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Contents © 2005
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
April 2005

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AN ASSISTED SUICIDE BILL was introduced into the California state assembly on February 17, said a LifeNews.com news report. Assembly Bill 654, introduced by the assembly members Patty Berg (D-Sebastopol) and Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys ) is modeled after Oregon's assisted suicide law. Assemblywoman Berg is Catholic. The bill would allow a patient to commit suicide if two doctors determine that the patient has six months or less to live and is competent to decide. The doctors must submit reports to the state health department and the patient must request suicide twice orally and once in writing. Both pro-life groups and the California Medical Association oppose the bill. Similar measures have met with defeat in California; a ballot initiative failed in 1992 and a bill was defeated in the state legislature in 1999.

NO TO NO FAULT DIVORCE. Citing the bad societal effects of easily obtainable divorce, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) on February 22 introduced legislation that would allow married couples to opt out of the possibility of taking advantage of the state of California's no fault divorce law. The bill would allow couples this choice if they agree to undergo premarital counseling or have been married for five or more years. The bill would also require couples who opt out of no-fault divorce to undergo marital counseling before they can enter into a separation agreement. The bill would not bind couples to their agreement in certain cases, such as spousal or drug abuse.

THE CALIFORNIA CATHOLIC CONFERENCE has criticized a lawsuit, filed by California attorney general Bill Lockyer, to overturn a conscience clause placed in a federal spending bill passed last year, said the February 7 Catholic Voice, the newspaper of the diocese of Oakland. The Hyde-Weldon amendment to the 2005 Health and Human Services appropriation bill, signed by President Bush in December, blocks federal aid granted under the act to agencies and local governments that discriminate against doctors, hospitals, or programs that refuse to pay or refer for abortions. On January 25, Lockyer filed suit against the amendment. In a January 28 statement, California Catholic Conference president, Stockton's bishop Stephen Blair, and William Cox, president of Alliance Catholic Health Care, said, "if the state doesn't have the power to force a woman to get an abortion, then obviously it shouldn't have the power to force someone to perform an abortion."

MENTAL RETARDATION can be a sufficient cause to change a death sentence to life imprisonment, said the California supreme court, according to the February 11 Los Angeles Times. The United States Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing the mentally retarded violated the constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual" punishment. The problem has been how to define mental retardation. California prosecutors had wanted the state supreme court to define mental retardation according to the Intelligence Quotient; an IQ of 70 (on a scale where the average is 100) or below should define mental retardation, they said. On February 10, the court disagreed, ruling that an inmate on death row can get a new hearing on his sentence if one qualified expert says he is mentally retarded. If a judge decides that the inmates have "significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning" and behavioral and practical disabilities present before they were 18, their sentence can be commuted to life imprisonment without parole. Still, even though the court refused to set any IQ score as determinative of mental retardation, IQ will not be deemed insignificant. In a separate opinion, Justices Ming Chin and Joyce Kennard said, "a person whose IQ score is over 75 is very likely not mentally retarded. In many, perhaps most, cases," an inmate "at or below the 70-75 range" IQ will not be considered retarded.

NO TO MIGHTY MOUSE. A Stanford University researcher received permission from university authorities to make a human-mouse hybrid by injecting human stem cells into developing mice, said a February 14 LifeNews.com report. The university, however, told biologist Irving Weissman that if any mice begin to show any human characteristics, he must desist. Professor Henry Greely, who led the committee that considered Weissman's proposal, told the San Jose Mercury News, "we concluded that if we see any signs of human brain structures... or if the mouse shows human-like behaviors, like improved memory or problem-solving, it's time to stop." Weissman and his team hope that by injecting human stem cells into mice, they can learn more about diseases. Some of the stem cells injected will be cancerous, others healthy.

