In June of 2020, alumni and students of Valley Christian Schools began to come forward about the traumatic experiences that they have had at the school. Valley Christian Schools is run by fundamentalist Christians and teaches and endorses racism, homophobia, and antisemitism in a myriad of ways. With this outpouring of testimonies, it is important to take this movement and realize the depth of the horrors that students at this school have endured. #exposevalley

We encourage you to take a moment to read their stories here.

In the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, it is critical to start questioning the institutions that we exist in that have consistently reproduced oppression, especially over extended periods of time. 

Here is an excerpt from the book Quest for Excellence written by the president and former superintendent of the school, that all students are required to read: "The adversaries of the framers of our Declaration of Independence and our United States Constitution sometimes try to discredit the Founders as slave owners. One could argue that, for the most part, they treated their slaves with dignity and respect in a culture with very different expectations..." 

A group of alumni, those who have been collecting these stories, have been in contact with the school regarding demands moving forward. The school did release a statement, but it did not contain any solid goals for the future, and when students and alumni commented on social media posts about this, they deleted them and later claimed it to be an accident. This is censorship.

The form for submitting your own stories, and to read the responses of the school when they were reached out to, are here.

The reality is that this school's essential foundation is based on deeply-seated racism, homophobia, and antisemitism. There is little that the school will be willing to change if they do not receive an extreme amount of external pressure, and even then, they will only do the bare minimum. 

Please sign this petition in the promotion of shutting down Valley Christian Schools in San Jose. It is time that our voices are heard.

So many of the incidents in the testimonies were once brought to the school's attention and received a swift dismissal and often shamed students for even trying to come forward. These students did not consent to be part of this school, unaware of the harm that they might endure, oftentimes convinced by their parents to stay at the school as students even after verbalizing concern at home. 

This institution must be shut down. Please sign this petition in solidarity with all who have been hurt and will be hurt in the future by a school that has absolutely no accountability or concern for anyone who does not match their white, conservative, straight perspective. They will not change. 

If you are aware of or have any connections to legal support for this movement, please get in touch with me at christasantos101@gmail.com.

Many stories are also on twitter under the hashtag #exposevalley.

"But I don't want the school to shut down- I want them to improve their practices!" I completely agree. However, if we do not face Valley Christian with the ultimate threat of shutting down, I do not believe that productive change will happen. Movements have been brought to the school in the past and they have been blown over. We must change the rhetoric surrounding this discussion and make the leaders understand the threat of shutting down in order to see them enact real change. When parents search Valley Christian online, we want these raw and honest testimonies from actual students to come up first. We want real, formidable change.