WKbyK Wrote:
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> From:
>
http://homeschoolersanonymous.wordpress.com/2014/0
> 6/24/paul-and-gena-suarez-old-schoolhouse-publishe
> rs-accused-of-protecting-known-child-predators/
>
>
>
> Paul and Gena Suarez, owners of the “global
> homeschooling company” The Old Schoolhouse, have
> been accused by a former key employee of allegedly
> protecting several known child predators.
> Furthermore, they are accused of shaming and
> silencing members of their community who tried to
> stand up and do the right thing.
>
> About the Suarezes and The Old Schoolhouse
>
> Paul and Gena Suarez are the publishers of The Old
> Schoolhouse (TOS), a Christian homeschool magazine
> and self-described “global homeschooling
> company.” TOS has been called “one of the
> largest homeschooling magazines in America, and
> indeed, the world.” TOS’s vision is “to
> continue to lift up the Lord in every endeavor,
> every action, and every word spoken or written,”
> and that “as homeschooling grows, so TOS grows,
> and concurrently, that as TOS grows, more families
> will be introduced to home education through our
> many and varied resources.”
>
> Paul and Gena Suarez. Source:
>
http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com
> Paul and Gena Suarez. Source:
>
http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com
> Begun in 2001, TOS has become immensely popular in
> the Christian Homeschool Movement. Their Facebook
> page has nearly 100,000 likes. Dr. James Dobson
> has endorsed and partnered with TOS, being
> “pleased to come alongside The Old Schoolhouse,
> an exemplary organization and magazine, in serving
> families that care so deeply for the nurturing and
> development of their kids.” In 2006 Doug
> Phillips was reported to say “that he really
> loved reading TOS, and that he didn’t read many
> homeschool magazines but The Old Schoolhouse
> Magazine was one that he did definitely read.”
> NHERI/HSLDA’s Dr. Brian Ray is one of their
> regular columnists.
>
> TOS also has a Speakers Bureau, which “seeks to
> identify and introduce to the homeschool community
> speakers whose knowledge, experience, Christian
> faith, values, personality, commitments, and
> central message represent and promote the
> homeschool movement from a Biblical worldview and
> family-first perspective.” Their bureau includes
> popular homeschool speakers such as Heidi St.
> John, Skeet Savage, Israel Wayne, Jay Wile, and
> Hal Young. (In fact, Heidi St. John — who
> recently wrote an article about abuse in
> homeschooling communities entitled “Don’t Turn
> Away: Trouble in the Homeschool Movement” —
> appears to be family friends with the Suarezes,
> per this Instagram photo of their families
> together that St. John tweeted last January.)
>
> TOS has actively promoted the works of R.J.
> Rushdoony, Kevin Swanson, and Vision Forum. Most
> disturbingly, TOS has a long history of adoration
> for and promotion of Michael and Debi Pearl and
> the “ministry” (read: child abuse advocacy) of
> No Greater Joy. Proverbs 22:6 (and also the title
> of the Pearls’ most well-known book) —
> “Train up a child…” — features prominently
> on the TOS website. In 2005 TOS’s devotional
> editor Deborah Wuehler interviewed a member of the
> Pearl family for TOS, in which she wrote the
> Pearls were “the pioneers of homeschooling in
> the early 1970s” who “helped countless numbers
> of parents with their child training questions.”
> A year later the Suarezes “team[ed] up” with
> Michael and Debi Pearl in 2006 for a Christian
> homeschool conference in Germany. TOS even went so
> far as to give away free copies of the Pearls’
> book To Train Up a Child in their “welcome
> packages” to new homeschoolers. This, as well as
> other acts of promotion of the Pearls, led to a
> boycott of TOS in 2006 by gentle parenting
> bloggers.
>
> TOS is currently both a sponsor of the Great
> Homeschool Conventions and an HSLDA-suggested
> resource promoted to HSLDA members at a special
> discounted rate.
>
> Enter Jenefer Igarashi
>
> Jenefer Igarashi is a “veteran homeschooling
> mother of six” with 20 years of homeschooling
> experience. She is a former employee of TOS.
>
> Jenefer Igarashi. Source:
>
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/22729173092429104/
> Jenefer Igarashi. Source: Pinterest.
