Glendale Adventist Academy Teacher Convicted of Sexual Misconduct with a Student
by AT News Team
The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday (March 1) that a former contract music instructor at the Adventist secondary school in Glendale, California, was sentenced to five years probation after pleading no contest to a charge of lewd acts with a minor. Valerie J. Gonzales is age 29 and the married mother of a child. The newspaper quoted her personal website on which she described herself as “a classically-trained singer, pianist and conductor” fluent in several languages.
Gonzales’ role at the school was to teach private singing lessons. She admitted to police that she became sexually involved with a male secondary student at the school from June into the fall of 2012. The parents of the student reported the situation and Gonzales was arrested October 2. Her sentencing also requires that she spend a year in counseling and register as a sex offender for the rest of her life.
Gonzales has performed with the Petite Opera in Glendale and at the famed Hollywood Bowl. She is evidently a person of faith; the newspaper reported that she sent a Twitter message last week, “Thank You, Lord for sustaining me through the whole process.”
Glendale Adventist Academy has 611 students enrolled in Kindergarten through Grade 12 and a total of 37 faculty members. Glendale is a suburb of Los Angeles where a hospital affiliated with the Adventist Church is located, as well as the office of the Southern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. There are seven Adventist churches in the community with a total of nearly 2,800 members.
“Unfortunately, this happens often enough now that many times it is not reported in the news media,” a family counselor told Adventist Today. “Adventist schools and congregations are not immune from the mental health problems that contribute to the sad outcomes. It is very likely just as common among the most conservative circles, such as various independent ministries.”
This is truly heartbreaking to me, more so that I know both people involved here. Remember the families on both sides of the issue, and for the trying and painful exprience that the church for which both parties are members is going through right now. No amount of finger-pointing will help. Only hands folded in agonizing prayer will do.
Just to set the record straight: the lady rented a room in the Academy after school hours, she was never an employee of the academy or conference. Sad story.
My eldest son was sexually abused by a male teacher at another SoCal academy. Whenever a teenager was asked to stay after class, his classmates knew why. Each Sabbath the teacher became Minister of Music in church. My son didn't tell me about it for 25 years. Pedophiles are masters at instilling fear & guilt in their victims. Compliance, and secrecy is thereby guaranteed
'Internalized the shame' describes it well. A line often used by pedophiles: "You are a bad little boy/girl, but your secret is safe with me." A bond of evil that may last for decades. This kind of behavior is omnipresent in society…no organization is immune.
One Christian example of sexual morality:
A California Christian college has been accused of firing a female teacher for having premarital sex, and then offering her job to her fiance. Teacher Teri James, 29, admits she pledged not to engage in "immoral behavior," but says in a lawsuit it was "humiliating" for the college to fire her when pregnant, and to offer her job to her fiance, who had impregnated her.
The old sexual double standard is still practiced by Christians.
In 50 years of medical service around the world, I've discovered the key to sexual abuse awareness for parents, and teachers. If a youngster says, "I don't like (Mr. Smith, Uncle Fred, or Mommy's boyfriend), it means he, or she doesn't like what that person is DOING TO THEM. They are almost always inhibited by guilt & shame that precludes exposing what they've endured. In fact, most of them don't even know what the acts are called. Parents often invite a covert pedophile to babysit while Mommy's at work, because he's such a 'nice guy.' Hopefully, the advent of videocams will serve to expose more of this kind of behavior.
We as parents should never dismiss such statements from our child. The same can be said for bullying.
Parents must recognize signs that for some reason, the child does not like a person, or does not wish to go to school when they are small and most eager to attend.
My son in kindergarten, began to "delay" the short block walk to school with the excuse, "the crossing guard had gone," or similar complaints. Eventually, he absolutely refused to go and the principal called and warned me he would become a later truant.
I respected him without understanding the reason. Later, in first grade he absolutely loved schools.
Only when he was much older, did he say that while resting, he whispered to the girl next on her mat, and the teacher yanked him up by the ear, "it hurt me," and that was the reason.