A PIECE OF THE ACTION. The San Francisco board of supervisors voted February 1 to approve a resolution asking the state's constitutionally-established institute for stem-cell research to locate in San Francisco. Proposition 71, the embryonic stem cell research initiative passed by California voters in November 2004, established the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to oversee stem cell research in the state. San Francisco supervisors said their fair city eminently deserves the honor of hosting the Institute's headquarters. After all, they said, "San Francisco was the first city and/or county to officially endorse Proposition 71" in May 2004. Secondly, San Francisco voters "overwhelmingly approved Proposition 71, with 71% of the vote" (beating the rest of the state, which approved it with only 59 percent of the vote.) And since the Institute wants to locate near a "major center of biomedical research," what could be a better place than Frisco? Not only is it the center of the Bay Area, which has over 800 biotech companies, the city hosts a University of California which is the "only university on the west coast with a federally-registered human embryonic stem-cell line." Finally, said the supervisors' resolution, "San Francisco is a world-class city with a reputation for being on the leading edge of innovation."

AMONG THE INNOVATIONS for which San Francisco is known is the so-called "Winter of Love" — the sanctioning of "marriages" between same-sex couples. Though the California supreme court ended up voiding these unions, San Francisco's mayor Gavin Newsom held a first anniversary celebration of the event on February 12, dubbed "Freedom to Marry Day." Newsom, who allowed the city to issue licenses to 4,000 homosexual couples, invited them all to city hall to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. "It is no longer acceptable for politicians to come to you every election cycle and ask for money and then say, 'It's too much, too soon,'" Newsom said (alluding to a statement made by Senator Dianne Feinstein.) "Separate is not equal." Newsom criticized his brother and sister Democrats for not championing the cause of homosexual marriage. As for Newsom, he is as committed as ever. '"I've never felt more resolved. I've never felt more passion. I've never felt a greater sense of purpose — but beyond anything else, an obligation to finish this job," he said. "We will not back up. I have no regrets." Newsom urged the crowd not to "give up the fight. Don't feel discouraged. Don't listen to the president of the United States. Shame on you, George Bush."

"TOLERANCE POSTERS," the GSA [Gay Straight Alliance] Network News called them. And parents of students at Scotts Valley High School are upset about them. Why? Because, as the February 9 Santa Cruz Sentinel reported, these posters, placed in classrooms, promote the idea that homosexuality is normal. Two years ago, one parent, Don D'Andrea, filed a complaint with the Scotts Valley school board about the posters, and on February 7 he and hundreds of other parents voiced their opinions about the posters at a school board meeting. According to the Sentinel, D'Andrea argued before the school board that the posters should not be in classrooms, where the students are a captive audience; and "parents," he said, "expect teachers not to teach — whether it's verbal, written or posted — support for homosexual practices, but instead teach appropriate behavior toward all persons." Further, he said, "parents expect teachers to help students develop the ability to think, but not teach students what to think." D' Andrea said posters promoting tolerance of all people have a place in the classroom; but posters with a single focus should be displayed outside, where people can choose not to look at them.

But those opposing the "tolerance posters" are responding out of fear, some said. At the meeting, students, said the Sentinel, "expressed support of their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered peers with signs." One of these read, "You're afraid of me because I'm not just like you." One Scotts Valley senior at the meeting defended the posters, saying they made the other-gendered students feel comfortable. "If there were Maya Angelou posters on the walls, we wouldn't be having this meeting," Stacey Leventhal, said. "Some people feel unsafe and scared in the classroom. I've never heard anybody say 'that's so straight' in a mean way." One student, Roxy Scher, equated the issue of the posters with wearing religious symbols in the classroom. "I can't stand to think that I wouldn't be able to wear the Star of David because I would be soliciting my Jewishness," she said. "We should be applauding our teachers, because they go out of their way for us." Scotts Valley senior Colin Walsh, however, agreed with D'Andrea. "Because I don't agree with others, because I don't embrace their beliefs, I've been berated," Walsh said. "I've heard teachers talk about the faults of our president for 45 minutes, calling on everybody but me. I believe respect must be earned ... waving your sexuality in my face does not."

BUT THE SCHOOL DISTRICT'S attorney, Richard Noack, told the Scotts Valley school board that the tolerance posters were an act of compliance with the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2004, which stipulates that state schools must create a safe environment for homosexual students and teachers. But if the state law is the issue, said Kevin Snyder, an attorney with the Sacramento-based Pacific Justice Institute, D'Andrea's proposal of posters promoting tolerance for all is more to the point. "The law does not require the endorsement of one group," Snyder said. "Where are the posters of (President Franklin Delano Roosevelt), who was in a wheelchair? Where are the posters of Beethoven, who couldn't hear? Where are the posters of Homer, who couldn't see?... One viewpoint presented to a captive audience — that's not democracy."