> For 6 years Igarashi worked for TOS in a number of
> capacities, including (in 2002) as the Senior
> Editor of TOS and (in 2006) as the Vice President
> of Operations. She’s been in the thick of the
> Christian Homeschool Movement, writing
> enthusiastically in 2006 about her opportunities
> for TOS to interview both HSLDA’s Chris Klicka
> and Vision Forum’s Doug Phillips. She was a
> frequent speaker and exhibitor at homeschool
> conventions on the topic of Rosetta Stone
> curriculum, including Teaching Them Diligently
> conferences, Minnesota Association of Christian
> Home Educators (MACHE) conferences, and the
> Illinois Christian Home Educators (ICHE)
> conference. Igarashi is also a contributing writer
> for the Christian website Crosswalk.com.
>
> In their 2006 book Homeschooling Methods: Seasoned
> Advice on Learning Styles, self-described as “a
> homeschool convention in a book,” Paul and Gena
> Suarez include — among essays by popular
> homeschool leaders such as Doug Wilson and Raymond
> Moore — an essay co-written by Igarashi. As 2006
> they described her as “vice president of
> operations for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.”
> The Suarezes also refer to Igarashi as one of
> several “personal friends who have given of
> themselves and blessed us abundantly with
> encouragement, love, and undying support.”
>
> In 2007, however, Igarashi departed from TOS. In
> the Summer 2007 edition of TOS, Paul and Gena
> Suarez wrote the following (you can view a PDF
> archived on HA here):
>
> The Old Schoolhouse – Summer 2007
>
> With a heavy heart we announce that Jenefer
> Igarashi has moved on from TOS. We so appreciate
> the six years she poured into our magazine. We
> want to publicly bless the Igarashi family and we
> pray that the Lord will continue to bless and keep
> them near to Him.
>
> Child Sexual Abuse Allegations
>
> Over the last two months, Jenefer Igarashi has
> revealed that the “heavy heart” of the Suarezs
> might actually have been much heavier — and
> disturbing — than the 2007 announcement
> suggested.
>
> Beginning in April of this year, Igarashi began
> writing on her personal blog Jeneric Jeneralities
> about abuse, homeschooling, and the Christian
> church. Her first post on the matter was on April
> 24, entitled “When the Body Cuts Itself to
> Pieces.” It was a vague, but intense, piece.
> Igarashi wrote the following:
>
> Being a part of a local body is crucial for
> Believers. There is safety. There is counsel.
> Also, there are witnesses.
>
> The Christian Homeschool Community is not a
> church. It’s a movement. It’s not a church.
>
> Naturally, one would hope that it is able to
> regulate itself, but is that even possible? How
> does a ‘movement’ regulate itself? Who is
> responsible to keep the bad apples out? The
> Leaders? Who are the Leaders? What if the Leaders
> are bad apples?
>
> Igarashi never says what is prompting these
> questions. But something is clearly pressing on
> her mind:
>
> In most cases Titus 3:10-11 would answer, ‘Warn
> a divisive person once, and then warn them a
> second time. After that, have nothing to do with
> them. You may be sure that such people are
> warped.’ But what if there is a danger to
> others? What is the moral responsibility for those
> who have information? These are questions my
> husband and I are trying to work out right now.
> Likely you may soon hear about another huge and
> distressing ‘Homeschool Leader’ scandal.
>
> A couple weeks later, on May 6, Igarashi writes
> another post, this one entitled “Mediation
> Attempt.” This post mentions names, but gives no
> indication as to the content. The entirety of the
> post is copied below:
>
> May 5th, 2014 there was a mediation attempt, which
> involved Paul Suarez, Gena Suarez, Geoff Igarashi
> III, Jenefer Igarashi, Pastor Charlie Scalf,
> Pastor Ben Wright and Attorney David Gibbs.
>
> The following ‘Joint Statement’ was put
> together then signed by all parties.
>
> “About seven years ago we disagreed on how to
> handle a complex issue. Though we have not yet
> resolved the areas of disagreement, we have
> started the process of restoring our relationship.
