An uproar has been brewing for weeks over at the Orange Juice blog’s long-running SAUSD thread, regarding Willard Principal Dennis Cole, who has apparently been injecting religion into his school.
I am a Christian, but I can understand how religious activities in our public schools could backfire. I don’t know Mr. Cole, but it sounds like he is definitely pushing the envelope.
Here is an excerpt from one comment, regarding teacher-led student prayer groups:
SAUSD continues to allow teacher led student prayer groups held during the students’ lunch period. Willard Intermediate School in Santa Ana, CA has formed a teacher led student prayer club held during the students’ lunch time. The group is named “Jaguars for Jesus.”
The principal of the school, Dennis Cole, initially approached teachers and counselors to find teachers willing to lead the prayer groups.
The teachers’ union met with Superintendent, Jane Russo. Both Russo and SAEA agreed that Principal Cole is not allowed to request any staff member to lead such a group nor is he allowed to ask other staff members to recruit for him. This, of course, was after the teachers had already been recruited.
Superintendent Jane Russo and SAEA did agree that a teacher’s lunchtime is not considered duty time. This, according to SAEA and Ms. Russo, allows teachers to participate in teacher led prayer groups for students. Therefore, the view of both SAEA and Ms. Russo is that this issue has been “resolved”.
An additional issue has surfaced. The First Presbyterian Church, located on 600 N. Main St. in Santa Ana, regularly sends individuals from that organization to attend these “club” meetings (“Outsiders, such as clergy members, may not initiate club meetings. Outsiders may not direct, conduct, control or regularly attend activities of student groups.”).
These individuals do not sign-in as other visitors are required to do nor is it clear that they have gone through the background checks and finger printing required by SAUSD for all school volunteers.
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Kevan Hanson, Director of Youth Ministry for the First Presbyterian Church, reports that he serves as a “lunch supervisor” at Willard Intermediate and has gone through the background check and has been finger printed through the Santa Ana School District Police.
The California School Employees Association (CSEA) reports that lunch supervisors are paid employees of the Santa Ana Unified School District. CSEA further reports that lunch supervisors have a Board approved job description and that if Mr. Hanson is a lunch supervisor he should be working in the lunch area and should not be in a classroom.
I wonder what would happen if any of these folks got hurt on campus? It would open up the district to major liability. They aren’t employees, but any such incidents would fall under the district’s general liability policy.
Again, I am all for ministry, as a Christian, but doing this in a public setting is disturbing.
You can have a lesbian and gay club in the schools, but not a prayer club!
What is more distrubing than that??? Not that I care about lesbians and gays, but really in the school??
I am not religious, but with the idiot teachers/union thugs you have like Annon; who care more about a few kids praying instead of thousands of kids passing actual tests, what is more distrubing than that!
I say keep the prayer meeting and get rid of lousy teachers like Annon! I heard she is a nosey cow any how!!
Good for you kids and Mr. Cole, aleast you are doing something positve instead of being a big negative like most of the teachers and staff at your awful district!
“I am a Christian, but I can understand how religious activities in our public schools could backfire.”
MQ says:
You were all about being born again last week, then when an idiot like annon askes you to slander a relgious group; you are all over it!
And the question of the day is: HOW COULD IT BACK FIRE?????
Michelle,
I have not slandered anyone. Please stop with the exaggerations.
How could it backfire? How about a lawsuit by the ACLU?
As for my faith, it continues but I do believe that we have to be cautious when mixing religion with the public arena. Bad mix!
If you would like to have some where to pray come over to my house; cookies and milk are on the house!
If you have a picture of the yellow cow annon, bring a few darts, I have the board!
God won’t mind I am sure, he know’s he screw up with a few human beings!
Well phrased, Art. Religion and Politics: the fact that we can have a system which celebrates and defends the differences in point of view, and accepts an openness of “agree to disagree without anger and without a requirement that one must be better than others must be the pillars upon which our public institutions, including schools, must operate.
