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Arroyo Grande teacher takes students to nude beach

March 2, 2010

By KAREN VELIE

An Arroyo Grande High School photography teacher allegedly took four students on an unapproved field trip to a local nude beach, and now some parents are upset.

“I think it was bizarre,” said one parent who asked to remain anonymous because of her daughter’s discomfort with the situation. “It was not appropriate.”

While some of the teenage girls’ parents had signed broad waivers allowing photography teacher Allen Fraser to take their children off campus for photo taking, some had not signed the releases.

On Feb. 17, Fraser asked four of his first and second period students to accompany him to Pirates Cove, a nude beach with a reputation as a hook-up spot for homosexuals. Fraser drove two of the girls to the beach in his car and two others followed in their own car, according to parents.

When they arrived at the beach, the girls were instructed to shoot photos.

Currently, a lawsuit filed by San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Deputy John Franklin claims that, because of a brush with a masturbating homosexual he encountered at Pirates Cove during an undercover sting operation, he suffers from mental and emotional distress.

Arroyo Grande High School Principal Ryan Pinkerton told CalCoastNews he was unaware of the teacher’s excursion to Pirates Cove.

“Just going there is inappropriate,” Pinkerton said.

Pinkerton had said he would look into the issue and respond. However, his staff then forwarded all requests for comment to the district office. Officials at the Lucia Mar School District were unavailable for comment.


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A teacher has no business taking any students to a nude beach. If this photography teacher wanted ocean/nature pictures, there are plenty of other places to go. This teacher obviously lacks common sense, and I suggest the administration has done a poor job watching over him if the guy was allowed to plan all of this and no one knew about it. Further, this didn’t happen overnight. I guarantee, this guy has evolved to the point where he felt comfortable and brave enough to take these kids to the nude beach. Where is the principal? Where is the administration? Where is the district office, the school board…..Come on folks…..start doing your jobs….it’s our kids, and everyone’s future that you are toying with.


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You’re late and you’re wrong.


That’s why this story shouldn’t even be on the site anymore. It never should have been here in the first place, really, but I’ve already gotten into that.


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So this isn’t a chat room eh? lol What the hell do you call it then?


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We at CCN expect relevant,civil, on topic discussion from our invited guests. thanks.


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Sorry, but many comments have disappeared, this is a news source not a chat room, please reflect on the relevance of your comment before posting. thank you.


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Thank you moderator for having us all focus….I would like to add my last comment to this article…Good job to everyone out there who has informed all the parents and taxpayers to this issue….Sad to say that if you look at the next AGHS board agenda mtg. will this issue be on it? Probably that’s why it has come to this…the school just says, “It’s a personnel issue”.This is huge to anyone who has kids to take a look at our system and most of all our kids teachers. Nobody out there wants anyone to get fired,or you kids out there, quit pointing fingers and take a look at your role models…not a good choice Mr. Frasier, hope you have learned from this as we all do in life learn from our mistakes……..


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I guess you got “your pound of flesh”. Happy?.


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Students rescue teachers! PIRATES COVE!! not…. bye agmom.


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I’m going to ask this again because I am truly curious: Why did the mother of the uncomfortable girl go straight to an online news source rather than Mr. Fraser or Mr. Pinkerton?


Considering the lack of seriousness in this “issue”, it seems reasonable that a conversation with Mr. Fraser would have rid the mother of all discomfort and an article concerning the situation would be obviously absurd. Clearing up the situation would have been more efficient, less dramatic, more simple, more mature, possibly more successful, and far more beneficial for the education of Mr. Fraser’s photography students, had the mother approached the teacher initially.


My only theories are that she strongly detests Mr. Fraser and wants to damage his reputation, she is somehow of familial, friendly, or professional relation to Karen Velie and wanted to give her a “scoop” for the paper, or she was bored and craving some drama.


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carsopolus..did you ever think that maybe parents have in the past tried to go to the teachers and the principals AND NOTHING GETS DONE OR LOOKED INTO? The school has ALWAYS tried to hide stuff like this, get a clue….going to the media gets the issue delt with in a timely manner…not always, but in this case, the school wants to put this under the carpet and not discuss it….as if it never happened…the parents and citizens need to know that this behavior is going on and where their tax money is going to…as for me I’m tired to seeing bond money going to the school and seeing admin. getting new offices and my kids get nothing…they can’t even get a teacher with good judgement for goodness sake!


