A former superintendent secretary with Yuma County’s Hyder Elementary School District, Nubia Gonzalez, has been indicted for Theft, Misuse of Public Monies, and Forgery. The indictment comes eight weeks after her arrest in Scottsdale in connection with an elaborate fraud scheme against the Cocopah Middle School Association of Parents and Teachers (APT).
A press release from the Arizona Auditor General revealed that Gonzalez has been indicted on allegations that in December 2020 she “embezzled $2,486 when, 3 months after she was terminated, an illicit District check in that amount was deposited in her business checking account.”
As reported by Fox10, court documents revealed that the Yuma County case “is currently with the AZ Attorney General’s Office,” however, Attorney General Kris Mayes’ Office replied to reports that the AG “cannot comment on this matter at this time.”
On July 3rd, Scottsdale Police received a report of suspected fraud from the president of the Cocopah Middle School APT. After returning from travel outside the U.S., the president had found the organization’s savings account emptied.
Per Fox10, court documents showed, “After she saw this, [the APT president] reached out to the former treasurer to ask her about the zeroed out accounts.” The documents noted also, “[the former treasurer] stated that she had no idea what had happened.”
The two APT officials reached out to the organization’s bank investigators. They discovered that the entire balance of the organization’s accounts had been wiped out in a series of withdrawals from their savings and checking accounts, linked to Gonzalez.
Police reported in the court documents that, “The total combined loss between both accounts was $36,512.09. Banking documents were obtained directly from Wells Fargo personnel, which showed Nubia Gonzalez signing each withdrawal slip.”
According to AZFamily, the group’s president said that Gonzalez was elected as treasurer in April and was given control and signing authority over the group’s accounts at Wells Fargo bank. Only the two of them had access. The authorities said, “It became readily apparent” that the suspect “immediately withdrew the money,” once the president had left. On the same day, Gonzalez reportedly deposited $22,300 into her personal checking account which she subsequently used to pay her own bills including “credit cards and other various accounts.”
The court documents described that Gonzalez allegedly told the president she was moving the group’s funds to a higher-yield interest bearing account, however, none was created per the bank. She reportedly sent doctored screenshots and forged documents supporting this claim.
The authorities wrote, “This was a well-thought out fraud scene, which involved counterfeit and forged banking documents.”
The board members promptly voted to remove Gonzalez from her position as treasurer. She later turned herself in following media reports of the allegations and has been charged with theft, fraudulent schemes, and forgery. Funds totaling $14,212.09 are still unaccounted for according to Scottsdale Police.
Per 12News, Gonzalez is being held on a $40,000 bond in Scottsdale and a $30,000 bond in Yuma County.
In a statement to Fox10 the Cocopah Middle School APT wrote:
“The Cocopah APT would like to express our appreciation to the community at large for all the support shown to us. We are moving forward stronger and more united than ever.
We have added additional security measures and will continue to educate and inform other school parent organizations to learn from this incident and adapt their processes as well. Unfortunately at this time, it does not appear the money will be recovered. We are working hard to raise needed funds for our school and students during our current fundraising campaign for this school year.
This investigation is in the very capable hands of Maricopa County and we thank them as well as the Scottsdale PD for their diligent work in this matter.”
The Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) Governing Board approved a bonus of nearly $16,000 to its superintendent during an August board meeting, despite lower test scores. And during last week’s meeting, it approved another performance pay plan for the 2024-2025 school year.
Superintendent Scott Menzel will receive a bonus of over $15,700, despite not achieving any of the academic achievement goals for the 2023-2024 school year. Menzel has a base salary of $225,000, a $16,000 stipend, and opportunity for a 20 percent bonus (around $43,200).
That full 20 percent bonus hinged on accomplishing the 11 key performance indicators the board set for the 2023-2024 school year. Menzel accomplished five of the 11 goals, none of which were academic: increased attendance rate to 92.5 percent or better, increased percent of students participating in extracurricular and cocurricular activities by four percent; increased certified staff retention; established a baseline for work-based learning opportunities and hours completed using Major Clarity; and produced decision-making matrix and at least one proposal for action by June 30.