The school board, however, did not decide for or against the tolerance posters. D'Andrea's opposition seemed to suggest litigation to some. ("I would hope that Mr. D'Andrea does not pursue a lawsuit, because we can't do that, not in these financial times," board president Sue Roth said.) Board member Allison Niday suggested the board look more closely at the state law. "I think it makes sense that we look at the existing policy, [state law], audience feedback and make sure our policy represents a balanced view of what our diversity looks like," she said. "A sterile environment would be unrealistic. We can now step back and ask 'can I make this better and how do I make this better?'"

A "HATE-FREE AND DISCRIMINATION FREE CITY" is what the city council of Placerville voted on February 8 to call their burgh, said the February 13 Sacramento Bee. This is quite the transformation for a place known as Hangtown during the Gold Rush, but it is in response to what certain city residents consider to be a moral lynch mob. A group calling itself GaymarriageNO has been placing pickup trucks bearing the message "Homosexuality is a sin" around town; the trucks also have signs showing two kissing men circumscribed by the universal no symbol. GaymarriageNO members have also been active passing out literature on city streets and in front of school, as well as hanging signs over a highway overpass and urging boycotts of businesses that advertise in homosexual publications. Dick Otterstad, the leader of the non-denominational church that stands behind GaymarriageNO, said "we believe our duty as a church is to spread God's word in the public square. Homosexual marriage has come up as the key cultural issue being debated in this nation." Otterstad said his group does not hate homosexuals but only wants them to change how they live.

Frustration over GaymarriageNo activities came to a head in January when a representative of the group was arrested after what the Bee called a "confrontation" at a local high school — allegedly harassing students. Otterstad admitted that a member of his group had been arrested for battery, but that charges had been reduced to creating a public nuisance.

Among the supporters of the Placerville proclamation is the El Dorado County chamber of commerce, primarily because GaymarriageNo's demonstrations are bad for tourism. "Signs expressing hate of a specific lifestyle are not a way to greet people," a chamber board member told the Bee. Chamber chief executive Laurel Brent-Bumb said she has received calls and e-mail messages from people expressing "frustration and angst over the derogatory signs."

THE ACLU CHARGES that an Auburn middle school is guilty of sexual discrimination for forbidding a male student to wear black eyeliner at school, said the February 15 Auburn Journal. Administrators at the E.V. Cain Middle School were not singling out Kyle Love, 14, when they told him not to wear eyeliner, said Auburn Unified School District superintendent Vince Anaclerio. "There has been no discrimination here," Anaclerio said. "This is a behavior that was distracting and disruptive and he's been asked to stop." But Julia Harumi Mass, an ACLU staff attorney, said the school is in violation of the state education code which forbids sexual discrimination. "If a school is letting girls wear eyeliner, to say boys can't wear it reinforces gender stereotypes," Mass said. E.V. Cain school policy says, "students should attend school dressed and groomed in good taste. Clothing should not disrupt the educational process in the classroom. Students who do not follow the dress code will be required to get a change of clothes that meet these requirements." But, said Mass, this policy is too broad to meet the criteria of state law. However, though it does not specifically target eyeliner, the California School Boards Association has sample dress codes that contain language similar to that found in E.V. Cain' s dress code. Chuck Nichols, an education programs consultant for the safe and healthy kids program, told the Journal that "school districts have the right to establish their own dress codes. Districts are like a parent to a child, they're allowed to establish rules. They are independent entities run by elected officials, and as such they are allowed to make any laws in the case of dress codes."

But Belinda Love, Kyle's mother, stands with her son. She said she would seek legal action if the school district did not resolve the question. "I just hope everything works out in his favor and doesn't hurt his education," she said.

WON'T ASK, CAN TELL. The federal government's "don't ask, don't tell" policy in regards to homosexuals will not apply to the California National Guard if a bill introduced into the assembly passes, said the February 10 Sacramento Bee. During the Clinton administration, the military established a policy whereby it would not pry into a soldier's sexual orientation but would discharge a soldier who admitted to being homosexual. Though federal courts have upheld this "don't ask, don't tell" policy, in 2001, a California state court of appeals in Holmes v. California National Guard ruled that state rules governing state active-duty employment are not pre-empted by federal rules. Thus, state senator Carol Migden (D-San Francisco) introduced SB 181 to assure that homosexual national guardsmen or women "could be who they are" without fearing discrimination. The National Guard Association of California has endorsed Migden's bill.