> We love each other as a family and we have
> committed to rebuild that relationship and mutual
> trust in years to come. We desire to resolve any
> related division with other parties and to that
> end we ask that you contact whomever among us
> would be most appropriate. We pray that our work
> to reconcile with one another might reflect in
> some way the magnitude of God’s great mercy to
> reconcile with us through the sacrifice of His
> Son.”
>
> There is no indication of what provoked this
> mediation process. However, note the involvement
> of “Attorney David Gibbs,” which is either the
> man known for defending accused child abusers
> (most notably, and recently, Bill Gothard!) or
> that same man’s son, know most recently for
> defending abuse victim Lourdes Torres-Manteufel
> against Vision Forum’s Doug Phillips. (Based on
> the above meditation statement, I would guess the
> former.) Either way, the fact that either one of
> these Gibbs would be involved in this mediation
> process is quite telling of the significance of
> this event.
>
> Several weeks after this “Joint Statement,”
> Igarashi writes another post on May 18, this time
> entitled “Don’t Eat Plastic Apples.”
> Igarashi calls out people who would silence abuse
> survivors through words like “gossip” and
> “slander,” saying:
>
> One of the classic tactics abusers use after they
> victimize a person is to further oppress them by
> condemning them as ‘gossips’ or
> ‘slanderers’ if they don’t cover up the
> abusers actions.
>
> Abusers will create smoke and clamor to divert
> attention away from their abuse by pretending the
> ‘sin of gossip’ is the Sin of all Sins and is
> therefore sufficient grounds to discount any
> charge of real sin against them.
>
> It is in this point that Igarashi first mentions
> the safety of children. She writes,
>
> I’ll just speak plainly here. If there are men
> who have sexually abused children (or are being
> investigated as child predators) and you are told
> to keep your mouth shut about it, then it’s time
> to do something. Leaving with your children is a
> good first step.
>
> If you feel children may be in danger and speak
> out about it, you are not a gossip. If somebody
> gives you a long biblical treatise about how their
> view on how to handle child predators within the
> church is the only biblical one (and their view
> protects offenders and demands that other parents
> are not to be made aware) know they are flat
> wrong. If you’re told that you’re ‘possibly
> unsaved’ if you disagree with their views, you
> need to know that is a lie.
>
> The Shoe Drops
>
> Something went down on May 24, 2014, when Igarashi
> wrote a post entitled “An Apology.” Igarashi
> wrote a post, then retracted it into private
> status so that no one could read it. (An excerpt
> from the post, however, is visible here.) 3 days
> later, on May 27, Igarashi explains the retraction
> in the post “Pending”:
>
> I have been asked to take the two posts down. I
> was asked to do this because we had signed an
> agreement to work through a different channel with
> the Suarez issue (part of that being we agreed not
> to go ‘public’ with the information) Whether
> or not that was a wise or proper thing for us to
> do is currently being debated. But as it stands,
> since we did sign an agreement that outlined
> certain steps, we will honor it and stay silent
> regarding exposing things publicly for now.
>
> However, I will say this. Geoff and I 100% stand
> behind those who have been hurt and/or
> victimized. Our eyes have been even more opened
> to the necessity of speaking out and the huge
> problem that currently exists in the church (at
> large) that hides divisiveness and the danger of
> silencing victims who speak up. We’ve gotten
> such a huge response from people who have been
> suffering in the same, or similar, situation. Our
> hearts grieve over that.
>
> We now find out that whatever provoked the
> mediation process guided by one of the David
> Gibbs’s, and whatever has inspired these
> thoughts about child abuse, homeschooling, and the
> Christian church — it has something to do with
> the “Suarez issue.” The Suarezes, remember,
> are the publishers of the “global homeschooling
> company” The Old Schoolhouse.
>
> Finally, the entire shoe drops a month later, on
> June 19, 2014, in the post “It Just Needs to
> Stop.” Here Igarashi explains a truly disturbing
> story about the Suarezes and their alleged defense
> of know child predators — including one of their
> own sons — and how they gaslit, attacked, and
> silenced the families of the victims — one of
> those victims being Jenefer Igarashi’s son.
