EV Prayer Group Ruling Sends Negative Message

Thu., Jan. 20, 2000

Sandy Brewer

My children did not and do not attend East Valley schools. Thank God for that!

I am very disappointed in the East Valley School Board’s decision to reject the efforts of the First Priority group to hold formal meetings at the high school.

Any school board that rejects a group of students whose ideals include moral accountability, anti-drug use and suicide prevention need to become more educated about what is happening in our high schools.

I have two sons, one already graduated from University High School and one a senior at University High, leading a First Priority group of over 100 students.

Both have led Bible study/support groups in our home and I have had the opportunity to talk with these students that have come from all the area high schools, including East Valley.

These young people have been “pressured” into sharing their hearts and their daily problems with other students who will be there for them to help them through the difficult and turbulent teenage years. Who else will they go to but their own?

They have listened to students contemplating suicide, dropping out of school, and out of peer pressure trying illegal drugs and illicit sex.

What are the students involved in teen Bible studies doing today?

Talk to them and find out how their lives were changed because another student “pressured” them to accountability through God.

Show us a student who was negatively impacted by First Priority.

I am a former police officer and served on the Governor’s Board School Safety Summit. I heard a lot about the results of negative peer pressure.

It is very sad that the East Valley School Board, which can’t stop negative peer pressure, won’t allow a group of students who want to reach out to their fellow students with positive peer pressure to touch others in their school.

I thank God for our school board in the Central Valley School District.

They want the best environment for our students and are open to positive peer pressure.

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