Former Paso Robles school board trustee alleges retaliation

December 22, 2022

OPINION by KENNEY ENNEY

If you were to believe progressives like Carey Alvord-Schof and her radical supporters, the challenge to my appointment to the Paso Robles school board is because I’m a “racist, sexist, hater,” determined to deny rights and protections to LGBTQ students. What this is really about is getting rid of a trustee who was asking too many questions.

Why? Within 72 hours of being sworn in, I called for the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney to investigate the school district for potential violations of obscenity and privacy laws, and to look into potential child endangerment due to links to sex themed chat rooms posted on the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District (PRJUSD) webpage.

On Oct. 11, I was sworn in as a provisional appointee to the PRJUSD Board of Trustees. Having been a college instructor, an advocate for education reform, and having a love for my community and country, I was proud to take the oath as trustee.

I am no stranger to the oath, having raised my right hand and sworn allegiance to the Constitution dozens of times during my 25 year Marine Corps career, and having administered the oath to hundreds of Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen. As I stated in a Oct. 13 Facebook post in the “Protect Paso” group, “the oath is sacred to me. I see my duty to the Constitution and you before any bureaucrat or specious law.”

By Dec. 9, I had been notified by Jim Brescia and Curt Dubost that my appointment was terminated.

So, what was the process?

Per the termination letter, “On November 10, 2022, (the County Office of Education) received a petition seeking to terminate the Board’s provisional appointment and hold a special election to fill the vacancy.” The letter went on to state that the County Elections Office “certified that 512 valid signatures were received on the Petition.”

Per Education Code, signatures from 1.5% of 30,000 registered voters was/is required to force a special election. “Following Government and Election Code, the provisional appointment of Kenneth Enney terminate[d] as of the date of this letter, December 9, 2022, and a special election [was] called per Education Code Section 5091(b)(2).”

What happened leading up to this?

On Oct. 11, my first school board meeting, a local mother addressed the board regarding her concerns over several web links that had been found on the “Pasoschools.org/student services/student equity” page. Under that page was a link to the “Student Equity Achievement Program.”

The following is quoted from that page: “The Student Equity Achievement Program (SEAP) is a state funded effort focused on demolishing all the achievement gaps for students from traditionally underrepresented communities. Paso Robles school district uses research and the innovative talents of our faculty, staff and administration to improve outcomes for all students. All of the people involved in SEAP are committed to the belief that it is our responsibility as an institution to improve the outcomes of all of our students regardless of their gender, race, income, disability, veteran status, or foster youth status.”

First off, as a Veteran myself, I just want to say thank you for your service to any veterans attending K-12 in the Paso Robles school district system. A word of warning, however, if you are a Marine, don’t use “Semper Fi” because it may offend some of your progressive teachers. I had no idea we had veteran students.

On a more serious note, whoever wrote this for the district most likely did a cut and paste job (otherwise known as plagiarism) from a California State webpage, highlighting how little thought and oversight went into the posting of links on this page.

The goal of SEAP was/is a very noble endeavor with which I am in full agreement.  “Demolish all the achievement gaps for students from traditionally underrepresented communities… regardless of their gender, race, income, disability, veteran status, or foster youth status.”

Based upon that, one would assume that any links would be to websites for African Americans, Latino Americans, immigrant groups, Title IX advocacy groups, veteran groups, disabled American groups and foster child support groups. Remember what they say about assuming, however.

The only heading under the noble goal quoted above was “LGBTQIA” with the only website link being to the “safezoneproject.com.” Within the “Safe Zone Project” were links to resources for LQBTQIA students, such as websites called b_tchmagazine.com, bisexual.org.. 30 plus examples of cisgender privilege, 30 plus examples of Christian privilege and 30 plus examples of: heterosexual privilege; or male Ppivilege; or middle class privilege. Multiple LGBTQIA  support organizations were also listed.

Putting aside the obvious bias of the individual within the Student Services department who built the links, what was of greatest concern for the people who brought forward this information, was the link to the “Trevor Project.”  The “Trevor Project” was/is a suicide prevention website aimed towards members of the LGBTQ community.  (Having lost my Godson in 2020 to suicide during the Pandemic, suicide prevention is near and dear to my heart, and it must be a priority for our nation as a whole).