There is a concerted effort right now at Calvary Chapel to begin to exploit the 1993 Lamb Chapel v.Center Moriches School District ruling in which the Supreme court ruled that if the Boy Scouts and Little League can use school property, so can churches.
The trouble I have with this is that Churches like Calvary (or the RCDO) don’t pay taxes, they use the tax payer funded facilities to build the congregation and then buy land again, TAX FREE.
These kids at Willard are among the most vulnerable among us. How the district could allow them to be exploited is beyond me.
Don’t the Calvary Churches often host Republican politicians? Wasn’t Bush at one of these churches just this past week?
I think Churches should stay out of politics – and out of public schools.
So the ACLU is our moral compass???? The ACLU is nothing but a bunch of out of work liberal lawyers are able to terrorize people using the now corrupt (especially in California) liberal courts!
Come on Art!
As far as mixing religion with the public area: yeah, when it comes to Shari law I agree! A couple of kids praying for granny to get better or praying to pass a test is all but good!
Where the heck is the common sense here! And why the hell are people including yourself so afraid of the ACLU!
They sue, because they know in this country they can hurt and terrorize people that way…Courts in this country have become nothing but a way to destroy, silence and erase common sense!
Business and people are moving out of here in droves! This state is in very serious trouble!
Michelle,
What I was referring to is the COST of defending the district in the event of a lawsuit. Not cheap!
I am not by the way afraid of the ACLU. I am a member of the ACLU. That’s right. I am both a born again Christian and an ACLU member. Ponder that one for awhile…
Michelle Quinn
Posted December 6, 2010 at 9:42 PM
Michelle Quinn
Posted December 6, 2010 at 5:50 PM
Michelle Quinn
Posted December 6, 2010 at 5:46 PM
What can I say about Dennis Cole.
Bigot
A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one exhibiting intolerance, and animosity toward those of differing beliefs.
This describes Cole perfectly, every word is exactly who he is.
If you do not respond with a Yes, Sir. He will make sure you pay dearly for you defiance. He is no man of god. He is and always will be a BIGOT.
Why shouldn’t he, he has the district approval. after all he was their best choice to “reform” Willard Intermediate after all. Little did Jane Russo know, he was going to turn Willard into a church. Now, Jane Russo has no choice but to support this godly man or else she will look bring upon herself a negative ray of sunshine and end up in the depths of hell.
If you are of Dennis Cole’s religion and beliefs you are welcome at Willard (home of the holy) if you are not Cole will make your life a living hell. Most, not all teachers are to afraid to say or contradict him on anything so they have all become the “Yes” group.
Michelle,
you obviously don’t have or don’t believe in something called the “Constitution”
and you probably don’t have a loved one in any of the Armed Forces, because if you did. You would defend your constitutional rights.
Bottom line:
Cole is violating this. his and the districts excuse is what?
As long as you only preach during your break it’s okay. Well its not!
Teachers are doing this everyday, and getting paid for it.
Their Bible club or any other religious club is organized by teachers, let by
teachers, and hosted by teachers. If this wasn’t bad enough they are using these hours towards $1000.00 stipend. Now, who is the bad person here.
There is a reason why there are laws in this country. No one is above. We all have to follow them. Unless you are Cole of course.
Michelle you have no common sense.
“If you have a picture of the yellow cow annon, bring a few darts, I have the board!
God won’t mind I am sure, he know’s he screw up with a few human beings!”
BIGOT!
Kevin hanson is no supervisor.
How can he lie and he is supposed to be a man of the church and a man of god.
I answered my own question, he is a friend of Dennis Cole. If Cole can Lie to everyone so can he.
He must think all adults at Willard are blind. Maybe thats the new name for preacher or pastor.
Will have to wait and see how Jane Russo and company respond to the lawsuit, Dennis Cole brought upon himself and the district.
You can only bullied people for so long, Mr. Cole, before they start to revolt and revolt they will.