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Don’t let your cynicism prevent you from being reasonable. How many school controversies has your daughter been involved in that elicited unproductive responses from school faculty? It seems as if you have experienced enough negative and unsuccessful exchanges to have lost all faith in conversing civilly with teachers, and if that is the case, I’m surprised. How can one so pessimistic about issues being resolved by teachers be so optimistic in sending their child to be taught by them five days out of the week? Either you overreacted or you have been shamefully hardened by past failures of society. The point is you should have talked to Fraser. He’s not just a dissociated grump coming to school every day just to get a paycheck. He cares and would have listened to your worries, and you had no reason to believe otherwise.


They can’t even get a teacher with good judgment? For one thing, you’re irresponsibly basing your entire opinion of this teacher based on this one mistake. Do you truly believe you can determine the reasonability of a person based on one example? An example polluted by an article void of important facts and saturated with innuendo? And secondly, your statement envelops all teachers at Arroyo Grande High School, which means you are irrationally generalizing based upon the falsehood of this reporting. Not only does your story manage to destroy agmom’s opinion of Mr. Fraser, Miss Velie, but it somehow even scarred the reputation of every other teacher on campus. I don’t even know what to say…That’s just downright incredible.


If you’re so resentful against the ways the California Education system uses your tax money, I suggest a life of hermitage. Or better yet, active involvement in how the money is used. And by active involvement, I don’t mean bitterly commenting an article on a small website.


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Guess what Mr, Mrs or Miss Carsopolus, One of the students say’s that she did tell Fraser that she didn’t think she was comfortable going to Pirates Cove because it was a nude beach and he ignored her. Of course you wouldn’t know that because the person who posted today isn’t even a student in his class.


agmom, I would just ignore this person. There are many different stories surrounding the facts of this outing. Some of the students showed up very late if at all. Others were down on the beach, Fraser has no control over this class. The principal took appropriate action and suspended him.


The moderator will probably delete this post because he has an opinion on this story.


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I dunno about the moderators but I think carsopolis has been right on the money from her first comment, boy howdy did she rattle Cindy’s cage!


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Your allegation has absolutely no merit. I have been honest, open, and detailed in every comment that I left. I have not been misleading in any respect, nor have I tried to deceive you. I’m not using circular logic and no one has followed the course of my reason and pointed out any holes or inconsistencies. The only reason you doubt my age, education, and whether or not I’m even in Mr. Fraser’s first and second period class is because I use big words? Shame on you. That’s preposterous, absurd, ridiculous, outrageous, ignorant, irresponsible, and pathetic. Instead of considering my words even for a second as the truth, you’re only focusing on who I am. I knew as a student and a teenager that if I wanted to stand up for my teacher and make sure the truth is heard, I would need to be logical, thorough, and grammatically correct, lest I be ridiculed and thereby ignored by the adult readers and commenters. I spent too much time thinking about this entire situation, proofreading, and looking words up in the dictionary that I was unsure about to be ignored. Some might think that’s a waste of time, but I’m expanding my vocabulary and standing up for what’s right, so I don’t mind. To my dismay, Cindy, you have made my plan backfire. Usually it’s a good thing to make an opponent’s plan of action backfire, but is it here? Maybe if I said things like ‘LOL’ or ‘OMG’, you would believe me. Maybe if I spelled things wrong or capitalized my entire comments you would think it was an angst-and-hormone-fueled rant that could only come from the mind of a pissy teenager. You resent me because you think I’m a liar (although you have no proof), yet you do not accept my offer to provide evidence. You’re either afraid of being wrong and having to apologize, intimidated, or you’re just really, really ignorant. Whatever the case, I would be really, really embarrassed of myself if I were you.


What is your proof that this girl voiced her discomfort in the situation? It’s not in the article. Either you’re withholding information (whether because it is fabricated or unreliable) or you’re just making it up. Mr. Fraser asked if we were okay with it and no one said anything. That’s the truth. I never heard anyone object, and if they had done so privately, not only would it have been inaudible for me, but Mr. Fraser would not merely shove her away, ignore her. He’s not that kind of teacher.


