Several Northern Arizona University (NAU) students were captured on film targeting a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) table with vandalization, theft, and threats of violence.
These incidents occurred in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the organization’s founder and former CEO. Kirk was assassinated last month during an open-air debate event at Utah Valley University.
Frontlines, the public awareness and news group associated with TPUSA, published footage of the incidents. The footage came from the field representative that advises the NAU chapter, Susie Sullivan.
In one video, a student pushed all the merchandise off the TPUSA chapter’s table before stealing a sign. In another video, a different student handed the table volunteers a note with a drawn depiction of Kirk’s assassination and an implied threat that those who share Kirk’s beliefs — or, Christians, which the individual characterized as “Nazis” — deserve death.
“A good Nazi is a dead one,” said the note. “Free speech!”
WATCH: As the Northern Arizona University @tpusastudents chapter conducted a tabling on campus, a student walked and swiped their merchandise off the table and onto the ground before stealing their sign. @TPUSA
The wife of NAU President Joe Luis Cruz Rivera and professor at NAU’s honors college, Rima Brusi, called Kirk (alluded to as “person X”) “morally repugnant” and “a bad person” following his assassination and preceding his memorial service in Phoenix, while acknowledging that his murder was “morally wrong” in a Facebook post:
“I’m honestly perplexed (not surprised but perplexed) at how many don’t seem to get this bit of logic but for what it’s worth, here it goes: 1) Murdering (including murdering person X) is wrong and 2) person X was demonstrably and consistently a bad person—these two statements are NOT mutually exclusive and almost any human brain should be able to handle both at the same time. Saying that ‘those who say X was a bad person who did damage are celebrating his murder’ is propaganda, not a logical conclusion — except when ‘those’ are truly ‘rejoicing’ (not just pointing out basic facts showing that X was a bad human, or reminding us of facts such as ‘the murder of W and Z went unacknowledged’). Anyway — perhaps those intent in erasing history from our classrooms would be open to the idea of adding ‘intro to philosophy: logic’ to the the curriculum. As ‘objective’ (and classic) a subject as they come. Don’t obey in advance. Buy and protect books for later sharing. Take screenshots of news in case they ‘disappear’. Download the contents of science databases. Support your librarian. Make truth and fact-checking as habitual and natural as teeth-brushing and food. Because truth IS nourishment, its protection is healthy, and its friends (science, research, literature, and why not – Wikipedia!) are our friends. Truth and fact-checking are the new and real herd immunity.”
TPUSA has reported over 62,000 new chapter requests from high school and college students since Kirk’s assassination. There are around 27,000 high schools and around 4,000 degree-granting postsecondary institutions, according to data from the National Center for Educational Statistics.
In other words: the amount of requests received to establish TPUSA chapters, if all nonduplicative and approved, would cover every single high school and postsecondary institution in the nation.
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State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne is sounding the alarm over what he describes as “catastrophic” levels of chronic absenteeism among Arizona high school students, citing a new report from the Helios Foundation. The Helios report defines chronic absenteeism as missing nine days in a semester or 18 days in a school year. According to the findings, 28.1 percent of Arizona students in grades 1–8 are chronically absent. That number climbs to 37 percent among high school students.
“This is catastrophic. We cannot teach students who are not in school,” Horne said. “The high school student who misses more than one third of his classes is facing a bleak future.”
Horne highlighted the Dysart Unified School District in the Phoenix area as a standout example of combating the problem. Dysart has significantly lower absenteeism rates—9 percent in grades 1–8 and 8.69 percent in grades 9–12—compared to state averages.
According to Horne, Dysart enforces strict accountability measures: students in grades 1–8 who miss 18 days in a year must repeat the grade, while high school students who miss more than nine days in a semester cannot receive credit for their courses.
“They got there because they held students and parents accountable,” Horne said. “The Dysart method is successful and makes sense. It is what schools mostly did in the past before our culture got so much more permissive. Academic loss is the price we have paid for that permissiveness.”
Horne also pointed to the role of parents in ensuring daily attendance. He said the pandemic shifted some attitudes, with parents viewing absences as less serious than before. He argued that once parents understand the direct link between absenteeism and on-time graduation, they become more engaged.
“As a former member of a school board for 24 years, I can testify that it is very important to parents that their children graduate on time,” Horne said. “The data show the Dysart method is the most effective way to reduce chronic absenteeism.”
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Over 1,500 individuals want the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) to remove one of its board members for criticizing an overweight health official.