Cole’s apostles think they can violate the law because they have his blessing and continue to hold prayer sessions during lunch time.
This only goes to prove one point!
Cole and his apostles are so ignorant that they don’t realize the damage they are causing to the Willard student population be imposing their own religious beliefs and jeopardizing Title 1 funding.
Willard is the lowest performing intermediate school in the district. Dennis Cole should be concentrating on bringing the Willard Staff together and finding ways to improve the API scores and not trying to convert students into his own religion.
He has crossed the line.
What will it take before Russo and Dawn Miller put a stop to his madness and remove his from the position of power that his has obviously abuse for his own enrichment.
From what I saw yesterday and today the lunch prayer meeting, I misspoke —- the lunch bible club —- that is how Cole labeled the club in a staff meeting —-, with teacher, met on Thursday and on Friday after PC himself —- Preacher Cole —- said ALL of the clubs were canceled. I seriously doubt if PC’s followers would have continued meeting without Cole’s blessing.
His staff already knows PC doesn’t understand anything as complicated as the Constitution and now we all know he doesn’t understand what the word “all” means.
That was an incredible staff meeting on Wednesday —- at least the last 25 minutes of it —- where someone finally and literally stood up to Cole.
Cole saw what standing up for something you believe in really looks like. Everyone I spoke to thought it was great and we appreciate what was done for us.
John,
It helps if you are physically at school for the majority of each day when the students are there. Being a principal is hardly something you can do via text messaging.
Willard Staff,
I have always known that it has been the talented, strong staff members at Willard who have been the tireless core and heartbeat of the true Willard community.
Over the years I have witnessed many, many wonderful things happening in and out of the classroom to serve and support the students and their families.
Willard has survived because of these people.
Through budget cuts, a constant turn over of educational theories, the bombardment of “this is THE only way to do it” directives which were systematically abandoned by the district when they failed, the waste of money spent on excellent programs put together by the staff only to be disregarded and thrown out with each new principal, the elimination of real electives, the staff at Willard worked hard to serve the students and their families.
To say test scores are low therefore the teachers are not serving their students because they are bad teachers is simply not true.
Each and every success at Willard has happened because of the staff.
Anonymous, I, for one, am not a disgruntled staff member.
It is not MY liberal view of what I think the Constitution stands for that caused Mr. Cole to eliminate all clubs at Willard.
At this point I do not know what Mr. Cole was told to do by the school district or what he was told his choices were. I do know he did not have to close down all of the clubs to make sure he was complying with federal law.
I do know that it is important for any publicly funded institution to comply with Constitutional law.
If you look back over the history of what public education in America has done to minorities you will begin to understand why the Supreme Court has made the rulings they have made and why it is important for each of us to be a guardian of those rights.
What would I rather see than students in gangs? I would rather see students and their families not having to live in poverty. I would rather see students who didn’t have to sleep on the floor and have no place to do their homework. I would rather see parents who didn’t have to worry over not having a job or not having a job that paid enough to actually feed and shelter their family. I would rather see students who knew their future would be brighter than their parents’ realities.
What have I accomplished this year? Anonymous, you might be amazed to know that I am proud of what I feel is my greatest accomplishment so far this school year. My accomplishment doesn’t count towards any compact hours and it doesn’t show up as extra pay on my paycheck.
On the first day of school a student, who had no idea of who I was other than the fact I was a teacher, came up to me and said out of the blue, “I want to learn to read this year.”
So, twice a week I work with this student. When we started he was only able to read 93 sight words. Now he knows 623 sight words and has read 6 books with me. The books are not at his grade level but when we first started he had only read 2 primmer level books on his own. This student’s accomplishment is, I feel, my greatest accomplishment so far this year. For the first 5 years of his education he learned to read 93 words. In three months I have been able to increase his ability to read over 6 fold.
Will he score high on the tests he will be taking in the spring? No. Will the tests he takes in the spring even detect his growth in reading? No. The tests are not made to measure individual growth no matter how significant.
