An investigation by the Arizona Auditor General has led to criminal charges being filed earlier this month against several people involved with the building of two new schools for the Higley Unified School District in Gilbert, including the district’s former superintendent, it was announced late Thursday.
Angela Denise Birdwell was indicted July 13 by a state grand jury for 18 counts related to procurement fraud, misuse of public monies, fraudulent schemes and practices, conflict of interest, filing a false state tax return, fraudulent schemes and artifices, and conspiracy. She served as Higley’s superintendent from 2009 until her retirement in 2015.
“Public officials with oversight authority have a responsibility to properly manage the administration of money and property entrusted to them and must ensure that sufficient internal controls are designed and implemented to protect those assets,” according to the Auditor General’s report. “Nevertheless, a system of internal controls will not succeed when those in a position to oversee those operations are perpetrating unlawful behavior and concealing their misconduct.”
Among the more serious issues identified by the Auditor General was Birdwell’s possible misuse of public monies from December 2012 to November 2013 when she authorized or caused the unlawful use of $6 million in restricted public funds toward construction of two new schools in the Higley district, which serves about 10,000 PK-12 students.
Also indicted were Gary Aller and Steven Nielsen, both corporate officers of Educational Facilities Development Services (EFDS) which was awarded a $2.5 million project development service contract related to construction of the new schools. Investigators believe EFDS had access to “early and exclusive Project information” which provided the company an advantage over other prospective vendors.
Public records show Aller and Nielsen founded EFDS in 2012 just two weeks before the Higley District issued an RFP for project development services. The men are each charged with three felonies related to fraudulent schemes and practices, conspiracy, and fraudulent schemes and artifices. There is also an allegation Birdwell violated state procurement laws in connection to the EFDS contract.
“Dr. Birdwell was 1 of 3 selection committee members, and she evaluated EFDS with the only perfect score and recommended Higley award EFDS the Project development services contract, which the Higley Governing Board approved on July 12, 2012,” the report states.
Meanwhile, three felonies related to filing of a false state tax return were brought by the state grand jury against Kay Hartwell Hunnicutt, an attorney described in the Auditor General’s report as being a “close acquaintance” of Birdwell, with whom she shared a home as well as a checking account.
According to the Auditor General, Birdwell indirectly received or benefited from $43,000 paid by Hunt & Caraway Architects Ltd., which served as the district’s procurement advisor and was part of the EFDS development team. Hunt & Caraway, whose now deceased president was never registered in Arizona as an architect, issued checks to Hunnicutt or Hunnicutt’s law office, which were then deposited in a checking account held jointly by Birdwell and Hunnicutt.
Concerns have been rife for years about misconduct related to the school construction projects, according to State Rep. Jake Hoffman (R-LD12), who served as a Higley district board member from 2013 to 2015. Hoffman says he and another board member were criticized by Higley district administrators in response their attempts to look into concerns at the time.
“The level of apparent corruption is staggering and heartbreaking. I am proud to have actively fought against this abuse of power, misuse of taxpayer monies, and blatant disregard for the law during my tenure on the Higley governing board,” Hoffman said, adding that he plans to use the Auditor General’s findings to push for education reform during next year’s legislative session.
After retiring from Higley, Birdwell received eight checks totaling $57,000 from Hunt & Caraway before she was hired in 2016 by the Scottsdale Unified School District as its superintendent through June 2019.
The memo section on two of the Hunt & Caraway checks referred to “consulting” but the company failed to provide investigators any documents supporting the purposes of the checks.
But Birdwell’s time at SUSD was cut short, when she was given a $150,000 contract buyout in April 2018 after district officials alleged she failed to disclose a “substantial, personal interest” with Hunt & Caraway, which billed the Scottsdale District for nearly $2 million after Birdwell became its superintendent.
Birdwell is accused of not claiming the payments as income on her state income tax returns.
Court dates have not been announced for the four defendants who will stand trial in Maricopa County Superior Court.
After vigilant parents sounded the alarm about a consent form they were asked to sign electronically that would have asked their children highly personal questions, Scottsdale Unified School District leadership apologized.
