance and actively monitor any reorganized clubs at Willard to make sure the clubs conform to the letter and the spirit of the Supreme Court decisions?
8th Grade Teacher,
I have been in the office when she has said very similar things and I know from experience what you say was heard first hand!
To be fair and honest I will also say that 50% of the time there is only 1 person in the office trying to be secretary, nurse, attendance, support, etc. It’s not pretty there!
Oh, and Anon? The keys are *always* an issue!!!! They haven’t been organized in almost 10 years! The security is always being called to open classrooms because there are no keys! But do they actually get to the room, or the correct room, to unlock the door in a timely manner? (45 minutes) It’s not a priority on anyones part.
I could write a book! But no one would believe me. And yet the beat goes on at the district office. They don’t care nor want to look what is happening there.
anon
I’ve always said I could write a book about the dysfunction at Willard and at the district office, but no one would believe things could be that bad.
I’ve never been anywhere where those in charge bury their heads in the sand they way they do in this district, Jane, school board – are you listening to any of this? Do you even care? You all should be replaced for shirking your duties when something like this situation at Willard festers year after year.
Message to Jane – you need to deal with this situation yourself. You do not need to delegate Willard’s problems to Dawn Miller. She helped create this mess by bringing in Cole. Be a leader, do the right thing, remove Cole and bring in an interim administrator until you can stabilize our situation. We’re going nowhere fast.
Jane will never answer ur calls…
She’s to confy makin 2k a year on the back of SAUSD students.
She will never remove Cole, it will take a lawsuit nd her name on it as the responsible party..just go back to Mijares..
Unless their names come up….nd they are about to get replace…nd loose that easy money for doin nothing….
SHE WILL NEVER ACT…
Santa ana residents…need to remove audrey nd rob….from the board…once this happens…
Many will follow..
Jane
Dawn
Oalskey
Juan
Camile
Nd others..
Come Nov. 2011
Will be the time to act….
rainy day
i couldn’t agree with you more.
Follow The Logic…
Presenting accurate information regarding Constitutional issues relating to Supreme Court rulings on prayer in public schools at a staff meeting is “political gesturing” and having staff and students of a public school listen to the student choir sing only Christian Christmas songs during an assembly and throwing in the song Amazing Grace for good measure doesn’t qualify as political gesturing.
There have been situations when school staff members have walked out of a staff meeting but when required to supervise students during an assembly I doubt if it is an option for the teacher to walk out.
An assembly for students and staff in a public school is definitely not a forum for religious or political gesturing.
anon c.
Is this something that occurred in a public school setting. I find this difficult to believe.
taxpayer,
Yes, this occurred at a public school, Willard intermediate.
In an attempt to inform Mr. Cole, Willard Intermediate School principal, of current events and to train him to be a stronger team leader the following information is presented to this public forum:
Mixing religious activity with a government institution designed to foster and educate youth in the values of a democratic, pluralistic society is troubling because of the special nature of public schools as “the symbol of our democracy and the most pervasive means for promoting McCollum, 333 U.S. at 231, 68 S.Ct. 461 our common destiny.”
(Frankfurter, J., concurring).
Religious Music in Schools: Can public-school groups and classes perform religious music?
Public-school teachers may not assign religious songs because of their religious content. But courts have recognized that some religious-music selections can be included in school performances when the pieces are selected for their secular merit. If religious songs are included, a mix of secular selections should be chosen as well. If, for example, at a Christmas concert a school selects “Silent Night” or “Joy to the World,” then it should also select “Silver Bells” or “White Christmas.”
Furthermore, schools must make certain that performances do not essentially become church services. To that end, some courts have ruled that prayers (such as the Lord’s Prayer) set to music are always impermissible because a prayer is a religious exercise, and that is so even when the prayer is sung rather than recited.
Moreover, some courts have prevented performances of contemporary popular music with explicitly religious lyrics. Recently, a federal court halted a third grade class’s assembly performance of a country-music song called “In God We Still Trust” because of the distinctly religious content of the song.
…prayers (such as the Lord’s Prayer) set to music are always impermissible because a prayer is a religious exercise, and that is so even when the prayer is sung rather than recited…
That is so, ESPECIALLY when the prayer is sung, because as St. Augustine said, “To sing is to pray twice.” See, with me you’ve got a stickler for separation of church and state, who also happens to have a background in religion and music!
I tried a few more times yesterday to call both Cole and Russo; Cole just doesn’t answer his phone, Russo was out at a meeting somewhere; eventually I said OK how about her assisant Dawn Miller – Dawn was at this meeting too. I once again left detailed messages. Then I asked (as Art Pedroza suggested) to speak to the Public Information office. The lady there was very apologetic and taken aback – “Supervisor Russo ALWAYS returns her calls!” and promised to get her an urgent message with my phone number. But now it turns out they’re all on holiday break till Jan. 10.
Well, I’m not going to let this go. And as you may know we’ve also got a KPCC reporter who’s interested in following up on this story.
Here are questions I want to ask Cole:
What caused you to stop Jaguars, the letter from the Foundation, or Ms Russo?
Were you also told to cancel all other clubs?
Could you name all the clubs that have been banned? Are they going to remain banned?
What about JFJ? I heard they were still meeting, despite all clubs being banned. Did they not get the memo?
When did you get the idea for JFJ? When did you approach the teachers to do it?
Did you know there might be legal or constitutional problems?
Is it true that you’ve retaliated against teachers who refuse to be involved or who protest?
Do you consider this an act of civil disobedience, and would you like see something like this eventually taken to the Supreme Court?
Do you feel like you are doing the Lord’s work at Willard, with this project?
Can we meet some time for an interview?
And for Jane:
Did you ask Principal Cole to terminate his parent-student prayer group?
Do you know he retaliated by banning all clubs?
Do you know he is stonewalling and refusing to talk to the press or any critics? Is that a good idea?
Can you, or do you intend to, order him to re-instate the clubs that aren’t unconstitutional?
Do you know if this sort of thing is going on in other SAUSD schools?
Any other suggestions? Looks like I may have 3 weeks to prepare…
Where is government intervention in this situation?
If Jane doesn’t get her head out of the sand, she’s going to suffocate.
The rumor mill says Jane’s planning to retire this year.
Questions:
How pervasive is this situation within the entire district?
What oversight or screening process does the district have currently in place concerning outside groups participating in programs, donating to programs, and influencing how a school is run?
What training and what directives are principals given by the district concerning equal rights and religious participation in SAUSD schools?
If an employee disagrees with religious activity, its influence and interference at a school what should they do?
Are certificated and classified employees made aware of what religious activities are and are not appropriate according to district policy?
Where are the district policies concerning religious activities and religious participation is SAUSD schools written down.
I believe some years back we received a flyer outining the guidelines for what we could and could not do regarding political, school board elections. Wish I could now find it. But in over 20 years I don’t recall receiving any guidelines regarding religion.