published the day before by Patch<\/a> outlining the facts of the case.<\/p>\n\u201cBefore this article was published, we heard that while Jeff had initially been charged with a child pornography offense, the charge was later changed to something else,\u201d Eldridge wrote. \u201cIn fact, we don\u2019t know what that charge is since it hasn\u2019t been made public. When we find out, rest assured, we will pass that information along.\u201d<\/p>\n
The information included in the Patch article was public information provided to the reporter by the LBPD. When questioned by the Watchdog, the LBPD said the charge was never changed after the initial booking.<\/p>\n
Eldridge declined to answer questions from the Watchdog, saying the church has “no interest in communicating beyond what we already have to our community.” It’s unclear if additional emails with updates on the situation have been sent to parents since Sept. 13.<\/p>\n
One parent who attends the church and has children at the school said leadership, including the pastors and principals, have not been forthcoming with information about the alleged crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are giving none of us parents any answers, not even holding at least a school meeting about it. Nothing,\u201d the parent said. \u201cBut forcing us all to go about our day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The parent also noted that Zabel\u2019s wife, Samantha, who is a kindergarten teacher at the school and kid\u2019s church coordinator, had been removed from both websites despite still being employed. Eldridged confirmed that Samantha remains employed in both roles, saying she is \u201cdeeply rooted in and connected to our ministries as an exemplary team member.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eldridge did not comment on her removal from the websites.<\/p>\n
The parent accused school leadership of fostering an environment where parents are scared to speak out for fear of retaliation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe school makes it hard to speak up about anything,\u201d they said, adding that the children of parents who don\u2019t fall in line are treated differently and even face expulsion.<\/p>\n
The parent cited a newer section of the school\u2019s handbook that states staff and parents are not allowed to discuss situations that they are not directly involved in or which they cannot \u201csolve, correct, or handle themselves.\u201d The handbook also states staff and administrators will not \u201cread, respond to, or take into consideration notes or emails that are sent anonymously or under false presences.<\/p>\n
\u201cFailure to follow this chain of communication could result in your student\u2019s dismissal from LCS,\u201d the handbook states.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all desire to work harmoniously in our LCS community,\u201d the handbook continued. \u201cParent behavior that is determined contrary to school policy, guidelines, and\/or philosophy may result in student\u2019s dismissal.\u201d<\/p>\n
We need your support.<\/p>\n
Subcribe to the Watchdog today.<\/p>\n
The Long Beach Watchdog is owned by journalists, and paid for by readers like you. If independent, local reporting like the story you just read is important to you, support our work by becoming a subscriber.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Become a Watchdog today. Sign up to get the latest from Long Beach’s independent, journalist-owned newsroom in your…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-38295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}