The District’s leadership advised parents that they would not be asked to authorize the District to “complete an emotional health and wellness screening of my child and to collect personal information, medical history or medical information, mental health history or mental health information, and quality of home and interpersonal relationships, student biometric information, or illegal, antisocial or self-incriminating behavior critical appraisal of individuals within a close relationship and gun/ammunition ownership.
The District claims those issues were mentioned inadvertently in a portion of students’ annual verification packet:
On May 4, 2021, Scottsdale Unified School District’s (SUSD) administration recommended that the Governing Board approve the FastBridge program as a social emotional learning screener for students in Kindergarten through 12th grades. It was already being used as an academic screener for grades K through 3.
This social emotional screening program, which the Board voted to adopt, is used to evaluate students overall general behavior including but not limited to, social, academic and emotional behavior. Screening is typically completed within three minutes, with results available immediately to parents and staff. These findings enable our teachers, social worker and guidance counselor professionals to help identify students who may be in need of additional support and intervention programs and to make that support available as early as possible.
The screening tool is optional and one that parents have a choice to authorize for use with their children each school year.
Notwithstanding this, SUSD’s initial parent acknowledgment form incorrectly stated that the FastBridge screener might ask for personal information about income family matters, medical or family medical history, mental health history and other categories of private information.
To be clear, the FastBridge screener does not and has never sought this information. The waiver form that initially appeared in ParentVUE as part of the parents’ annual acknowledgment was a standard waiver form that had not yet been properly tailored to SUSD’s use. The form has since been amended to reflect the information that is actually collected. We apologize for this oversight and offer our services that SUSD does not support, endorse or collect any family personal information through FastBridge.
Leadership goes on to claim that Scottsdale parents “have stressed to us how important it is for schools to support their students social emotional learning.”
“Our sole goal in acquiring FastBridge,” wrote leadership, “is to be able to support the whole child and offer help to students sooner when we see that academic and behavioral issues in the classroom are limiting their opportunities to learn and grow.”
This “apology” raises too many questions and red flags. From the implication that a child’s social emotional well-being can be assessed in three minutes, to the claim that leadership is responding to parents’ pleas that the schools support their students’ social emotional learning, the missive misses the mark for any discerning reader.
Any educator who believes that they can assess a child in any meaningful way in three minutes is misguided at best and likely committing educational malpractice at worst.
The fact that our schools continue to cater to the fear-mongering teachers’ unions, thus strongly encouraging masks and vaccines for students K-8, clearly shows that they have put the students’ social and emotional well-being far down their list of priorities.
While the apology is appreciated by many parents, I fear that it will prompt them to drop their guard and not look carefully at the other consent forms they are asked to sign. There is also the danger that parents might assume that their children are not turning over this information in their classrooms at all when nothing could be further from the truth.
Parents need to be on guard at all times, and at all times they must assume that their children are products – the data they produce, the insights they give, the very supplies they prefer to bring to school are all of value to those who benefit – in one way or another – from the education industrial complex.
Shockwaves continue to ripple through Arizona’s beleaguered healthcare industry after Tuesday’s emailed announcement by Banner Health CEO Peter Fine that employees could lose their jobs if they fail to provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccination by Nov. 1.
Fine’s companywide email touted uncited “overwhelming evidence” and “vaccine data” which purportedly proves the “safety and efficacy” of the three current vaccines. Employees will have the option to undergo an unspecified “exemption request process,” in hopes of retaining their job without being vaccinated but the between-the-lines message to Banner Health employees is that terminations are possible for refusing to subject themselves to the risks of an emergency-use-only vaccine.
Banner Health is also putting up $100,000 to award 10 fully-vaccinated employees with $10,000 each in a companywide drawing this summer.
“We care for some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and we owe it to them to take every measure possible to ensure the safest care environment,” Fine wrote, adding that mandatory vaccinations will reduce risk “for our patients, their families, visitors and each other.”
The problem, according to many in the healthcare industry, is that Arizona is already experiencing a shortage of workers in a high demand market. An exodus of qualified workers to other hospital systems or into smaller healthcare companies could leave Banner Health without enough medical professionals to adequately serve its patients.