The academic-based performance pay goals that Menzel didn’t meet concerned increasing scores for third-grade English-Language Arts (ELA) students to 68 percent passing, eighth-grade math students to 53 percent passing, and ninth-grade science students to 41 percent passing. During the 2023-2024 school year, only 60 percent of third-grade ELA students passed, 46 percent of eighth-grade math students passed, and 34 percent of ninth-grade science students passed.
The governing board was divided over the new performance pay plan. Board President Libby Hart-Wells and members Zach Lindsay and Julie Cieniawski voted in favor, while members Amy Carney and Carine Werner abstained.
During the meeting, Carney questioned why there was no board discussion prior to Menzel’s proposed performance plan pay raise being included as an action item on last week’s agenda.
“Last [year] we had a lengthy discussion [and] came to a collaborative result, and then we had an action item later,” said Carney.
Hart-Wells didn’t deny that the procedure for proposing a superintendent pay raise plan had changed from last year, but said that Carney and other members were free to discuss the action item and propose changes.
“It has always been the case that the superintendent has drafted the goals based on the information provided by the board and the goals that were set related to the key performance indicators for the district, then that comes forward to the governing board for review,” said Menzel.
During that same meeting last week, the board’s budget presentation revealed that SUSD spending on classrooms and teachers would hit a historical low again for the 2024-2025 school year: 54 percent versus nearly 64 percent exactly 20 years ago per the auditor general. That is one percent away from the lowest fiscal year: 53 percent in 2017.
As the parent watchdog group Scottsdale Unites For Education Integrity said in a recent press release, “This 9.2 percent decrease means that, out of a $438 million budget, over $40 million has been redirected away from supporting students’ academic achievement.”
Correction: A previous version of this story said thatMenzel’s bonus was approved last week. It was approved in August while the performance pay plan was approved last week. The story has been corrected.
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Arizona voters in the state’s largest county will have the opportunity to hear from candidates for school board positions ahead of the November General Election.
Late last month, Maricopa County School Superintendent Steve Watson released a number of statements from candidates for 58 school board districts across his county.
143 candidate statements were published.
In a statement accompanying the release of comments, Watson said, “In every election we publish information about school board candidates, using their own words, because we’re committed to transparency and encouraging community engagement in our elections. School board races are not always the most high-profile, but they are still extremely important to the future of our neighborhoods and communities.”
There are 278 current Governing Board members, 235 Governing Board candidates seeking election, 177 Governing Board seats available this year, and 215 candidates appearing on the November ballot.
According to the press release issued by Watson’s office, “Of 235 candidates seeking a school board seat, 72 will automatically win a seat because only one candidate qualified for the ballot.”
Watson added, “Our largest districts have a lot of competition for these positions, while some of the smaller ones have less. It can be frustrating for voters to be told they can’t vote in a race because there was only one candidate running for the position.”
There were 81 elections canceled due to lack of competition, and 72 candidates appointed due to lack of competition.
Additionally, there are 20 write-in candidates, and nine seats with no candidates.
There are more than 750,000 students in Maricopa County.
Voters can access the statements from candidates here.
Early voting for the November General Election has already commenced in Arizona with more widespread ballot casting expected in the coming days.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The brutal stabbing of 19-year-old Mara Daffron by fellow ASU Student Kaci Lenise-Charlie Sloan on September 19th raised questions about censorship and even possibly a coverup after the story languished for eight days before being reported on by the establishment media. According to ASU professor Dr. Owen Anderson, writing on his Substack, “Last week there was a stabbing at ASU West. Have you seen any news about it?” He observed, “It is very hard to find. It took the Dean of the campus 5 days to send out an email about it. Why the cover up? I have some knowledge of what happened and I can take an educated guess.” He promised readers, “I’m going to stay on this for you.”
By the time Anderson had written, the first mentions of the story (notably by AZFamily) were less than a day old and the story had very little traction. In the initial breaking story, AZ Family reported that Sloan had carried out a premeditated attack against Daffron, having decided the night before to go through with it believing that hurting someone would make her problems “go away.” She told police during an interview that she chose between Daffron and another student she identified as “a veteran,” deciding on the young woman because she was “an easier target.”
