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“In towns and cities... there is no more important institution than the local paper.”
Warren Buffett
The flyer that was delivered to homes by California MassResistance.
September 7, 2023
By Brian Hews
The public school culture war hit the Norwalk-La Mirada School District this past Monday, Aug. 28, with Los Cerritos Community News obtaining a hit piece political flyer with several deceiving statements aimed at certain board members of the NLMUSD; LCCN published the story online by noon the 28th.
The flyer called for parents to attend the Aug. 28 NLMUSD meeting to protest a board decision that established a Wellbeing Center at John Glenn High.
California MassResistance delivered the flyer; CMR has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center; the SPLC also calls Arthur Schaper, Executive Director of the Southern California Chapter of MassResistance, a white supremacist.
CMR Field Director Arthur Schaper.
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CMR wrote in the flyer that the NLMUSD Board approved the Wellbeing Center “without parent approval,” which was a blatant lie, and urged parents to attend the meeting.
Up to its opening last year, the NLMUSD conducted several meetings involving John Glenn parents and designed the Center with their input; CMR did not attend any of those meetings.
Only after the Center’s opening in 2022 did CMR and Schaper begin coming to NLMUSD meetings spewing lies and racist and homophobic memes about the Wellbeing Center.
Schaper brings with him other similar protesters who only give their names and not where they are from during public comment; Schaper’s listed phone number has a Massachusetts area code.
But for some reason, Schaper did not show up Monday the 28. When LCCN asked for comment, Schaper criticized LCCN’s pre-meeting article alerting area residents about the meeting rather than answering why he did not attend.
Shaper wrote, “My name is Arthur Schaper, and I am the Field Director for MassResistance, and I am assisting our California MassResistance activists in Norwalk-La Mirada School District. You people are [sic] BEYOND belief! Clearly, you are regime media determined to prop up local politicians instead of exposing what they are doing.
“You are [sic] digsusting and unprofessional, how you are covering up for the NLMUSD Superintendent and School Board. We have staff in the schools who have reported to us that the people working in the student well-being center are trained by Planned Parenthood. These centers are directing children to get abortions or gender “modification” procedures. You are clearly not serious journalists but propagandists… you should be ashamed of yourselves.
“Of course, I imagine that hardly anyone reads you anymore. Who pays your bills, anyway? There is no possible way that a local paper like yours can survive on website or Internet ads alone. Do better, or find another line of work.”
Schaper also did not answer questions about false statements in the flyer, such as, “The Wellbeing Centers are instructed by Planned Parenthood staff, children [are] getting referred to Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood supports transgender care for minors.”
In August 2022, the NLMUSD Board decided not to move forward with the Planned Parenthood component of the Center. The Center is funded by the Los Angeles Public Department of Health and staffed by health educators from the County; LCCN has confirmed that the MLMUSD does not offer gender services.
Wellbeing Centers, of which there are 50 in the L.A. County High Schools, offers trained public health educators who provide students with information and consultation services to support students with substance use prevention, mental health support, and sexual health information and services.
Services provided through the Center are student-initiated, and students are encouraged to include parents during care.
A registered nurse is also available for on-site testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, condoms, over-the-counter emergency contraception, pregnancy tests and sexual health information for students.
Schaper continued, “You did not even bother to cite sources for all the supposed good that these “well-being centers” provide students, because there are none. Providing direction for students to get abortions or sex mutilation surgeries is not “care” nor does it promote “well- being.”
LCCN cited verbiage about Wellbeing Centers from the L.A. County Department of Health website which states that the Centers do not perform abortions, nor are the staff allowed to make suggestions to students about abortion; contrary to CMR, the Center does not “hand out” abortion pills.
Schaper left it a mystery why he did not attend the NLMUSD meeting; maybe he thought he would be outnumbered; most NLMUSD Board members told LCCN they were pleasantly surprised by his absence.