Studies show the majority of healthcare workers who have declined so far to be vaccinated for COVID-19 are under the age of 40. Many have expressed concern about the lack of data about long-term impacts on fertility and overall health.
In April, Gov. Doug Ducey issued an Executive Order banning proof of vaccinations, also known as vaccine passports, and preventing state and local governments from requiring anyone to disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status to receive service or enter a public area.
The Order, however, allowed health care institutions to require COVID-19 vaccination status documentation of a patient, resident, employee, or visitor.
Protecting all Arizonans from being coerced into obtaining a COVID-19 vaccination was a priority for Rep. Bret Roberts throughout the recent legislative session. Roberts (R-LD11) advocated strongly for passage of a state law to prevent government and private employers from interfering with anyone’s freedom of choice when it came to being vaccinated.
Eventually the language of Roberts’ bill was watered down to protect those doing business with government entities, as well as customers and clients of private employers. Employees of private companies -particularly those working in the healthcare industry- would have had no protection.
The bill never made it to Ducey’s, but the governor did sign legislation which ensures any person “may refuse a vaccination…based on the person’s personal beliefs” during a public health emergency.
Roberts spoke out Tuesday against Banner Health’s mandate, expressing concern about the unknown risks associated with the current COVID-19 vaccines.
“Force and coercion, in my opinion, are not routes that should be taken,” he said. “Adults should be able to weigh the risks involved and decide for themselves.”
One of those who opposed freedom of choice protections for employees of private companies was State Sen. T.J. Shope (R-LD8). Shope bragged earlier this month about protecting Arizonans -including legislative staffers- from government required proof of vaccinations, but refused to support the same protections for most employees across the state.
To date, Banner is the largest private employer in Arizona to announced forced vaccinations as a condition of new or continued employment. However, earlier this year the U.S. Chamber of Commerce provided tips to its members on how to persuade employees and customers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Vaccination is a personal decision, so it’s logical that when employers show a personal willingness to be vaccinated, they are more likely to increase the willingness of their employees—across all demographic groups – to follow their lead and get the shot,” according to the chamber’s website.
The website also provides guidance for employers on talking to employees about getting vaccinated and includes advice on conducting business-sponsored “get vaccinated” events.
Congressman Andy Biggs introduced last week the House companion legislation to Senator Rand Paul’s Travel Mask Mandate Repeal Act of 2021. The bill prohibits the imposition of mask mandates on public transportation.
The House version is currently cosponsored by Congressman Randy Weber (TX-14), Congressman Andrew Clyde (GA-09), Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-04), Congressman Bob Gibbs (OH-07), Congressman Chip Roy (TX-21), Congressman Louie Gohmert (TX-01), and Congressman Lance Gooden (TX-05).
“There is no scientific evidence for the continuation of mask mandates on public transportation. Bottom line, mask mandates are old news, and are only being kept in place by those who relish controlling our day-to-day lives. The viral spread is collapsing and our normal lives are returning. It’s time for the CDC to follow the science and end the tyrannical COVID-19 restrictions once and for all,” said Biggs in a press release.
“The federal government forcing the American people to continue to wear masks despite the fact that we’ve already reached herd immunity is ridiculous and needs to end immediately,” said Dr. Paul. “I am introducing the Travel Mask Mandate Repeal Act of 2021 to put a stop to this nanny state mandate of requiring masks on public transportation. In a free country people will evaluate their personal risk factors and are smart enough to ultimately make medical decisions like wearing a mask themselves.”
“It’s time to recognize the never-ending government mask requirements as the political theater they are. Americans are capable of making their own decisions; it’s time to choose freedom over fear,” said Roy.
“The mask mandate is just another overreach by the power-grabbing administration. Americans make calculated decisions about their health risks every day, and through our combined efforts, we’ve virtually reached herd immunity. Given the air-circulation technology utilized on most modern airplanes, not to mention the science that corroborates the effectiveness of these innovations, it’s about time that we return to pre-pandemic normalcy by removing this—sometimes arbitrary—restriction from the flying public,” argued Weber.