There is one story of what happened that day. You are misinterpreting information. No students showed up late. We all arrived there within ten minutes of each other. We all stood there as a group and made sure everyone was present, and then Mr. Fraser gave out cameras to the students who did not bring their own. You have no evidence to support that students were at the beach.


I suggest readers ignore Cindy’s comments considering pretty much every allegation she makes has no proof or has “proof” that is purely speculation. Shooooooooooot.


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I’m wasting my time offering dignified responses when you would more readily accept replies from what you believe the stereotypical representation of what a teenager these days is. Okay, I’ll play your game, Cindy.


OK DIS IS RIDIKULUS DOGG mr fraesr is a COOL GUY he my fave teacher for my hole life and he so great. that day @ pirats cove we went their to just take piktures of perty things anf the ocean. i been riting angry posts in my MYSPACE all day so take that haters yeahhh im so maddd! yall are just worrried parents i undersand but u gotta know wer not babies no moree! we can think for ourselfs, we are ADULTS! okkk??? i got a f in english lol but i got a a PLUS in defending my teacher u know what im saying?? okay omg this so STUpid


Do you believe me now?


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Oops.


*I’m wasting my time offering dignified responses when you would more readily accept replies from what you believe the stereotypical representation of a teenager these days is.


Or, you would readily accept replies from a writer that most obviously displays the characteristics of that stereotypical teenager trapped in your schema.


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I don’t have a daughter…why do you keep saying that…I have sons!


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This discrepancy is easily resolvable.


On the day of the shoot, Fraser assigned us to the cars that would be transporting us to the destination. Some cars were filled before others and they left to their cars before others. There are two main parking lots on the AGHS campus. Some students went to the front, which is farther away from the photography room, and others went to the back parking lot. These different times departing and different distances covered walking leads to students arriving at the parking lot of Pirate’s Cove at different times. Some arrived before the teacher and some arrived after, which explains why some students will testify to him being present when they arrived and others will say that he came a few minutes after they parked. Thus, we can indeed have it both ways. Common sense.


The reason you cannot take your child out without signing at the office is because you are not a school official. The school never signed a permission slip for you saying that you can take your child out any time. Mr. Fraser is allowed this privilege for the sake of education and because of that fact that every student of his ROP Photography course was required to sign a permission slip to leave campus during school hours.


There is one story of what took place that day. There is one man being mistreated because one reporter failed to give you the entire truth. Reconsider who deserves to be reprimanded here.


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So sorry that some comments have been ‘deleted’, mostly trollish noise, derails and debris. Please focus your comments on the story instead of other posters. thank you.


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To the students who haven’t used the best grammar/spelling etc, and those who have criticized them.


At least one critical writer then used confusing and improper English in a later posting after leaning on a student writer for using bad form. I find the postings from the students to be generally much more illuminating and mature than those from the naysayers, and often more literate. And of course they are not imprisoned by the fear and hate mongering of some ‘adults’. I’m proud of them, despite a few typos and I applaud their passion.


This site has long been plagued with lousy punctuation, bad spelling and foul language by ‘adults’. Those are often lazy people who don’t even respect themselves; they write junk, don’t check their work and perhaps have little knowledge of their native language. So to lean on the students at this time of high anxiety for a few lapses of writing ability is the height of hypocrisy and stonewalling. Let’s stick to what matters.


Pirate’s Cove is not a high crime area; the so-called gay people sometimes frequent an area out of sight and sound of the parking lot and beach. There is almost no way the teacher could have known about the few ‘incidents’ there. The area is beautiful and unique; the students supposedly chose it for their photo target that day. Maybe school procedures are lax and maybe the teacher did not follow some of the procedures. Nudity, gay people, crime-all non-issues here. To me all that matters is just by what standards and under what conditions are students leaving school during normal hours. Suspending the teacher is ridiculous-they could have just said ‘no more field trips’ until we clear this up. I suspect the school is at fault, not the teacher. We’ll see…


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Well you seem to know where it’s all happening. If it’s not in the parking lot or on the beach, where is it? In the men’s room, cave and bushes? Does that make it any better? It’s bad enough that the county has had to dispatch undercover deputies to cull the problem, so it is a problem.

