The Desert Sands school district will conduct public hearings for textbook adoptions at their school board meeting tonight at 7 PM, in the district board room. The public may submit comments to be read by the board here, or delivered in person, and the meeting can be viewed on YouTube.
Books
Textbooks up for adoption include Advanced Placement Biology and English Literature, and International Baccalaureate Biology, English Literature, and French. According to the board agenda, Educational Services is requesting approval for all textbooks.
Counseling Services
Also on the board agenda tonight, under consent items for student services (item 26), are three independent contractor agreements for counseling services. The services provided, according to the content provided in the agenda, are very similar in that they will all provide substance and tobacco use support and will assist with LGBT events. Some will also act as PLUS “advisors” and Drumming Circles therapy instructors.
The first counselor is Parry Myers. While Myers does not list an associated company, it does appear there is a valid license, according to the accompanying contract.
The next two counselors, Shannon Brigham and Tori St. Johns, appear to be from the same company-TLC Counseling. There may be issues that the DSUSD need to clear up in regards to TLC Counseling. First, according to the California Secretary of State, “TLC Counseling” does not exist as a business entity. Secondly, neither St. Johns or Brigham list a license number for their professional services. Thirdly, there is no website for “TLC Counseling” though there exists a dead-link for the company, and a linkedin profile (empty) that lists St. Johns as the “owner”. Fourthly, the business address given for TLC resolves to a private residence worth nearly a million dollars. Strange.
SafeHouse
One other item that may be of interest, is the memorandum of understanding between the DSUSD and the SafeHouse organization. According to the content in the agenda, SafeHouse provides a “SafePlace outreach services to the district’s youth.” SafeHouse also educates students on the dangers of running away, provides emotional support, peer to peer counseling, and interventions for students who experience depression or “trauma”.
Not mentioned anywhere in that content, is that SafeHouse will provide services to kids that are “transgender” and will be targeting kids as young as 10 years old for gender transitioning. You have to open the actual Memorandum to learn those nuggets. I repeat, the district and SafeHouse found a loophole to target kids as young as 10 years of age for gender transitioning.
Even worse, when you read the Memorandum, it appears the primary focus of SafeHouse is the gender transition of kids. Oh, and the “professional” staff of SafeHouse will be at least 18. “Professional” at age 18? Parents and community, you might want to ask for some clarification.
When you do ask for clarification, if you do, just remember that DSUSD has a history of prevarication with the community– remember when the DSUSD swore there was no CRT concepts in the district, then established a DEI (CRT on steroids) office and staff? Or how about when the DSUSD insisted that masks would prevent a virus? How about that time that the DSUSD pushed EVERYONE to get experimental “vaccines” that have killed more people than Covid? So, yeah… ask, but definitely fact check whatever answer you get.