FOR THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE year, Bishop Allen Vigneron of Oakland asked forgiveness on behalf of the diocese for the sin of "clerical misconduct," said the February 18 Oakland Tribune. On February 17, Bishop Vigneron led a reconciliation service at Our Lady of Grace church in Castro Valley to apologize for the actions of the Rev. Robert Ponciroli, assigned there from 1975 to 1979. Eight former altar boys from five churches in Alameda and Contra Costa counties have accused Ponciroli of molesting them. Last year, Bishop Vigneron publicly apologized for Ponciroli at parishes in Antioch, Byron, Oakland, and Richmond. "I come to this church tonight to apologize for the betrayal of your trust by Robert Ponciroli. For all of this, I ask your pardon," the bishop said in Castro Valley. Quoting Our Lord, Vigneron also said that it would be better for a priest "to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea" than that he should offend a little one. One parishioner said, "I think we will leave feeling better than when we came. At the beginning, he said a little voice might have whispered to us, 'Stay home, don't go.' But, as he said, we have to come and participate in the healing of those who were sexually abused." Vigneron also admitted that the diocese had failed to take the part of victims and remove guilty priests from ministry.

Fewer than 100 people attended the service, said the Tribune. One parishioner was surprised at the low turnout; he was also dismayed by a pamphlet handed out at the event asking parishioners to contribute to a fund to help clergy sex abuse survivors. "Can you believe that they want us to pay (for the church's legal costs)?" the parishioner said.

THE REV. JAMES CLARK had been convicted of a sex crime in 1963; he had engaged in oral copulation (then a felony) with an Aptos man in a Santa Cruz motel, said a February 24 Oakland Tribune story. The diocese of Oakland, including then-chancellor (later bishop) John Cummins, knew of Clark's conviction of engaging in a homosexual genital act; nevertheless, near the end of his probation in 1965, the priest received promotion from associate pastor at St. Paschal parish in Oakland to pastor of Corpus Christi parish in Fremont. At this parish Clark allegedly molested three altar boys in the 1970s. He died in 1989. Attorneys for Clark's alleged victims are currently suing the diocese.

Attorneys for the alleged victims, however, have said that files on Clark given them by the diocese contained no records of Clark's 1963 felony sex conviction. "It leads one to believe that perhaps the file had been sanitized," said one attorney, Dan McNevin. Father Mark Wiesner, communications director for the diocese, told the Tribune that he could not say why the records were absent from Clark's file; "but," said Father Wiesner, "the church of 40 years ago acted differently than it does now." Bishop-emeritus John Cummins was "not available" to the Tribune story for comment; but in January, he testified in clergy sex abuse trials that as chancellor he had known about Clark's arrest, as had then-Bishop Floyd Begin. "It was very evident that the bishop was upset ... that the crime was committed and that the arrest would make it a public issue," Cummins testified. Under the court-ordered terms of his probation, Father Clark was to inform his bishop of "his problem," continue counseling, and undergo psychiatric treatment.

ST. BRIGID'S CHURCH in San Francisco is at the center of conflicting desires. The structure, built 105 years ago in the Richardson Romanesque style, was closed by the archdiocese in 1994, citing costs of earthquake retrofit ($5 to 7 million, archdiocesan spokesman Maurice Healy told the February 3 San Francisco Chronicle.) A group calling itself the Committee to Save St. Brigid Church, has said it would help the archdiocese raise the money to retrofit the church. But Healy told the Chronicle he had little faith in the group's fundraising abilities; it has had a decade to do so, and hasn't, he said. But, said Healy, "even if they came back and said, 'We have the money to retrofit it,' I think our answer would be, 'No, the church is not needed now.'" And, besides, the archdiocese needs the money from the sale of St. Brigid's property to settle claims brought by alleged victims of clergy molestation. "As the lay people who sit on the real estate committee say, 'How are we going to handle this pending burden?' The sale of unneeded property has been seen as the way to go," said Healy.

