Parents hope to regain control of a Southern California school board this November after years of pushing back against bible-inspired policy changes and controversial comments made by school board members. In the last 20 years, the Chino Valley Unified School District — 30 miles east of Los Angeles — and members on the school board have approved and embraced measures explicitly supported by the local megachurch, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills.
The Chino Valley School Board prayer practice… is by far the worst we've seen reported to us in terms of school boards that pray, estimates Liz Cavell, a staff attorney at the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF).
This November, eight candidates will be vying for a seat on the school board. Three of the five school board members — Andrew Cruz, Sylvia Orozco and James Na — are members of the megachurch and were endorsed by the founder and pastor, Jack Hibbs.
Sylvia Orozco is one of two school board members who will be leaving this November. Of the eight candidates, Hibbs has expressed support for Pastor Jody Moore and Paulette De Soto Melton — a member of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills.
At stake this election is a prayer lawsuit, which the board approved two months ago to petition the U.S. Supreme Court. Legal fees for the lawsuit have already surpassed $200,000. Despite over $140,000 already raised by Calvary Chapel's Let Us Pray Foundation in the last two years, sending the case to the U.S. Supreme Court risks racking up fees, tax dollars some parents wish were going towards their children's education.
The megachurch's involvement in endorsing candidates and attending school board meetings to influence the decision making of the candidates they've helped elect is a pattern parents within the district are beginning to catch on to.
My christianity has been questioned… by the church members that come here preaching about christianity and then tell me I'm not christian enough. You don't know me, said board member Irene Hernandez-Blair.
In 2010, when the school district was battling budget cuts, and AP courses at Chino Hills High School had some 40 students in one class, all five school board members approved a Calvary Chapel-backed bible course for Chino, Chino Hills and Don Lugo High School. Calvary Chapel raised $15,000 for the textbook — The Bible and Its Influence, by Chuck Stetson. A parent at Chino Hills High School, however, wondered why the money was going towards a class for 12 students while other courses remained overcrowded. Other parents, while supportive of a course on religion, disagreed with the courses sole focus on the christianity practiced by the Calvary Chapel.
I wouldn't have had an issue with it, as a parent in the district, if it was teaching about all religions, said Shannon Rainey, parent of two students in the Chino Valley Unified School District. But it was really very secular, and I had a very big problem with the fact that they were teaching their version of christianity and nothing else.
In elementary school, some students in the district leave campus for an hour of Released Time Christian Education (RTCE). RTCE is a Calvary Chapel sponsored religious class held in buses parked outside of school grounds. One at a time, children meet with volunteers in these shuttles to learn about the Bible and the role of god in their lives. The RTCE website estimates that there are over 1000 programs in operation today with over 250,000 students attending these classes held once a week. The program is constitutional as long as district resources are not used to instruct the students or fund the program. Organizers for the program have thanked board members for their support during school board meetings and the Calvary Chapel Chino Hills for raising the funds to keep them in operation. Some parents with students in these classes where religious students leave for an hour, however, say the student's departure and return interrupts the class.
My teachers who are a part of the [LGBTQ] community are not teaching me to be gay - Veronica Minogue
With support from the Calvary Chapel congregation, the school board also opposed Assembly Bill 1266, which Governor Jerry Brown signed into law in 2013. The bill require(s) that a pupil be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records. School board members who opposed the bill felt like there was not enough protection in place for the students. Parents in support of the bill argued that the board's decision demonstrates a lack of acknowledgement and representation of all students within the district.
In an effort to curve the religious influence growing in the Chino Valley Unified School District, in 2014 the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation — a non-profit organization with over 32,000 followers that promotes and defends the separation of church and state — filed the prayer lawsuit against the Chino Valley Unified School District for having board meetings that resemble a church service more than a school board meeting, complete with Bible readings by the board members, Bible quotations by board members, and other statements by board members promoting the Christian religion. A total of 22 families were represented in the case, and these included students in the school or school employees who have been personally affected by the continual proselytizing.
As originally enacted, the first amendment and the establishment clause that relate to religion in schools don't actually mention school, argues Mathew McReynolds, senior staff attorney with the Pacific Justice Institute, a non-profit legal organization that specializes in the defense of religious freedom. What they do mention is free exercise of religion, as well, as free speech. So those are strong rights that students especially have in the public schools and still have.
After losing the case, the school board voted 3 to 2 to appeal the case in the ninth circuit. The Pacific Justice Institute, who represented the district for a dollar, was replaced by the law firm of Tyler & Bursch. Jack Hibbs is the director of the non-profit within this law firm that offered to represent the district, pro-bono. In July of 2018, much to the dismay of many Hibbs supporters, the ninth circuit ruled in favor of the FFRF. The following month, the school board members voted again 3 to 2 in favor of petitioning the U.S Supreme Court, angering many parents within the school district.
They're not in these positions because they care about the kids. They're not in the position that they're in because they want to better the school district. Better the school experience. They're in the position because they want to be able to take the preachings of Jack Hibbs and they want to make that pushed through these young minds… so that they're able to have more parishioners. It's completely self-serving, says Rainey.
Upon research, I discovered you make a deplorable habit of discriminatory remarks. I'm angry, -- Elizabeth Velarde
Given the declining enrollment of students in public schools, a tightening budget and another controversial rant, parents took a stand at the school board meeting two weeks ago.
I was moved to address my first board meeting in August 2015 after Mr. Cruz's controversial address at the July meeting, said Peter O'Brien. For those who don't remember, his remarks were delivered in a free form rant weaponized with the language of homophobia, sexism, bigotry, anti-immigrant sentiment... all soaked in a marinade of evangelical christian concern.
Thirteen parents, teachers and students approached the school board podium to address the members. With three minutes each, all but one person spoke about the inflammatory comments made by school board member amd Calvary Chapel parishioner, Andrew Cruz, and the puncturing effect his most recent comments have had on them.
My teachers who are a part of the community are not teaching me to be gay, said eighth grader Veronica Minogue. It's quite the opposite. They are teaching me to accept one another, and everyone is equal… They deserve a school board member who accepts and treats them with value and dignity, as they deserve.
During the previous school board meeting, Cruz cited 1940's Germany to defend his concerns about the transgender movement and parental rights over sex education.
It wasn't Hitler that was bad. It was the people that follow the laws and the agenda, Cruz told the audience, which included fellow parishioners from the megachurch he attends. Local [government] is so important, and we take charge for our own community and for our own kids.
Minutes before Cruz spoke during this same meeting, Jack Hibbs gave his own speech in defense of empowering parents to opt out of sex education — a right that parents in the district already have — and the consequences that will arise if these concerns are not addressed.
This is the way it works, began Hibbs. We've entrusted our kids to you. And if we don't hear that you're listening to the voice of the people, then what happens is voting time comes. And it's very important that we vote for those who represent our concern. And that's the nation that we live in.