By September 27th the story was international, and the heroic intervention of another student, Navy Veteran Matthew McCormick, who fought off Sloan and prevented further injury to Daffron, came to light. As reported by the Daily Mail, McCormick told reporters, “As she was going for a third attack, I was able to grab her wrists and apprehend her before further damage could be done.”
“I just did what needed to be done and I think everybody has the capacity to be able to do that,” McCormick told 12News.
He added, “It was a great job by everybody that was in that room; by the EMTs, the paramedics and police. Everybody responded really, really well. 9-1-1 calls were pretty instantaneous and everybody seemed pretty locked in and knew what to do.”
Sloan was arrested and ASU Police recovered the 12-inch blade she repeatedly stabbed Daffron with.
Daffron, recovering at Banner Thunderbird Hospital in Phoenix, told AZ Family, “I’m just scared because I don’t know why the f**k she would stab me.”
Sloan’s ultimate motive remains unclear. Court documents uncovered by 12News revealed that Sloan, “admitted she came to class to hurt somebody and was planning the attack since the night prior,” the documents say. “This planning included placing the knife used in the attack in her backpack to bring to school. The defendant told detectives she knew the victim’s first name but did not know anything else about her. She knew the victim from a prior class and shared a class with her this semester.”
Dr. Anderson noted in an update, “There is national and international coverage now of the stabbing at ASU. I’m still looking for news from ASU itself.” He also offered to begin instruction in jiu jitsu on campus to help students defend themselves in future attacks.
In another post, he theorized that anti-white hatred could be responsible for the attack:
“Any time there is violence and attempted murder on a university campus we expect to see it covered in the news. It is an important way for parents and students to know if a university is a safe place to attend.
But what if universities aren’t safe places to attend? What if students are taught by their humanities professors to hate each other? ASU has required employee training that teaches about the problem of ‘whiteness.’ Why is ASU requiring employees to learn that?”
An ASU spokesperson told Fox News in a statement, “ASU Police continue to investigate a Sept. 19 on-campus stabbing of a student. Kaci Sloan was immediately detained and arrested on suspicion of first-degree attempted murder; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; interfering with an educational institution; and disorderly conduct. She is being held on a $250,000 cash only bond. ASU and the entire ASU West Valley community are deeply saddened by what happened. ASU West Valley is a close-knit campus of students, faculty and staff. Counseling support is available to all.”
A late-September voter registration drive at Arizona State University (ASU) was a resounding success last week, just five days after a tragic stabbing rocked the ASU West Campus in Glendale. At ASU’s Memorial Union the “Greeks for Trump” voter registration drive, which featured Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk and Republican Senate nominee Kari Lake, saw campaign staffers handing out ‘MAGA’ hats, t-shirts, and hot chicken from Raising Cane’s according to the State Press.
Posting to X on the day of the event, Kirk wrote, “Today we hosted a Voter Registration event at ASU with another MASSIVE turnout. Thousands of students showed up and HUNDREDS of new Gen Z voters got registered. The campus energy this year is unreal. This is how we win.”
Today we hosted a Voter Registration event at ASU with another MASSIVE turnout.
Thousands of students showed up and HUNDREDS of new Gen Z voters got registered.
Speaking with the outlet, Lake told reporters, “We’re going to get you registered to vote. We’re going to save our country, and we’re going to Make America Great Again.”
Approximately 100 people were at the event at any given time with students coming and going throughout. College Republicans at ASU shared video of Lake tossing hats to the crowd of attendees.
Kirk later shared the reactions of detractors to the event in a post on X:
“Campus leftists at ASU were very confused when they saw the sea of students that came out to our voter registration event today wearing MAGA hats:
‘I was very disturbed seeing all the MAGA hats everywhere today…confused why there were so many…’
‘Made my stomach turn a lil tbh’
‘I’m scared’
We’re barnstorming the country visiting 22 campuses this fall, registering hundreds of Gen Z voters at every stop. I’d be scared if I was them too. And we’re only getting stronger.”
This is too good not to share. Campus leftists at ASU were very confused when they saw the sea of students that came out to our voter registration event today wearing MAGA hats:
However, according to Turning Point Action volunteer Ruby Halperinn, not everyone at the event was having fun. She reported via X, “As I was registering voters today at ASU, a radical leftist threw their whole beverage on me and ran away. THIS IS THE LEFT. They know we are winning this election and it scares them.”