But on February 8, the San Francisco board of supervisors approved a resolution granting historical landmark status to St. Brigid's. This puts something of a bind on the archdiocese, which in January said it had secured a buyer for the church property — a developer who wants to build condominiums on the site. But Healy said he was not worried about the landmark status accorded St. Brigid's. In 1994 (when Los Angeles' Cardinal Roger Mahony was seeking to demolish St. Vibiana's cathedral, under much protest from a conservancy group), the California state assembly passed a law barring cities and counties from granting landmark status to churches.

WHAT'S SO UNIQUE ABOUT ST. BRIGID'S? Well, it's not unique, said John King, urban design writer for the San Francisco Chronicle in a February 8 article. "From the thick granite walls to the rose-shaped stained glass window above the arched entryway, it's a relative of other homes built for affluent congregations around the turn of the 20th century," wrote King. But, said King, "there's nothing else like it in San Francisco, and nothing like it could be built today — two good reasons to search hard for ways to restore this symbol of the past so it can be restored to life for decades to come."

The web page, "Save St. Brigid Church (www.st-brigid.org) offers this encomium on the church: "the building is a repository for numerous treasures including an exceptional pipe organ constructed specifically for the church by the Italian firm of Fratelli Ruffatti, stained glass from Harry Clarke Studios in Dublin, Ireland, fine terra cotta detailing specially made for the building, and statuary by the noted Irish sculptor Seamus Murphy. The faces of the 12 apostles, on Murphy's statues on the front of the church, are the leaders of the 1916 Irish Easter rising.

"St. Brigid Church is more than a religious institution. It is a cultural and architectural landmark in the Marina, Pacific Heights and Russian Hill neighborhoods. To drive a wrecking ball into this magnificent edifice would be a loss to the city on the order of the destruction of the famous Fox Theater in 1963 — and a bad choice the entire city would lament for many years to come."

NO DELAYS. Alameda County superior court judge Ronald Sabraw rejected a motion by lawyers representing the diocese of Oakland to delay a key court trial involving clergy sexual abuse, said the February 15 San Francisco Chronicle. The case involves Bob Thatcher, who has claimed he was abused from 1979 to 1982 by a priest at St. Ignatius church in Antioch. The priest is charged with abuse in six other cases. Attorney Allen Ruby, representing the diocese of Oakland, said this was not a good case with which to test liability in the other cases filed against Northern California dioceses, since it is potentially more costly than other cases might be. Plaintiffs' attorney Richard Simons agreed, saying the Thatcher case is "high end." But, said Simons, another clergy sexual abuse case set to be tried on March 7 "is the opposite kind of case." Simons said keeping a firm date for the trial forces a an out-of-court settlement from the church. "Trial dates settle cases," the lawyer said. "Thatcher is bringing the bishop to the bargaining table."

SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR Gavin Newsom ascribed a drop in the city's homeless population to his Care Not Cash initiative, which cuts cash payments (from a high of $410 a month to $59 a month) to the homeless while moving them into housing. According to the February 15 San Francisco Chronicle, a one-night homeless count, taken between 8 p.m. January 26 and concluding "about 8 a.m." on the 27th, counted 6,248 homeless on the streets, in jails, shelters, and other facilities. This number represents a 28 percent decline from an October 2002 count, which found 8,640 homeless in the city. At a news conference, Newsom said, "there are still a lot of homeless people out there, and I'm still seeing some of the same people I've seen for the past 10 years. But it's time to start focusing on the good things that are happening." But some homeless advocates dispute the count. "It's an outrageous undercount, politically motivated," Jennifer Friedenbach of the Coalition on Homelessness said. "We've been looking at encampments and visit 15 different sites a week, and the numbers may have dropped a little, but we have not seen as dramatic a drop."

Meanwhile, neighboring Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties have reported a rise in their homeless populations — which may be sign, say Newsom's critics, of homeless people leaving San Francisco for nearby communities. Contra Costa County officials say their count found 6,927 homeless, up from 4,880 in 2004. Santa Clara County counted 7,000 homeless, which, officials say, is higher than previous, albeit less thorough, surveys.

