Student Protections

VICTORY FOR OKC LGBT STUDENTS!!!

HATER SHAFER'S MYSTERIOUS BUSINESS DEALINGS REVEALED
PLUS SOME STUFF ON JUNIOR LEAGUE PRINCESS LYN WATSON

December 14, 2009 In a 5 - 2 decision at Monday night's Oklahoma City School Board meeting, members voted to include sexual orientation and gender identity into policy as it relates to bullying and harrassment. Voting against protecting LGBT children were Lyn Watson and Steve Shafer.

Watson and Shafter, who are the only two board members to hide their home addresses in their biographies, also protested when the board chose to waive the 30-day rule for advertising the agenda item. They were overruled and discussion of the inclusionary topic saw board member Phil Horning passionately declaring the need for such protections for LGBT students. Horning said "You cannot live in central Oklahoma and not admit that there is a tendancy to discriminate against gay and lesbian individuals. You'd have to have your head in the sand not to admit it." Horning concluded, "I'll die before I vote no."

Openly gay school teacher Joe Quigley had sought to include the protections into district policy for a number of years. His advocacy for students is believed to have led to his firing as an instructor at NW Classen High School earlier in the year. Quigley was later ordered reinstated by an Oklahoma County district judge, but the majority of the board voted to ignore the order. They eventually bowed to a contempt threat and allowed Quigley back into the classroom, but still have an appeal working through the system. Quigley informed school officials that he'd drop his own litigation against them, were they to add protections for LGBT students.

Last Thursday Steve Shafer was one of the attendees at a Leadership Conclave for far right extremist groups, patriot pastors, and Constitutionalist lawmakers at a secret gathering we exposed at the First Baptist Church in Moore. Notable homophobes Paul Blair and Sally Kern were at the summit. Gossip Boy reported his likely attendance last week. Shafer lists a contact number of 405.848.6999, but ,like his fellow naysayer Watson, refuses to display a home address in the board directory. As school board members are required to have a verifiable residency in their particular district, we did check and Shafer has a home at 401 NW 14th St in OKC. The 2 1/2 story 6500 square foot home, valued at nearly one million dollars, is owned by the Ami Darci Shafer Trust. and Steve Shafer is not considered an owner. Ami is his wife, whom he married in 1998. The Shafers did not purchase that home or move into the area (District 4) until August 2007 - three months before Shafer announced his candidacy for the District 4 school board seat. Shafer's children do not attend Oklahoma City public schools. Instead they go to Westminster School, which is a private American Montessori Society facility.

On September 21, 2009, Shafer penned an editorial for the Oklahoman that attacked Quigley's teaching methods and assailed School Board President Angela Monson for defending the instructor.

Stephen Edward Shafer, age 39, is the chief investment officer for Covenant Financial Services (CFS) at 10914 Hefner Point Drive, Suite 304, in OKC. According to state secretary's records CFS is co-owned by Shafer and founder Steve Duncan. The company was registered in Shafer's name in both February 1984 and in April 2009. Shafer hides most the information about CFS and does not even mention the company in his school board biograpy, which simply states he works at a financial planning firm. The CFS website is now closed to public viewing. He's also owner of Opportunity Capital Advisors, Inc (OCA). OCA provides services for Geary Securities, Inc. (formerly Capital West). Along the chain everything from investments to school bonds are handled. A year ago Shafer established the CFS Opportunity Capital Fund LP - eight months after taking his school board seat.

According to U.S. Security Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, CFS manages over $140,000,000 for 470 clients of which over half are considered "high net worth individuals". Covenant Financial Services is a "Jesus-friendly" firm that markets themselves to Christians. A great number of Shafer's clients are senior citizens, who he has invest in a portfolio that includes only businesses involved in "Christian-like" activities and excludes any entity that may be involved with LGBTs, medical establishments involved in abortions, etc. Shafer ends up taking direct control of many of his elderly client's bank accounts through the process. The SEC records reveals that many times CFS has a proportional interest in some of the companies that make up their portfolios.

In the SEC filings CFS claims none of its officers are engaged in brokering for other firms. However, after studying the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records on Shafer, we discovered he'd served as a broker for two other firms in recent years, while at the CFS. From 2004 to 2007 he was moonlighting with Royal Alliance Associates Inc. of OKC and from 2007 to 2008 was serving Purshe Kaplin Sterling Investments, also of OKC.

Shafer is a graduate of Union High School in Tulsa and received a degree from OU for finance and economics. He has a master's degree from the London School of Economics & Political Science in comparative politics.

Junior League princess Lyn Ann Watson, age 44, and her husband Bradley James Watson, age 48, have been mainly involved in the telecommunications industry as training managers for various cell phone companies. Although she's tried her best to cover her tracks, as residency in OKC School District 1 is required for her to maintain a seat on the board, and since the public has a right to verify her eligibility, we've confirmed her address as being at a hideous gray one-story ranch home at 2917 Prairie Rose Court in OKC and has been since October 1994 - so she's not a carpet bagger like Shafer. Something Watson is alike with her fellow school board member is a dislike for common public education. She is interested in moving the district into charter and enterprise schools. The pair seem more interested in adapting the school system to their needs instead of the district's needs.