By Tiffany Benson |
Depravity abounds in Arizona’s public education system. From Buckeye, to Phoenix, to Tucson—and many school districts in between—the Valley is infested with radical board members, sleazy administrators, and predatory educators. All of these are working overtime to usurp parental rights and corrupt the next generation.
When creating the following list, I took into consideration cases of child sexual exploitation, race- and gender-based curricula, dangerous bathroom policies and failing test scores. Readers are cautioned against ranking these districts from “worst” to “best.” The list is purely based on the volume and severity of complaints I’ve personally investigated—seven is a very modest number!
Without further ado, here is my top seven list of Arizona’s worst school districts:
1. Mesa Public Schools. In 2015, MPS adopted a secret transgender support plan to aid in the social and sexual transition of minor students without parental knowledge. Shout out to Board Member Rachel Walden for exposing the plan. In the summer of 2023, a majority of the board, led by President Marcie Hutchinson, approved contracts for an unvetted suicide prevention program as well as Brain Solutions—a network of psychiatric clinics that appear to have no medical physicians on staff. In an alleged attempt to bypass public discussion, Hutchinson violated Open Meeting Law 7.7.5 by arranging both contracts under the Consent Agenda. Parents are in danger of losing their children to the LGBTQ+ agenda that’s overtaking this district.
2. Washington Elementary School District. In an unprecedented display of bigotry and lawlessness, WESD board members voted 5-0 to terminate student-teacher contracts with Arizona Christian University (ACU). Despite an 11-year, incident-free partnership with the college, Board Member Tamillia Valenzuela—a cat ear-wearing individual who spurns the Pledge of Allegiance—motioned to cancel ACU due to the organization’s stance on traditional marriage. Valenzuela and her vile counterpart, Board Member Nikkie Whaley, also spontaneously erupt into racist rants against their colleagues, including the night Whaley was unseated from the presidency. While the fully reinstated student-teacher contracts offer a degree of hope, past and present board members have resolved to highlight and celebrate alternative sexualities in prepubescent children. Therefore, WESD remains an unsafe and morally corrupt district.
3. Tucson Unified School District. TUSD is an unforgivable case of sexual perversion and abuse that should send every loving parent over the edge. Notwithstanding one Tucson Magnet High School (TMHS) counselor who organized the first student-led drag show on campus—and was later arrested for sexually assaulting a minor—Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo sought legal advice from Michael Areinoff to host a second event in April 2023. Another counselor and drag show organizer, “Sunday” Hamilton, serves as the point of contact for TMHS’s Q Space club. Board President Ravi Shah, who referred to drag shows as “art,” bragged about attending with his minor children and encouraged community support in the exploitation of gender confused students. Meanwhile, TUSD students are testing below 40% proficiency in math and reading across all grade levels.
4. Catalina Foothills School District. Sadly, this entire board of education, led by President Eileen Jackson, continually proves to be anti-parent, anti-student safety, and anti-common sense. In matters of sex and gender, CFSD has side-stepped parental rights at least since 2021, and in March 2023, Jackson banned all bathroom policy discussions from future agendas. One month later, several concerned CFSD citizens were locked out of the board meeting as radical activists occupied at half capacity to protest the permanent, binary reality of human sexuality. CFSD educators also feel at liberty to bypass parental consent and privately discuss gender ideologies with minor students. Shout out to the Center for Excellence in Public Schools for standing firm amid the onslaught of debauchery in this district.
5. Scottsdale Unified School District. SUSD is a never-ending nightmare of agenda-driven, moral violations. From covert gender-identity student clubs to hidden pronoun surveys, students are constantly bombarded with perversion and secular humanism. Superintendent Scott Menzel—who infamously called white people “problematic”—is the mastermind behind the leftist ideologies and corruption that appear as a recurring theme on the Scottsdale Unites media page. Board President Julie Cieniawski and Board Member Libby Hart-Wells are known to display a lack of decorum as they bully, interrupt, and chastise their colleagues…and anyone else they can’t control. What a shame that Scottsdale’s next generation is being raised by wolves.
6. Chandler Unified School District. During the CUSD board meeting on July 12, 2023, the CFO’s report revealed a steady decline of student enrollments, prompting Board Member Kurt Rohrs to ask:“Why don’t parents want to send their kids to our schools?” The superintendent astutely pointed to parental choice while Board President Jason Olive—in an apparent case of narcissism and willful ignorance—stated: “It sounds like there’s a lot of parents who just don’t know any better…” Perhaps Olive slept through CUSD employees encouraging minors to attend gender utopia workshops, and the district’s alleged cover up of a teacher who reportedly sexually assaulted multiple students. Of course, only the best school district promotes immorality and graduates half its students without basic math and reading skills.
7. Peoria Unified School District. This anti-parental rights district is the epitome of corruption and subversion. Since my last op-ed, interim Superintendent Kevin Molino is now overseeing plans for a third bathroom—an open concept, transgender-friendly facility that offers biological females no protection. Rather than announce the plan, Molino is conducting private meetings with select parents, administrators, and constituents (my meeting with him was a waste of time). Molino acts as if he’s listening but assures community members there’s “nothing he can do” to help during his short-term appointment. Well, at least he’s not lying. Meanwhile, the biological boy—with unrestricted access to female spaces on campus—allegedly assaulted a fellow student. Most parents also don’t know that Chief Student Service Officer Jason Nuttall is researching how to effectively profile children and report data to the federal government via MTSS (“multi-tiered system of support”).
Honorable mention: One-n-ten. While this technically isn’t a school district (yet), One-n-ten is the parent organization of the “Queer Blended Learning Center” in Phoenix. With a mission to “provide LGBTQ and Straight Allied Youth a welcoming and safe space to earn their high school diploma,” QBLC now accepts ESA vouchers to cover tuition for gender-confused middle school students. When One-n-ten hosted sex and gender spring break activities this year, teachers and counselors in Chandler Unified School District gladly made recommendations. At best this is moral kidnapping, at worst our tax dollars are financing the emotional, mental, and sexual exploitation of minors.
Whether readers agree or disagree with my picks on this list, it’s obvious that district representatives and government employees are coming after our children. As long as parents and fearful teachers remain ignorant and silent, mayhem and perversion will increase its presence and influence across the Valley. It’s time to wake up, pay attention, show up, and speak at board meetings. Don’t stop asking questions. Never go silent. Confront the perpetrators and issues that threaten your child’s safety and well-being on school grounds.
Finally, where alternative and private education options exist, every parent is without excuse for not exploring them to the fullest extent.
For nearly two decades, Tiffany Benson’s creative writing pursuits have surpassed all other interests. When she’s not investigating the Kennedy assassination and other conspiracy theories, she enjoys journaling and contributing to her blog Bigviewsmallwindow.com. Join her and other engaged citizens at WestValleyParentsUniting.com.