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Glendale Unified

Visit the Charty B for a map of Glendale extremist.
As of April and May 2023, the Glendale Unified School District has become the latest target of extremists trying to reshape public schools in an ongoing battle against democracy playing out in local politics.  Conservative manufactured outrage has been wielded at GUSD board meetings since 2020 over agenda items such as mask mandates, distance learning and vaccine requirements. However, currently things have become more heated and extreme under the direction of failed Glendale City Council candidate, Jordan Henry. 
 
Jordan Henry moved to Glendale in 2021, and jumped into local politics by joining a GUSD sub-committee. Take note, Henry does not have children in the district. Henry first pounced on the opportunity to speak out in May/June 2021 against GUSD adoption of SPLC Learning For Justice curriculum, which had already withstood a comprehensive full year review process, and focuses on helping teachers across the country better engage their diverse students and build community. From there, his pursuits quickly escalate into promoting a full menu of right-wing social grievances and actions that closely mimic toolkits published by right wing advocates. He accomplishes this through school board speeches, protests, local social media accounts, and YouTube videos.
Jordon Henry stands with a mega phone surrounded by out of town extremist including, but not limited to, Mike Ancheta, Louis Flores, and Tony Moon at the 6/6/23 Glendale District meeting. Photo courtesy of @Skyspider_

Henry Begins His GUSD Attacks

Following the troubling trend of extremist groups targeting school district board meetings, Henry made his first public comment in July 2021. He quickly created a large social media production out of it, and shared it in local Facebook groups and his own YouTube channel.

Henry joined forces with PragerU, a right wing media company, to produce content for all these sources. Jill Simonian, a resident of La Cañada who does not appear to have children in the district, is the media representative from PragerU who works with Henry to produce this content. Simonian is former KTLA media host who now promotes far-right anti-public school agendas on her YouTube channel and the OAN News Network.
 

He repeatedly refers to GUSD curricula as ‘Marxist” and leans heavily into anti-CRT rhetoric. As his public comments at school board meetings became more intense, a number of attacks were made against individual teachers and staff at GUSD. Henry continues to vocalize against diversity, inclusion and equity programs, social/emotional learning, and anything that particularly involves the inclusion of LGBTQ students and curriculum. His efforts to defund public education are evidenced through his online advocacy of pulling students from public schools and enrolling them in religious institutions or homeschooling programs. He also uses common tactics that leach money from school districts like public records requests, and holds strategy meetings to teach community members how to launch their own attacks on the district. 

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Henry’s background and associations make him an illegitimate voice for the parents of Glendale, and have naturally aroused suspicions among GUSD parents. Soon after he appeared, therealjordonhenry.com webpage popped up to inform the community that Henry had an agenda and his motivations for Glendale were less than pure. While growing his influence among the conservative Armenian community and homeschooled/private school parents of Glendale, it appears he has garnered most of his support from groups outside of Glendale. The evidence of him collaborating with fascist and white nationalist extremists is vast. In an instagram live video, Henry even alludes to the fact that he has financial backing from an unknown source(s). Henry has also signed pledges with the dark money-funded organization called Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CFER), which takes legal action against school districts for implementing programs that address diversity, equity and inclusion as well as social/emotional learning considerations. 
 
 

Narine Tadevosyan, a homeschool advocate, interviews Henry on an Instragram live video, during which Henry reveals that he has significant financial backing to fund right-wing pursuits to disrupt Glendale and surrounding school districts.

@vishal.p.singh

N—zi salute confirmed at Glendale School Board today from anti-LGBTQ+ side.

♬ original sound - Vishal P. Singh 🏳️‍⚧️

In 2022, Henry ran and lost the election for a Glendale City Council seat. Since then, his attacks on the GUSD have escalated. April and May district board meetings of 2023 were swarmed by the attendance of large right wing crowds; including PragerU media teams, MAGA protesters, and representatives of the transphobic organization Gays Against Groomers (GAG), Meg and Jen Martinez. Violent confrontations instigated by his supporters outside of school board meetings are frequent. For instance, at the May 16th GUSD board meeting, a man named Alan Khanyan, wearing a racist “Roof Korean Security” shirt, struck photojournalist Kelly Stuart in the chest, while another man circled around trying to grab her camera lense. Another man, Narek Palyan, was yelling slurs into the crowd of school board supporters. Tony Moon, aka “Roof Korean”, Alan Khanyan, and Narek Palyan are well known violent right wing extremist street activists in LA County. Palyan, in particular, is recognized as an anti-Semite through his social media trails. None of these people, except for Paylan, appear to be parents of children in the GUSD. It is presumed they were all invited by Jordan Henry.

The most recent uproar occurred on June 6, 2023, where a GUSD school board meeting was flooded with anti-LGBTQ activists, right-wing extremist, internationally recognized hate groups, and pro-LGBTQ protesters. Hundreds of people congregated outside the meeting while actual GUSD parents were inside voicing their support for the district business of officially recognizing June as Pride Month (an action that has passed unopposed for many years now). Outside, fights eventually broke out, which prompted the issuance of a police dispersal order and the arrest of three people, all of which have zero children in the district. 
Attendance was boosted by Henry, numerous puppet and conservative Armenian social media accounts, and many other right-wing extremists, including the anti-transgender 501c3 Gays Against Groomers. The potential for violence was anticipated by GUSD and their supportive parent groups, such as GUSD for public schools, so safeguards were put in place for attendees of the actual school board meeting. 
 