Within the “Trevor Project,” however, was a dark and dangerous place, and the PRJUSD and California Department of Education were directing troubled youth there. “TrevorSpace” was/is touted as a community for LGBTQ young people. It “is an affirming online community for LGBTQ young people ages of 13-24 years old. With over 400,000 members across the globe, you can explore your identity, get advice, find support, and make friends in a moderated community intentionally designed for you.”

In July,  mothers with the parental rights advocacy group, “Moms For Liberty,” had masqueraded as teenage, LGBTQ girls. The results were disturbing, to say the least.

One mother interviewed stated: “I took a deep dive into the site…and findings…are consistent with predators in chatrooms with minor children, which opens dangerous doors to child trafficking, children being exploited, grooming and missing children.”

After receiving copies of screen shots of the links on the PRJUSD page and chat rooms in the Trevor Project, I immediately approached the superintendent to ask for an investigation.

Although the links had been taken down on Sept. 30 due to a change of web service providers, I remained concerned that the PRJUSD may have been complicit in endangering our students by exposing them to sexual predators.

Because the district did not share my sense of urgency in getting the information out immediately to the families of LGBTQ students, I recommended law enforcement involvement to use their ability to conduct forensics analysis to determine which students may have accessed the chat room and simultaneously began informing the community via social media and local press of the threat.

Three weeks would go by before the district would issue a report on Nov. 8. Although hard copies of the report were available at the Nov. 8 board meeting, and electronic copies were disseminated via the Superintendent’s office, I remain concerned that the PRJUSD did not do enough to ensure that parents were made aware that their children may have been endangered by the reckless posting of links to these websites.

Although the investigation attempted to determine who within PRJUSD posted the links, no conclusion was reached. I will point out, however, that Carey Alvord-Schof, who spearheaded the signature drive to force my termination is the supervisor of Homeless & Foster Youth Services, under Student Services; which is where responsibility for the “Student Equity” page resided.

Was she truly motivated to remove me because I am a “hater”? Or was she angry that I had called for an investigation into why the PRJUSD provided access to a predator’s playground? Or, did she have something to hide?  Although we don’t know for how long access to the “Trevor Project” was available via the PRJUSD webpage; nor do we know who posted the links; we are confident that students would not have been able to use their school issued accounts to access “Trevorspace.” That doesn’t mean that they did not learn about the site via school resources.

If I were anti-LGBTQ, why was I the lead on ensuring that the district took the necessary steps to ensure that the LGBTQ students were protected from on-line sexual predators? If I were anti-LGBTQ, why was I the lead on ensuring that LGBTQ students and their families were aware of the danger that they may have been exposed to? If I were anti-LGBTQ, why was I adamant that suicide prevention for at risk groups should stress parental notification and teacher/counselor intervention, vice simply providing a 1-800 number or chatroom?

If you were pro-LGBTQ, why would you direct vulnerable, at-risk kids to a predator’s playground? Did no one in the district see the danger of having 13 year olds in sex themed chat rooms with 24 year olds?

What is the way ahead?

During my 60 days on the PRJUSD Board of Trustees, it became clear to me that the board is not providing the leadership that Paso Robles deserves. The PRJUSD By Law 9000, Role of the Board states: “the Governing Board is elected by the community to provide leadership and citizen oversight of the district’s schools. The Board shall work with the Superintendent to fulfill its major roles, which include: 1. Setting a direction for the district; 2. Providing a basic organizational structure for the district by establishing policies; 3. Ensuring accountability; and 4. Providing community leadership on behalf of the district and public education.”

I saw no evidence that any of that was taking place.

On average, only 40.02% of the PRJUSD students met or exceeded English Language Arts standards in 2021. On average, only 28.57% of the PRJUSD students met or exceeded mathematics standards in 2021. We have tensions between ethnic groups in our schools. We have evidence of increased gang activity. We have drug dealers. We have past fiscal mismanagement that led to a Grand Jury investigation, yet we still are not living up to the recommendations that were issued as a result.

While private and charter schools have wait lists, PRJUSD schools are losing students. To turn things around, Paso Robles will need a board that is forward thinking, transparent, emphasizes family involvement, and holds people accountable to ensure a safe learning environment that produces students ready for the challenges of life in the 21st Century.

The students and parents of Paso Robles are being failed by the district. It’s a top down failure, but can be turned around.