“CDC Director Walensky said last month that those who are fully vaccinated are fully protected from the variants of COVID-19, including the ‘delta’ variant,” said Gibbs. “The science has made clear how effective the vaccines are and we are reaching the point at which those choosing to remain unvaccinated have taken on that risk to themselves, not to anyone else. We cannot only ‘follow the science’ when it is politically convenient and ignore it, like we are now, when it no longer conforms to bureaucrats’ desire for power. Continuing to punish those who have been fully vaccinated makes as much sense as defunding the police after violent crime incidents have spiked. If the TSA and CDC won’t rescind this mandate, it’s time for Congress to act.”
“The American people have been battling COVID-19 for over a year, and our lives are finally starting to get back to normal. As our states and communities lift restrictions and remove mask mandates, the federal government should take a note from those states’ playbooks. I am joining Representative Andy Biggs in the fight against the unnecessary federal mask mandate that requires citizens to wear masks on public transportation,” stated Clyde.
“Time and again we see Democrats flouting the rules to go maskless when it suits them; they are so desperate to maintain nanny state conditions that hypocrisy and fear tactics are all they have left to exercise control over the masses,” said Gooden. “Whether it’s masking or vaxxing, every American should be able to make their own choices without government interference.”
For the second time this year, Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt have authored a “friend-of-the-court” brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a challenge to the constitutionally of a New York state law which severely restricts who can obtain a concealed carry permit.
On Tuesday, Brnovich, Schmitt, and the attorneys general of 24 other states joined in urging the justices to declare New York’s subjective-issue firearm license process as unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. The case is New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Corlett.
Forty-two states, including Arizona, have objective-issue systems where a concealed carry permit is issued to an individual who meets a certain set of objective criteria such as a background check, a mental health records review, fingerprinting, knowledge of applicable laws, and firearms training.
However, New Yorkers who want a concealed carry permit must demonstrate to a state worker some type of “special need” for self-protection outside their home that is greater than the average citizen. In effect, the law serves as a de facto ban on most New Yorkers who want to exercise their right to protect themselves when away from home.
The 26 signors of the brief believe they have “a unique perspective that should aid the Court in weighing the value and importance of the rights implicated by the questions presented.” In particular, they cite empirical evidence that legal concealed carry holders are significantly less likely than the general public to commit a crime.
In addition, a 2013 National Research Council study is cited, showing that crime victims who resist with a gun are less likely to suffer serious injury than victims who resist in other ways or who offer no resistance at all.
“Those who obtain firearms-carry permits are, and remain, overwhelmingly more law-abiding than the general population. That conclusion makes perfect sense, as permit holders must typically pass background and other checks prior to being issued a license under state regimes,” the brief argues.
Brnovich issued a statement after the brief was filed Tuesday.
“Law-abiding citizens should not require the consent of faceless bureaucrats to exercise their right to keep and bear arms. New York cannot override the Second Amendment or the natural right of self-preservation,” Brnovich said, adding he will continue to vigorously protect the constitutional rights of all Americans.
According to the attorney general’s office, Arizona implemented a licensed concealed carry regime in 1994. That year, the state experienced 10.5 murders per 100,000 people compared to the nationwide rate of 9 murders per 100,000.
Then in 2010, Arizona implemented a right-to-carry for all law-abiding citizens, even without a license. By 2016, Arizona’s murder rate was 5.5 per 100,000, even though more guns were being lawfully carried in the state.
Joining Arizona and Missouri are the state attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The July 20 brief follows one filed in February in which the 26 attorneys general argued why the U.S. Supreme Court should take up the case. The Justices announced in April that they will take up the case in its next term which starts Oct. 4, 2021.
The New York case, however, is not the only Second Amendment challenge Brnovich’s office has been involved with this year.
In April, he co-authored an amicus brief signed by nearly the attorneys general from nearly two dozen states urging the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the Second Amendment by declaring California’s law limiting magazine capacities as unconstitutional.
Then in May, Brnovich led another multi-state coalition in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a New Jersey law which limits magazine capacities and requires gun owners to surrender to law enforcement certain magazines which are legal in 43 other states.
And last month, Brnovich led a coalition of 22 states in writing a brief to the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in an effort to strike down a three-decade-old California law that bans popular rifles, even when kept in the home for self-defense.