Now, multiply my success by each and every teacher at Willard who, through hard work and true dedication, have been able to increase their students’ level of knowledge and understanding of the world and you have a great deal of success.
Will the test scores of these students reflect their accomplishments and the accomplishments of their teachers? Probably not. The tests are not designed to measure how much a student has grown in one year.
The teachers at Willard know we cannot do it alone. All staff members contribute to the success of students. Each and every day I see so many positive interactions and people working hard to go above and beyond what is required of them. And, believe me, all of the things these people do to help students are not reflected in their paychecks and are not recognized by Mr. Cole.
Who at Willard is ideologically driven? Who at Willard has an agenda of his own that has nothing to do with the academic growth of students? Who at Willard spends the least amount of their time with students? Mr. Cole.
Now, Anonymous, you might be surprised even further to know I don’t think the problem with Willard is Mr. Cole. Mr. Cole is only a symptom of the problems Willard has faced over a very long time. The school district has allowed this to happen.
Where is Mr. Cole when he is not at Willard? Jane Russo probably knows and approves.
The school district has also allowed Mr. Cole to impose his personal, religious views at Willard and it is SAUSD who is ignoring federal law. Remember, federal law applies to all public schools. This includes all of the schools in SAUSD not just Willard.
In conclusion, I have always known that it has been the talented, strong staff members at Willard who have been the tireless core and heartbeat of the true Willard community and nothing has changed that.
My last posting was in response to
Anonymous
Posted December 10, 2010 at 6:11 PM
The biggest problems at Willard are the disgruntled teachers who want to impose their liberal view of what they think the Constitution stands for on everybody else. These teachers would rather see the kids in gangs than in a Bible study. Shame, shame, shame on them!
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2009/07/2009-sausd-corruption-thread/
District Insider
Posted January 2, 2011 at 6:50 PM
You have to remember on important factor!
Dennis Cole is a control freak, and a micromanaging bigot. He is the typical Administrator who feels, thinks, and believes he is protected by D.O Administration; Jane Russo, Dawn Miller and Cathie Olsky.
Why? You might ask!
He is a friend of Dawn; appointed by Jane and placed at Willard Cathie for one specific mission, break the will, turn employees against each other, reprimand, remove or terminate any employee who does not “obey” his directives. All this, sanctioned by the D.O, approved by Jane Russo.
You might not remember the press release from Angela Burrell
Public Information Officer. You need only read the section under Dennis Cole and the brief description of his background and why he was placed at Willard to start to understand his mission objective and the support he has from the D.O. You might also not remember how the D.O described Willard staff; IMPLANTED, DEEP ROOTED.
D.O Administration place him at you school for one specific mission, I can highly assure you, it is not to raise test scores or improve the quality of education there at Willard. D.O, along with Jane Russo does not care of or about Willard Staff or Students alike. If they did, they would have never placed an Administrator with little to no background or experience in Administration.
Your best chances of getting rid of your Principal Mr. Dennis Cole are the same directives he received from the D.O themselves. They gave him such large room for error, and at the same time gave him unrestrictive access and unquestioned support.
The D.O was blind with their objective, they neglected to set guidelines to avoid the pitfall that all new power hungry, micromanaging unprofessional immoral Administrators fall into. The D.O did not anticipate your Principals fanatical religious believes. The D.O can not protect or support his fanatical religious believes him much longer. He is his worst enemy. Dennis will hand you all you need to file a complaint against him, not only with the D.O, but the State Dept of Labor, Cal/Osha and EEOC.
Regardless, of what your Principal does this new calendar year or what new directives Jane Russo gives him, he will always revert back to his religion for direction. You all have what he does not, decency and common sense.
And foremost, always carry a voice activated recorder. He can not repeal his own verbiage or say you are lying or misinterpreted his verbiage.
I see you Principal here all the time, there are many here who support Willard Staff.
Happy New Year.