 

A Cornucopia Of Extremists

Dozens of known extremists were recognized at the June 6th school board meeting. LEXIT leader Jesse Holguin and violent LEXIT coordinator Sylvie Araujo were in attendance, along with their associates and Proud Boy members Louis Flores, Chris Reyes, Adam Kiefer, white supremacist J6er Josh Fulfer, MAGA journalist Travis Whitcher, and violent street activist J6er Tony Moon, were also there with his fellow associate and J6er Andy Lai. Bryce Henson, school board traveler and parent advocate grifter, was also there with a bullhorn garnering publicity for his AstroTurf organization “Dad Army”. Narek Palyan and Alan Khanyan made a repeat appearance alongside Jordan Henry. Henry, with a megaphone in hand, stood in the parking lot shouting about parental rights, closely followed by members of the Proud Boys while the crowd around them chanted tag lines about “groomers”, Antifa, and slurs towards Jews.

Click here for a more comprehensive list of extremists participating in GUSD protests.

Henry and fellow extremists. A woman holds a "Defund LAUSD" sign at the wrong school board meeting. -Courtesy @SkySpider_
Bryce Henson, Louis Flores and Andy Lai try to be usefull in this life by attending school Board meetings where they don't live.-Courtesy SkySpider_
Among the arrested was Joseph Marashlian, who was caught on video releasing pepper spray into a crowd on June 6th, hitting Rev. Mike Kinman, a rector at All Saints Church in nearby Pasadena, in the face. Kinman said it was the most violent protest he had ever seen. Newsmax  interviewed Marashlian and his lawyer, with witness Alan Khanyan. In this interview, Marashlian and Newsmax push the “Concerned parents” fighting for their rights narrative, while they neglect to address the fact that parent voices have long ago been overshadowed by the circus of activist heralded in by traveling right-wing warriors working to weaken public schools. The Marashlian’s children attend private school at Ferrahian Armenian Private School, so why is Marashlian acting as the voice of public school parents in a media interview, let alone at a GUSD board meeting protesting the adoption of an official recognition of Pride month.

More GUSD Outsiders Speak Out

Another loud “Parent Voice”, Hasmik Bedzirdzhyan, who was physically aggressive with a pro -LGBTQ parent inside a GUSD meeting, frequently shows up to GUSD board meetings. She does not have kids in the district and homeschools her children. Narine Tadevosyan is another “parent voice” speaking out against Glendale Unified who does not have children in the district and uses the GUSD protests to recruit for her homeschooling network.

Hasmik Bedzirdzhyan moments before she assaulted a mom inside a May 2023 GUSD board meeting.
Hasmik Bedzirdzhyan and Bryce Henson causing a scene outside a June 6th 2023 GUSD board meeting
Henry leads a speech from outside the June 20th Board meeting - Courtesy SkySpider_
A rowdy group of protesters outside the June 20th GUSD board meeting yelled slurs at pro-LGBTQ protesters. - Courtesy SkySpider_

GUSD June 20th Board Meeting

The board meeting to follow June 6th was a heavily anticipated event. Many groups advertised the date, and encouraged people to show up as early as noon to stand in line for a chance to speak inside the boardroom, although there were no LGBTQ issues on the agenda. A heavy police presence kept the crowds separated, with the anti-LGBTQ/ anti-semitic/ anti-public school protesters confined away from the pro-LGBTQ advocates with spiked barricades. One fight broke out amongst the rowdy protesters resulting in a group of men wearing “Leave Our Kids Alone” T-shirts kicking a man on the ground. Towards the end of the chaos, Henry lead a forum of speakers to riff on a broad range of topics.  

Outside of a GUSD bosrd meeting, speaker Ray Shelton riles up the anti-LGBTQ/anti-public school protesters. -Courtesy SkySpider_

 On a make shift stage in front of the building, Henry and his speakers completely disassociated from current GUSD related issues with unhinged rants about renaming schools that were honoring eugenicists, portraying homosexuality as an evil sin, recanting lies about district policies, and demonizing the transgender community. In the mix of speakers was Siaka Masaquoi, insurrectionist and board member of the anti-public school organization California Parents Union, who was running an onsite GOP booth to register voters. He urged the crowd to vote for local office, and Henry followed with his intent to run for GUSD school board in the upcoming election. This melodramatic production was the most honest display of the true intent of these extremist. By exploiting fringe issues in an attempt to gain control of our local politics, extremists will continue to sow mistrust, hate, and strengthen dividing lines for their own gain. 

It’s true that the small minority of anti-public school parents that want to shield their children from their diverse community have other options besides public school, just as it is now true this same minority of parents are trying to influence public school to follow their model of what is conventional, and leverage public school policies by force with the help of outside extremist. It is important to recognize and reject these extremist views and to continue to support the important work of our public schools do to provide accessible and equitable education for all.