>
> Igarashi explains that, when her son was only 6
> years old, he was “repeatedly molested.” (The
> boy is now a week shy of 14, so this molestation
> happened approximately 7 years ago — the exact
> same time period in which Igarashi “moved on
> from TOS,” according to the Suarezes.) The
> person who molested him was “his older
> cousin,” who “had forced him to live with such
> disgusting memories.” Igarashi re-emphasizes
> this, saying the molester is her nephew:
>
> We take issue with the practice of protecting a
> child molester (repentant or otherwise) at the
> expense of the victim and their family. I’ve
> been accused of ‘making my nephew out to be a
> monster’.
>
> Then Igarashi reveals that the relative who
> molested her son is the “(then) teenage son”
> of Paul and Gena Suarez. (Gena and Jenefer are
> sisters, it turns out.) Yes, one of the sons of
> the Suarezes allegedly molested a 6-year-old child
> (and later two other children) and the Suarezes
> defended that son at the expense of their son’s
> victims.
>
> More than One Predator
>
> But then it gets worse.
>
> According to Igarashi, the Suarez son is not the
> only known child predator that Paul and Gena
> Suarez have defended at the expense of victims.
> Igarashi writes,
>
> There have been two other child predators (that we
> know of) who the Suarez’s actively protected.
> They demanded silence from those who knew and
> insisted on letting those predators have
> unfiltered access to family gatherings / child
> focused events. They insisted that families accept
> (what amounts to) a ‘zero accountability’
> stance in regard to those men because they said
> the men had ‘repented’. And families who
> voiced concerned, or alerted other families to a
> potential danger, or who chose not to include the
> predators in their groups, were told they were in
> sin and were then condemned by the Suarez’s. One
> man, Roy Ballard, was later imprisoned for sexual
> assault against children. The other man they
> protected, Mike Marcum, was also imprisoned (for
> possession of child pornography).
>
> Paul and Gena Suarez defended Roy Ballard, a
> convicted child abuser. Source:
>
http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/ILE06B498
> 5/Roy-W-Ballard.html
> Paul and Gena Suarez defended Roy Ballard, a
> convicted child abuser. Source:
>
http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/ILE06B498
> 5/Roy-W-Ballard.html
> You can view Roy Ballard’s record here, where he
> is listed as a registered sex offender for
> “aggravated criminal sexual abuse.” Steve and
> Julie Hauser, who attended the same home church as
> Paul and Gena Suarez, give a detailed account of
> how the Suarezes refused to believe a young child
> claiming inappropriate touch by Ballard and
> instead belittled and shamed that young child, her
> family, and those trying to stand up to abuse.
>
> This account alleges, therefore, that Paul and
> Gena Suarez — publishers of The Old Schoolhouse
> Magazines and owners of a global homeschooling
> empire and Speakers Bureau — have tried to hide
> and protect (1) a teenage child molester, (2) a
> convicted, known, and repeat child abuser, and (3)
> an adult in possession of child pornography. This
> account has also been corroborated by numerous
> members of the Suarezes’ company and community.
>
> And this? All while the Suarezes make money off
> their public image, an image that they are experts
> in “raising godly children” and experts in
> avoiding the evil “sexual encounters” children
> experience in public schools — all while their
> own teenager allegedly abuses his 6-year-old
> nephew and they turn a blind eye. There is nothing
> but irony, therefore, in the fact that Paul and
> Gena Suarez were the 2009 recipients of the “Dr.
> Robert Dreyfus Courageous Christian Leadership
> Award” from Frontline Ministries and the Exodus
> Mandate Project. So much for “courageous
> Christian leadership.”
>
> And again, I’ll repeat: TOS is currently both a
> sponsor of the Great Homeschool Conventions and an
> HSLDA-suggested resource promoted to HSLDA members
> at a special discounted rate.
>
> To conclude, I’ll quote from Igarashi’s latest
> post:
>
> I’ve been accused of trying to ‘vindictively
> take down The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’. I
> reject that accusation. Paul and Gena made the
> choice to habitually divide with believers over
> secondary issues. They have also made the choice
> to condemn (multiple) families who spoke out
> against child predators. They made the choice to
> continue pursuing the spotlight as national
> leaders after knowing their highschooler
> repeatedly molested more than one child.
>
> The question now becomes: will Christian
> homeschool leaders stand together against this
> abuse to condemn — and refuse a future spotlight
> to — Paul and Gena Suarez?
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