BREAKING: Outrageous Push to Cover Up Sex-Ed Materials in South Bay Community in Los Angeles County
California District Refuses to Let MassResistance Photograph, Record Sex-Ed Curriculum
Full Report Here!
On December 10, 2019, Arthur Schaper, our Activism Director, attended a meeting to look at the sex-ed curriculum which his local school district had adopted.
Torrance, California is a relatively quiet suburb located in the southwestern section of Los Angeles County. The school district is well-known for hiring good teachers and providing a safe learning environment for students. Many parents pay top dollar to move into the city of Torrance in order to enroll their students in Torrance Unified.
Torrance Unified Education Material Building
Arthur had submitted a number of FOIA requests to the Torrance Unified District to get more information about the student enrollment and to find out what the district was teaching students from K-12 in connection with the California Healthy Youth Act (AB 329).
The District was slow to respond to Arthur’s requests initially. Arthur had to refile the FOIA request to know which sex-ed curriculum they had selected. Finally, the school district got back to him, and they scheduled a time for him to look over the sex-ed curriculum.
December 10, 2019
Arthur arrived at the Torrance Unified School District Education Services office, right across the street from the district main office.
When he entered the building, he was greeted by two staffers, who then directed him to the Categorical Funding Specialist, Orly David, who was going to show him the different curricula that Torrance Unified had adopted for sex ed.
For the record, a categorical funding specialist directs and facilitates the implementation of state and federal programs. Much of these monies come from different grants and categories. These programs include supplemental materials for students from low-income families as well as students who do not speak English as a first language. Additionally, funding specialists help provide programs for teacher and administrator training, as well as professional development.
Categorical Funding Specialist Orly David
Mr. David was friendly, and invited him up to the second floor into another meeting room. As soon as they arrived, David asked Arthur if he was familiar with the rules, i.e. what he would and would not be allowed to do in connection with the curriculum.
Arthur asked “What’s going on?”
David then explained to Arthur that he would not be allowed to take photos of the curriculum!
This was really shocking to Arthur, since he had been able to take photos and record the content of the sex-ed curriculum at the Downey Unified School District. When pressed to explain why Arthur would not be allowed to record or take photos, David responded: “Those are the orders that I have been given.”
Positive Prevention Plus is WORSE
than Teen Talk according to a number of sources
Sex-Ed for Elementary School?!
Who gave the orders? Ramona Cheng, the Director of Curriculum at Torrance Unified School District.
Arthur brought Brian Camenker, the President of MassResistance, into the conversation by speaker phone. Brian was livid, and he demanded to know why Torrance Unified would not permit Arthur to take photos and record video, but Downey Unified had allowed him to.
When Arthur took out his camera to record, David right away took the materials away!
Dr. Ramona Chang of Torrance Unified (Click here for video)
At this point, Dr. Ramona Chang was brought into the room vias speaker phone, as well. She told Arthur that she could look at the curriculum, but he would not be permitted to take photos or record the curriculum.
Here’s the entire interaction below:
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM8qkpW8Pm7dROqAJwWcMy9NuzxZZr0RvvQhEe_
Dr. Chang explained that because the materials were copyrighted, no one would be permitted to take photos or record video. This makes no sense, since school materials are funded by public dollars.
Doesn’t the public have a right to know and share information that will be taught to their students? Like David, Dr. Chang hid behind the color of authority, informing Arthur that Dr. Katie Krumpe, the Chief Academic Officer for Torrance Unified, had ordered all staffers that no one would be allowed to take photos or record video of the curriculum.
This is really strange, since Arthur had already taken photos of the sex-ed curriculum used in Downey Unified. Furthermore, the California Healthy Youth Act and the Fair Use Doctrine connected to federal copyright laws disputes all of this.
Key sections of the California Healthy Youth Act read as follows (with key portions highlighted:
“The Legislature intends to create a streamlined process to make it easier for parents and guardians to review materials and evaluation tools related to comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education
“At the beginning of each school year… The notice shall do all of the following: Advise the parent or guardian that written and audiovisual educational materials used in comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education are available for inspection….
Here’s Information about the Fair Use Doctrine in Copyright laws:
Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use. Section 107 calls for consideration of the following four factors in evaluating a question of fair use:
- Purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes: Courts look at how the party claiming fair use is using the copyrighted work, and are more likely to find that nonprofit educational and noncommercial uses are fair. This does not mean, however, that all nonprofit education and noncommercial uses are fair and all commercial uses are not fair; instead, courts will balance the purpose and character of the use against the other factors below.
- Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole: Under this factor, courts look at both the quantity and quality of the copyrighted material that was used. If the use includes a large portion of the copyrighted work, fair use is less likely to be found; if the use employs only a small amount of copyrighted material, fair use is more likely. That said, some courts have found use of an entire work to be fair under certain circumstances. And in other contexts, using even a small amount of a copyrighted work was determined not to be fair because the selection was an important part—or the “heart”—of the work.
- Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work: Here, courts review whether, and to what extent, the unlicensed use harms the existing or future market for the copyright owner’s original work. In assessing this factor, courts consider whether the use is hurting the current market for the original work (for example, by displacing sales of the original) and/or whether the use could cause substantial harm if it were to become widespread.
According to the criteria listed above, MassResistance had every right to take photos and record video of the sex-ed programs selected by Torrance Unified. Our intent has always been to inform and educate the public about the sex-ed programs that schools are pushing on children. Based on our motives and results, MassResistance activists have every right to take photos and record video of school materials.
Arthur reached out to a fellow activist who has documented curriculum materials in other school districts, as well. Even though she faced a great deal of opposition from school boards and administrators, she would record anyway, and no one stopped her.
At the Torrance Unified School District, however, Orly David intervened and took the curriculum materials away right away. Dr. Chang asked Arthur over the speaker phone if he would be content to just looking at the curriculum or leave. Arthur requested to speak with Dr. Krumpe, but she was not available. Since the district would not allow Arthur to photograph or videotape the curriculum, Arthur decided to leave.
However, he recorded his interaction with Mr. David and other staffers:
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOwhzH6v6xt8urFx45Gn4iE7bRpV8c_ahoWRAIn
Mr. David complained about his privacy being violated. However, school districts are public entities, and staff and curriculum are funded by public dollars. Right-to-know should trump any public official’s demand for privacy, especially when it comes to teaching perverted material to children all under the label of sex-ed.
Follow-Up
School districts around the country face increasing pressure for lobbyists and non-profits to promote certain agendas. The LGBT movement has been relying on these groups for a long time to force their way into public schools, and in turn to find ways to indoctrinate students into accepting sexual deviance an other perversions as appropriate and mainstream.
MassResistance is committed to exposing everything about this destructive agenda forcing its way into every aspect of our communities and our culture. For now, MassResistance is going to explore what legal options are available for pursuing Torrance Unified regarding this stunning amount of secrecy around Positive Prevention Plus and Puberty Talk. For a district to go to such lengths to hide the sex-ed curriculum that they are giving to children, it certainly suggests that that there is something very sinister and wrong about what they want to teach Torrance youth.