As I was registering voters today at ASU, a radical leftist threw their whole beverage on me and ran away.
THIS IS THE LEFT.
They know we are winning this election and it scares them.
Lake responded to Halperinn with encouragement saying, “They know that thousands of kids at every university are registering Republican. They know that they are losing the young vote because young Americans know their future is on the line and it’s the America First Republican party that wants to make their future great again.”
Turning Point USA’s Morgonn McMichael described the crowd at the Memorial Union as being “HUNDREDS of students.”
Afonso Machado, a freshman volunteer and Political Science student, told the State Press, “We need you to register to vote, we need you to engage so we can show America that this conservative movement is growing.”
The effort continued well after the initial event last Wednesday with Nick Moore posting on Sunday that the Sigma Nu fraternity had dozens of members register at a Tempe event with Lake. He wrote, “Dozens more fraternity members registered to vote tonight in Tempe, Arizona. Thank you Sigma Nu for having @KariLake for a tour of the Greek Leadership Village at ASU and the opportunity cast her vision for your future. Vote Kari Lake for U.S. Senate on November 5th!”
Dozens more fraternity members registered to vote tonight in Tempe, Arizona.
Thank you Sigma Nu for having @KariLake for a tour of the Greek Leadership Village at ASU and the opportunity cast her vision for your future.
The most recent registered voter statistics from the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office showed Republicans leading Democrats in registered voters by 259,270 and Independents by 59,668.
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne issued a statement of support for a lawsuit challenging Attorney General Kris Mayes’ restrictions on the state’s school choice program.
Horne said that he maintains concerns that Mayes will demand the return of Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) funds from families based on her interpretation of the laws governing allowable expenses.
In July, Mayes advised the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) that, per her interpretation of the law, parents should no longer be reimbursed for supplementary educational materials not expressly outlined in curriculum.
Though Mayes acknowledged that the statute on which she based her interpretation didn’t offer a definition of “supplemental materials,” she argued in her letter to Associate Superintendent John Ward that the State Board of Education’s definition of the term should apply: “relevant materials directly related to the course of study for which they are being used that introduce content and instructional strategies or that enhance, complement, enrich, extend or support the curriculum.”
Mayes’ application of this definition requires explicit mention of all supplies required within a curriculum: even things like pencils and erasers. The ADE handbook doesn’t require documentation of items “generally known to be educational” in their purpose, such as pencils and erasers.
The attorney general directed Ward to provide documentation of total supplementary material expenditure from 2019 to present, as well as funds spent on curriculum materials without curriculum documentation and approved textbooks lacking proof of requirement by a qualified school or eligible postsecondary institution.
In response to Mayes’ directive, the Goldwater Institute sued on behalf of ESA mothers Velia Aguirre and Rosemary McAtee. The two mothers homeschool their children: Aguirre homeschools all three of her children, while McAtee homeschools seven of her nine children.
In their argument, the Goldwater Institute argued that Mayes’ directive was not only in violation of the law, it was a jeopardy to the existing backlog of tens of thousands of purchase orders — an issue that would inherently impact the education of many children relying on those ESA funds.
The Goldwater Institute also pointed out in a press release that not even public and private school curriculums necessarily list supplementary items such as pencils and erasers.
In a statement, Horne expressed hope that the Goldwater Institute would prevail in its lawsuit.
“The Department of Education concedes the argument of the Goldwater Institute. When this issue first arose in July, my concern was that the Attorney General could force Empowerment Scholarship Account holders to return funds if they did not comply with her office’s interpretation of the law. This lawsuit will settle the issue in court and my sincere hope is that the arguments made by Goldwater will prevail.”
Horne had issued an anticipatory show of support for a hypothetical lawsuit from the Goldwater Institute in a response on the ADE page for ESAs immediately following Mayes’ letter. Horne clarified that a prior court decision bound ADE from having the standing to file lawsuits.
The superintendent said that he doesn’t agree with Mayes’ interpretation that supplementary materials are required to be tied to curriculum. However, Horne said that Mayes’ directive was one his department advised him that he couldn’t challenge and win.
As of Monday, over 78,600 students were enrolled in the ESA Program.
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