California MassResistance parents in minority LA suburb fiercely fighting radical “student wellbeing center”
Set up in high school by School Board against parents’ wishes. Now livid parents want it removed.
Funded by federal money. Staff trained by Planned Parenthood. Steers kids to terrible outside services – and more.
Minority parents are unafraid to confront their officials (see video below) – and local leftists have backed off from this fight!
September 11, 2023
The federal government is quietly funding radical “health centers” – also called “wellbeing centers” in high schools across the country. Among other things, without parental knowledge they refer children to abortion and transgender “clinics,” access to birth control and condoms, and perform “mental health” counseling.
But in one California school district, the MassResistance parents are aggressively fighting back!
“Wellbeing Centers” being set up in Los Angeles area high schools
Since 2019, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) has been using federal grant money to set up so-called “wellbeing centers” in its schools. Their goal is to be in 50 schools; as of this year they are in 41.
Norwalk and La Mirada are adjoining suburbs of Los Angeles (located between LA and Anaheim). The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District (NLMUSD) serves largely minority families.
On July 19, 2021, the NLMUSD School Board signed a “memo of understanding” with the county DPH – committing to have a wellbeing center at the district’s John Glenn High School until 2024.
When parents saw that memo, they were outraged. The DPH staffers coming into the schools to staff these clinics were being trained by Planned Parenthood, as well as by bureaucrats from the county’s far-left Department of Mental Health and Department of Education. These staffers apparently have no medical or psychological credentials of their own.
As part of the agreement, the school must “Coordinate trainings with Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles (PPLA) to implement PPLA trainings.”
The wellbeing center would provide students counseling on: (1) “sexual health and education,” (2) mental health problems, and (3) drug abuse issues.
The DPH staffers would counsel students and train school staff. Even more frightening, they would also train some students to do “peer counseling” with classmates, and set up call centers for that.
There were several red flags. Planned Parenthood’s version of “sexual health” translates to referrals to abortion clinics, dispensing birth control pills and condoms, “transgender therapy,” and graphic “sex ed” including instruction in homosexual sex.
“Mental health” help offered by laypeople can make problems worse. They might offer as an antidote to a student’s suicidal feelings, “You’re really gay or transgender.” And schools are horribly ineffective at stopping drug abuse.
There is no moral compass underlying any of this. It all stems from the leftist mindset of bureaucrats and Planned Parenthood which has a long history of misery and failure.
Moreover, according to the memo, the DPH is targeting “high need” school districts – which is bureaucrat-speak for “minority districts.” This implies that minority parents are less able than white parents to raise their children well. This infuriated the Norwalk-La Mirada parents even more!
The School Board delays – then goes forward
Parents immediately began complaining to the School Board that they did not want this clinic. The Board delayed through 2021 and 2022 – first due to COVID and then giving the impression that they were not going through with implementing it at all.
But in March 2023, they opened the Wellbeing Center at the John Glenn High School. At first, parents didn’t know what to do. Many were shocked.
The memorandum of understanding specifically says that “written consent” of parents was necessary for their child to participate. But that has been simply ignored, parents said. They have reported that their children have been referred to abortion clinics and “transgender” clinics, and given “Plan B” (“morning after”) pills.
MassResistance gets involved – and the parents are on fire!
In July, the parents contacted MassResistance for help. We got right to work! We organized a California MassResistance chapter in Norwalk-La Mirada. It has now has grown to over 150 parents. And it’s attracted many more – recently 200 people from one local church offered to get involved.
A group of the parents passed this flyer (in both English and Spanish) around the community. Lots of people thanked them for informing them.The local California MassResistance parents have been filling the School Board meetings and testifying. They are demanding that the Wellbeing Center be shut down immediately.
These parents and grandparents filled the room at the August 24 School Board meeting.We wish parents across the country were as hard-hitting as these when they testify. Unlike too many conservatives, these minority parents have no fear of being blunt and emotional with their (mostly white) school officials. (See video above of clips from the testimony.)
People were unafraid to rebuke the Board members in strong terms!
The 7-member School Board hears a parent's testimony.Moreover, pro-family complaints like this usually attract a horde of local leftists who come to the meetings to intimidate and harass the parents. But no leftists have been showing up here. They clearly realize that these parents would lash back even harder!
School Board attempts to respond with a “Fact Sheet”
The School Board members have attempted to answer the parents’ complaints with a “Fact Sheet” about the Wellness Center which they published earlier in the year.
But not surprisingly, the Fact Sheet is misleading and dishonest. While it correctly says that the Wellbeing Center does not “perform abortions,” it fails to mention they do (as parents have told us) refer girls to abortion clinics. The Fact Sheet says that the board has rejected the requirement that Planned Parenthood be at the school. But the Wellness Center staffers are trained by Planned Parenthood. Also, the Fact Sheet basically admits that parental consent is not required, and that students are given advice by so-called “trusted adults.”
The parents have the momentum
It’s unusual to see parents rise up this fiercely against a school “health center,” and the Left hasn’t really developed much of a plan to counter this the way it has with other “culture war” issues.
The parents’ outrage has made the officials so uncomfortable that last month one of them contacted one of the mothers asking what could be done to solve this. It’s as if they weren’t quite listening. The mother said: “Get rid of the Wellness Center!”
In this kind of situation around the country, local officials are usually helped by a horde of unhinged leftists who come to meetings and verbally attack and intimidate the pro-family parents. But that’s not happening here. As mentioned above, the anger and fearlessness of the parents has clearly scared the leftists away. The local newspaper (which is not widely read) has tried to fill the gap by printing outrageously vicious articles against the parents (more on that coming up), but it’s not working.
The School Board is now reacting by spending money on some gimmicks (such as school-wide “surveys” about the center) to sway the community (which we will be reporting on soon). They are clearly on the defensive and looking for a solution to the “problem.” And the parents continue to grow stronger.
This is the way battles like this need to be fought! We’ll keep you informed!
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