HOMELESSNESS IN SAN MATEO COUNTY is different from homelessness in San Francisco, according to the February 9 San Mateo Times. For one thing, the number of homeless people on any given day is about 1,400, far smaller than in Frisco. Also, San Mateo doesn't have the problems with hard core homelessness found in large cities. Many of San Mateo's homeless, say those who work with them, are single mothers, who have lost a job or suffer from health problems. But the number of homeless two-parent families is increasing with the total number of homeless in San Mateo County, which, says county government, has doubled since 1999. Michele Jackson, executive director of Shelter Network, said the cause of increased homelessness is layoffs of hotel and airport workers and the price of housing in the county. (The median price of a house in San Mateo County was $670,000 in December, up $100,000 from 2003.) "These are the people who wait on you at Chili's, who do your dry cleaning," Jackson said. "One crisis can put people over the edge, because it's so expensive to live here."

San Mateo County supervisors approved a 10-year plan on February 8 to end homelessness. The plan would improve homelessness-prevention services and create more affordable housing.

FIRST AMENDMENT VIOLATION? A federal judge has ruled that the city of Oakland did not violate the free speech rights of two employees when it forbade them to post an office flier announcing a group to promote the traditional family. According to a February 17 WorldNetDaily.com story, in 2003 two Oakland city employees, Regina Rederford and Robin Christy, posted a flier in response to an e-mail sent to city employees announcing an employee association for homosexuals. Rederford and Christy's flier read: "Good News Employee Associations is a forum for people of Faith to express their views on the contemporary issues of the day. With respect for the Natural Family, Marriage and Family values. If you would like to be a part of preserving integrity in the Workplace call Regina Rederford @ xxx-xxxx or Robin Christy @ xxx-xxxx." But then-city manager, Robert Bobb, and Joyce Hicks, deputy director of Oakland's community and economic development agency, ordered the flier removed. It contained "statements of a homophobic nature" and promoted "sexual-orientation-based harassment," they said.

In July 2003, Rederford and Christy filed suit in federal court against the city of Oakland, saying its anti-discrimination policy "promotes homesexuality" and "openly denounces Christian values." But on February 15, U.S. district court judge Vaughn Walker dismissed the case. He denied that Rederford and Christy's First Amendment rights had been violated.

OAKLAND'S BISHOP ALLEN VIGNERON was appointed a consultor to the Holy See's Congregation for Catholic Education, said the February 7 Catholic Voice, the newspaper of the diocese of Oakland. Thirty-one consultors from Europe and America serve in the congregation, which oversees Catholic seminaries, universities, and other schools of higher learning. The congregation is charged with visiting Catholic institutions and nominating rectors. Before becoming bishop of Oakland, Bishop Vigneron served as rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.

FOR THE SECOND TIME in a month, vandals desecrated a statue at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic church in Parlier, said the February 10 Fresno Bee. On the morning of February 8, it was discovered that vandals had sprayed black spray paint on a statue of Our Lady and on a replica of the Pietà and a statue of St. Francis of Assisi. Four-letter words were also spray-painted on the west side of the church. The Mary statue, the church, and the rectory had been vandalized with black spray paint in January; "Mary is the devil" had been spray painted below the church's name on the church's west side. Parlier police think juveniles were responsible and suspect the vandalism was a hate crime. The damage has been estimated at $5,000. A parishioner offered a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

IN EARLY FEBRUARY, the Catholic San Joaquin Memorial High School's boys and girls varsity volleyball coach, Frank "Sonny" Perez, and his roommate, Bill Bimat, were arrested and pleaded not-guilty to having sex with a teenaged boy. According to ABC Action News, the men allegedly contacted the boy (not a student at the high school) through the internet, invited him to their apartment, then Bimat requested the boy to inhale a vapor that made the boy feel "numb and tingly." Then the defendants allegedly took the boy to a bedroom to have sex with him. According to a police affidavit, Perez was put on administrative leave as a result of the arrest. A friend of the boy initially reported the incident to school officials who in turn filed a report with the Fresno police. If convicted, the two face up to four years in prison.

The high school released to parents information affirming that Perez had cleared all employment screening, including criminal background checks and fingerprinting, and that Perez participated in employee workshops and meetings that instruct proper employee conduct. The school also took precautions after the arrest by forbidding Perez contact with any San Joaquin Memorial students, parent, alumnus or teacher.

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