As for those people who consider these concerns to be nothing but gay slander, I’ve just got to shake my head and wonder about you. In the mean time, I’ll protect my family from these “creeps”. Yes it’s creepy to think someone is hiding in the bushes and masturbating or bonking their buddies. I’ve seen the feces soiled trash left behind.


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Jordan3, you certainly have some valid points. But of course the county (Sheriff) has little credibility around here (just look at the campaign statements of the establishment cops running for the sheriff job, even they say change is needed). Sending out deputies to catch someone masturbating in the bushes is interesting-has anyone sent anyone to arrest Jay Miller or his crooked daughter or that fat creep Gearhead for stealing over $125,000,000 from local seniors? NO.

Spending our tax money hounding a disenfranchised element of our society is creepy to me.

After going to the Cove for many years I heard that there was a ‘gay’ area off the edge of the parking lot and way down the side of the cliff. During my many trips and even looking I never saw anyone coming or going from that area. I even looked over the edge sometimes and never could see or hear anything other than nature. Now all my info is years old, and I plan to go down there to see about all the ‘waste’ you and others report. I have even been in the cave, and never seen anything but litter left by supposedly hetero slobs who couldn’t drag their bottles and cans out.


If our society ever gets it right and welcomes all our citizens into it then perhaps gay people won’t have to have their ‘own spot’ and hide from ‘regular people’. None of the weird stuff you report is allowed on the beach by the people there; just regular folks with kids and dogs, jobs and schoolwork. I even met a DA there onetime. Big deal.


There is no relationship when discussing morality or nudity. In fact the nudity at the Cove almost kills the raging hormones of people, clothing does a lot more than add color and empty our pockets. It forms, hides and compliments the often dumpy human body; no one should ever go to the Cove if they seek titillation-they would be disappointed.


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I like your point, it’s amazing what happens when the old magic push up bra comes off, a sexy bathing suit is far more provocative at times, then a naked woman and leaves something to be desired, a means of taking it off, at the appropriate time and place, of course!

As far as the spelling and writing, I think the kids are winning in common sense category, spelling will come later, this just popped into mind, this article will make more teens visit this spot of intrigue, after school and on weekends then ever before! This place has not been placed on the over eighteen visitation list, by any law enforcement agency, and the SLO Sheriffs probably still ride their jet skis, while they sip a few cold ones there. My bet, there is more law enforcement there on any given hot day, then at the neighboring Avila Beach.

This is an intense issue and we all need to lighten up, when Law Enforcement say’s publicly posting signs that the beach is unsafe because of homosexual activity, similar to the signs at Avila that say Confirmed Shark Attack, then I will and only then will I concede that it is a bad place to view the sights from, we fear dark alleys and men in overcoats, do we all fear naked people who cannot conceal a weapon, to the same degree, this is paranoid.


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Hotdog…..you say…”If our society ever gets it right and welcomes all our citizens into it then perhaps gay people won’t have to have their ‘own spot’ and hide from ‘regular people’.” Most of this society does welcome gay people. What society tends to not accept is weird people. People, gay or straight, naked or clothed, who perform lewd acts in public are weird. Now if you want these weird people to have thier “own spot” i totally agree with you. I just don’t want it at Pirates Cove.


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All I know is that I hope this article doesn’t die! Thank You Karen for taking this article to all of us that live here. What an eyeopener! I guess kids are taught something else other than reading, writing and arithmatic. Keep an ear and eye on your kids guys…I would like to know as a parent, what will happen to Mr. Fraser down the road; maybe we should all go to the board mtgs. and ask “What up” with your teachings and teachers, or “Do you all even monitor our kids, Mr. Pinkerton? Is this where our tax money is going?” Or wait, let’s pay for teachers not to get laid off and have a Saturday when kids can go and swim!! (Read the Telegram Tribune in today’s headline)


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Tax money? is that the measure of the education of America? What ever happened to learning?

Are you only interested in the maximum safety at any cost? Or are you willing to embrace an uncertain future.

I say ask the ones that will live it.

Read those posts, and understand.


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