Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force

Presented by Alternatives to Violence Project Antelope Valley
Sponsored by Antelope Valley Partners for Health

July 20-24 Monday-Friday
9 am - 1 pm
Eastside High School

Free to high school students. Limit 20 participants.
Snacks provided. Certificate upon completion.

For more information and registration
Contact: Charlene (661) 942-4719 ext. 322

Workshop Focus:

• Communication
• Affirmation
• Trust
• Cooperation
• Conflict Resolution
• Participant must attend all five days

Tags: Community, Violence // Add Comment »

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Tuesday, June 16, 2009.

By JULIE DRAKE
Valley Press Staff Writer

LITTLEROCK - The mother of a 10-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl has sued the Keppel Union School District for failing to protect the children from what her lawsuit calls continual bullying.

The suit, filed last month in Los Angeles Superior Court, says five children targeted the siblings with racial slurs, threats and physical assaults starting in August , and Keppel and Pearblossom Elementary School officials failed to stop them when the children and their mother complained.

“None of these kids, whatsoever, were disciplined,” said Valencia attorney Robert Drescher, who is representing the family. “You see these kids doing this stuff and there’s no discipline to these children, so what happens - let’s think about it psychologically - ‘If I can get away with it, let’s take it to the next level.’ ”

In addition to the Keppel Union School District, the suit also names Pearblossom Elementary School principal Lynn Boop, teachers Annette Witterance and Bridgett Turner, acting principal Theresa Gallop, Bart Hoffman, assistant superintendent of instructional services and five children.

Boop referred questions about the lawsuit to the district office.

[Read more →]

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This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Saturday, March 21, 2009.

By JULIE DRAKE
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER - About 300 middle and high school students and a handful of adults kept their attention focused on the elegant, bespectacled bald man with the slight gray beard and in the camel-colored suit standing before them Friday morning in the small gymnasium inside the physical education building at Eastside High School’s permanent campus.

The man was psychologist Dr. Terrence Roberts, one of the Little Rock Nine, the African-American high school students who volunteered to integrate the formerly all-white Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957.

Roberts, then a 15-year-old junior, and the eight other students attended Central High for one year. To avoid integration the following year, then-Gov. Orval Faubus ordered Little Rock’s public school system shut down. As a result, Roberts and his family moved to California.

The psychologist was the keynote speaker at Eastside High’s joint teen summit, which included Eastside junior and senior students as well as students from Piute and New Vista middle schools.

Roberts played a brief video history of the Little Rock Nine before he gave his speech and took questions from the audience afterward.

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Tags: Darren Parker, PEACE, SHARE, Task Force // Add Comment »

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Monday, March 9, 2009.

By DAISY RATZLAFF
Valley Press Staff Writer

PALMDALE - A public forum is scheduled for today at Livingstone Cathedral of Worship to address recent escalating violence and inter-group conflict at Pete Knight High School.

The forum, which will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 37721 100th St. East, will include law enforcement officials, religious leaders, school officials, elected officials, community leaders as well as students and parents.

“This meeting is part of our community outreach,” said Darren Parker, leader of the Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force and a leader at Livingstone Cathedral of Worship.

Within the last week, Parker said there have been numerous physical conflicts after school and even reports of weapons on school grounds.

Both the task force and the Violence-Free Zone initiative at Knight High School are host of the Monday night meeting.

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Tags: Community, Darren Parker // Add Comment »

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Friday, January 23, 2009.

By ALISHA SEMCHUCK
Valley Press Staff Writer
LANCASTER - During a ceremony dedicating commemorative benches at Antelope Valley College, representatives from The Boeing Co. gave the college foundation a $30,000 donation.

Of that money, $10,000 was earmarked for a scholarship fund that supports engineering students; $15,000 was meant for the campus Child Development Center; and $5,000 was dedicated to the college symphony and master chorale, according to Jeff Thoman and Barbra Greene of Boeing.

“We’re investing in the future of engineering to develop the critical skills needed for the aerospace industry,” said Thoman, a test manager at Boeing.

The $10,000 for scholarships came from company funds, he added. The remaining $20,000 came from the pockets of Boeing employees.

Greene, the community investor for Boeing, said funds for the Child Development Center will help refurbish the facility and purchase additional playground equipment, as well as buy educational materials for math and literacy programs.

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Tags: Antelope Valley College, Bob Forshay, Darren Parker, SOAR // Add Comment »

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Tuesday, September 9, 2008.

By NORMAN SHOAF
Valley Press Religion Editor

LANCASTER - “America - United We Stand, Divided We Fall” has been chosen as the theme for the 9-11 Memorial and Unity Service on Thursday at the Islamic Center of North Valley.

The service, observed each year since 2002, brings together civic officials and faith leaders for prayer, patriotic speeches and remembrance for the victims of the 9-11 terror strikes on the United States.

The event, which is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., is open to the public.

This year’s memorial, sponsored by the Antelope Valley Interfaith Council and the Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force and endorsed by the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale, will feature a keynote address from the Rev. Leonard Jackson, from the office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The evening’s ceremonies will include prayers, readings and presentations from representatives of diverse Valley houses of faith. A community meal will be served at no charge following the event.

[Read more →]

Tags: 9/11, Community, Interfaith Council, Memorial, Task Force, Unity // Add Comment »

TAKING THE OATH - From left, Timothy Wiley, Cassandra Harvey, Courtney Stallworth, Sean Donlon, Darren Parker, Diana D. Cook, and Thomas “Randy” Hall are sworn in by Lancaster Vice Mayor Ron Smith as members of the Architectural and Design Planning Commission on Friday in City Council chambers at City Hall. MOLLY HAUXWELL/Valley Press

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Tuesday, September 2, 2008.

Valley Press

LANCASTER - Seven members have taken their oaths of office for a new city commission created to develop architectural guidelines for future residential, commercial and industrial construction.

Diana D. Cook, Sean Donlon, Thomas “Randy” Hall, Cassandra Harvey, Darren Parker, Courtney Stallworth and Timothy Wiley were sworn in Friday by Vice Mayor Ron Smith during a brief ceremony in City Council chambers at City Hall.

The commissioners were nominated by Mayor R. Rex Parris and ratified by the City Council. Parris originally picked Cook’s husband, Richard, for one of the seats, but he declined appointment because of his professional obligations and asked that his wife be considered in his place.

The Architectural and Design Planning Commission’s work will include researching the guidelines for other communities, reviewing Lancaster’s current architecture and design, understanding its Specific Plans and recommending new guidelines for adoption by the City Council, officials said.

No date has been announced yet for the commission’s first meeting.

Tags: Architecture, City of Lancaster, Darren Parker // Add Comment »