Desert Sands Unified Approves Provisional DEI Course for Middle School Leadership

Desert Sands Unified School District (DSUSD) in Southern California approved an elective provisional course for middle school leadership that is steeped in controversial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ideologies, including Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Gender affirmation. The course, titled “Peer Leaders Uniting Students (PLUS+),” (Item 18.9 on the agenda) was approved unanimously as a grouped item, without discussion, at the November 19, 2024, board meeting.

The DSUSD board has failed to read the room after the 2024 Presidential Election, which Donald J. Trump won in a landslide, padded numbers from States still counting aside. All swing states, House and Senate Majority, and the popular vote—that is a mandate from America to get to fixing.

President Donald J. Trump has promised to cut all federal funding to any education institution that is promoting Critical Race Theory (CRT)/DEI and Gender ideologies. Specifically, President Trump said in his Agenda 47, that his administration will “Cut federal funding for any school or program pushing Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.”

Perhaps the board is unaware that President Trump has kept his campaign promises in the past and fully intends to keep the promise of ridding our school of diabolical nonsense. Or perhaps the board believes Gavin Newsom will bail them out… after he stops giving all of the taxpayer money to grifting NGOs and illegal aliens. Good luck.

The PLUS+ Course

According to district documents attached to the agenda, the course is designed to “influence” peers utilizing “social marketing strategies to create behavior change” by manipulating the need to belong to a group. The students chosen for the course will be subject to an initial 8-hour indoctrination course during which they will be “trained” in DEI concepts, and how to apply them (use marketing strategies on other children) to change school culture. Students will be expected, during the year, to hold monthly forums with a “diverse cross section” of the school—considered the “core of the PLUS program”—and to “administer surveys…to gather and track data representing the Social Emotional Health and needs of the school.”

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PCE Solutions

While DEI is not explicitly mentioned in the course description, prior knowledge tells us that SEL, which is mentioned, falls under the DEI umbrella. Further insight can be gained from the program website, plusprogram.org. The PLUS program, according to their website, is a product of PCE Solutions, a 501c3 nonprofit. PCE Solutions is listed with the IRS as Protect Connect Educate Solutions (EIN: 45-5531372) based out of Murietta, California, according to IRS filings.

The PLUS website also informs us that it focuses on MTSS/PBIS “interventions” which we know includes restorative justice concepts, all of which fall under the DEI umbrella. The PLUS website also heavily advertises a school climate conference to be held April 2025 in Temecula, which we’ll get to in a bit.

There are seven board members, including executive officers, listed on the IRS form 990 from 2019, the most recent filing available.

John Vandenburgh is also the co-founder of another educational company, Vanden, which appears to be the holder of the proprietary on-line survey system that the success of the PLUS+ program relies so heavily on. Records at patents.justia.com, suggest that Niki Vandenburgh holds the patent to those surveys. Both Niki and John Vandenburgh, along with Dr. David Long and Lee Vazquez Illaoa sit on the boards of both Vanden and PCE Solutions.

Rounding out the PCE Solutions board:

Regina Siez conducts training and sells her curriculum for facilitating grief groups with k-12 youth, holds Pupil Personnel Service and School Social Work Credentials. Jon Eyler is a founder and CEO of his own educational company; Julia Gabor is also a founder of a company that trains, and sells training for, Social Emotional Learning. Lot to see in those links.

I bring up the background of the PCE Solutions board members to illustrate how steeped in DEI they all are (and the money they stand to lose), but I’m done with those guys. Shall we head over to the conference site and see what we can learn about PLUS?

School Climate Conference

The conference website already has their workshops set up for the April 2025 gathering, which is good for us. Let’s check out how many workshops would fall under the President Trump cut-funding umbrella. 

Wow…how about we highlight the top five. And by “top” I mean “bottom of the barrel.” If you have time to browse the conference website though, the rest of the workshops are chock full of MTSS, PBIS, SEL, gender ideology, Equity, Inclusion and Diversity.

Here we go.

1.     “Gender Support Plans for Safe and effective Schools”

This workshop is presented by DSUSD’s own Tori St. Johns, which readers may recognize from the DSUSD Gender Support trainings for administrators and the RAP Foundation. This workshop includes “information on writing effective Gender Support Plans and current California laws protecting LGBTQ+ students….”

2.     “Time to Thrive: Nurturing Connections to Transform Climate and Instruction”

 Hits on the goal of the PLUS program, which is to “shift school culture” using restorative justice (MTSS/PBIS) and SEL.

3.     “Unpacking Crucial Conversations”

 This workshop seems to be offering educators training in how to conduct DEI struggle sessions to change school culture.

4.     “Promoting Inclusive Education: Best Practices for Gender Support Plans”

This is evil. The presenter is a Senior Program Specialist Tobacco-Use Prevention Education. It is not the first time I have seen Tobacco prevention associated with the DEI programs. Usually, it is funding.

5.     “Mental Health Youth: What is Going On?”

The irony isn’t lost on most readers that they (the presenters and most of the attendees) are what is going on! If you pound the big lie into kids every day-that they should either feel like a victim or carry the guilt of an oppressor, yeah kids are going to have issues. It’s like Patrick Hamilton and Pavlov met and came up with a method to condition kids (and their families) to beg for mental health professionals to intervene into largely non-existent problems. At least non-existent before the “experts” in education got there, but don’t worry, Big Pharma is there to help.

Remember, this is a conference for educators to obtain training to return to their districts and train kids how to create school-wide culture changing DEI activities. Will these activities be open to all students or, in the name of equity, just a select few?

Student PLUS+ Recruitment

A DSUSD recruitment flyer, from a source that wishes to remain anonymous, shows that the district acted fast once the course was approved. The flyer invites students to ten hours (lunch included!) of expressing their “viewpoint on Diversity and Equity” over two sessions. The sessions are billed as a “Diversity & Equity Student Leadership Day.” The Day 1 Activities in the course description calls for eight hours of training. The district states the desire to create a “vibrant and thriving student community” through a “collective and shared vision.”

The flyer does not show up on the DSUSD Peach Jar approved e-flyers page of their website. According to the source, not all students can take part in the PLUS+ program because teachers and administrators are selecting the students that receive the invitation. Doesn’t seem very inclusive or equitable.

Recruitment Flyer

PLUS+ Getting District Contracts

A search for the PLUS program conducted on the Simbli for education platform, which is the management system many school districts use, shows that the program may be in a few other districts—sometimes disguised as tobacco prevention.

Setting up the provisional course may be free, but the conference costs nearly $600.00. A contract with Lake Elsinore School District shows PCE Solutions garner $50,000-$100,000 for running the district’s PLUS+ forums. What the proprietary survey tools cost remains to be seen.

A New Day A New Way

President Trump has said he returning the power of Education, albeit with some restrictions, to the States. POTUS also said that some states will do better than others—looking at you California, not in the good way.

The only way DEI will die in California is if the schools face the threat of losing money. Between diligent citizens poking their noses where they belong, the defunding threat, and pushing school choice, school districts nationwide may be facing tough choices soon.