Board member and state senator Carine Werner made the comments during a presentation by Nutritional Services Director Patti Bilbrey at a board meeting last month. It appears Werner intended to make the comments to herself, but her remarks were caught on a hot mic. Werner was attending the meeting remotely.
“This is what I have to listen to,” said Werner. “She’s in nutrition services and she’s like morbidly obese.”
Werner also uttered the comment “chub” amid some indiscernible audio.
General Mills Foodservice has recognized Bilbrey as the only “trayblazer” in Arizona — one of around 40 nationwide — for her innovative approaches to feeding students.
A coalition of mainly progressive parents and community members say Werner, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, had committed fat-shaming in conflict with board policy. Werner has previously caught the ire of this coalition of parents for pushing to rid SUSD of books advancing DEI and LGBTQ+ ideologies.
An organization, Swing Left, organized a protest to demand Werner’s resignation during the September 9 board meeting. Around 50 individuals showed. Werner was absent, as was board president Donna Lewis.
Public comment focused on Werner’s remarks from last month’s meeting.
Shea Najafi, an SUSD parent and progressive activist organizer who founded Scottsdale Women Rising, has led efforts to recall Werner. Najafi is gathering signatures to hold a recall campaign, which would require around 4,000 signatures.
“It was deplorable. We couldn’t believe she called a beloved district employee ‘Chubs’ during a presentation in which she was speaking about how we can feed kids during the summer,” said Najafi.
Najafi and others seeking Werner’s recall plan to attend the October 7 meeting with TV crews in tow.
“You’re f****d, Werner,” wrote Najafi in a Facebook post.
SUSD governing board vice president Mike Sharkey, who Najafi and other progressives support, disclosed that he asked legal counsel whether Werner could be censured over the remarks. According to Sharkey, counsel advised the board couldn’t act in that manner.
Sharkey then read aloud a pre-written statement to the protesters.
“I do not condone the conduct of the board member given what I heard at the board meeting on August. 5. I know what I heard, but only the speaker can know why she said what she said,” said Sharkey during the September 9 meeting. “This behavior does not reflect the board member ethics as adopted in policy nor is it representative of SUSD’s core values.”
Yet, Sharkey later admitted in a statement to The Progress that he didn’t hear what Werner said at first. It was only after he reportedly received an email containing Werner’s remarks that he understood what had been said.
“I heard crosstalk at the original August 5 meeting but didn’t comprehend what was said,” said Sharkey.
Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity stated that an AI analysis of the board meeting audio compared to prior board meetings indicated the audio had been enhanced to make Werner’s comments audible. Those who attended the meeting in person reported not hearing Werner’s commentary.
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The Autism Academy for Education and Development (AAED), Arizona’s first fully accredited autism-only K-12+ private day school, has officially expanded its reach with the opening of a new campus in North Phoenix. The school marked the occasion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by families, community leaders, and representatives from the Phoenix Mayor’s Office. Academy Founder and Director, Laura Newcomb, also recognized Arizona attorney and Attorney General candidate Rodney Glassman for his support and advocacy on behalf of families with children on the autism spectrum.
Founded in 2013, AAED now operates six in-person campuses across the Phoenix and Tucson areas, along with a virtual academy. The organization serves students across the autism spectrum through individualized education and therapy services designed to foster both academic and social growth.
The new North Phoenix campus has been purpose-built with features tailored to students’ needs. These include:
Multi-sensory classrooms
Small group instruction and low student-to-teacher ratios
Individualized education plans (IEPs)
Integrated speech and occupational therapy with oversight from Board-Certified Behavior Analysts
Beyond academics, the facility also offers sensory rooms, outdoor learning areas, and collaborative spaces designed to help students develop life skills such as communication, independence, and decision-making.
“Bringing our proven, individualized approach to autism education to North Phoenix allows us to reach more families and students who deserve access to specialized services close to home,” Newcomb said. “We designed this campus to foster independence, social growth, and academic achievement in every student.”
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
A dispute over public records has emerged between state lawmakers and the Tolleson Union High School District, after the district declined to provide financial transaction records requested by the Legislature.
The conflict began after a July 21 Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) hearing on school district finances. Committee Co-Chairman Rep. Matt Gress (R–LD4) followed up with a formal request on August 26 seeking two years of financial records, including purchase orders, contracts, and payments to vendors.
Instead of complying, the district responded by refusing to release electronic records and imposing more than $26,000 in fees for hard copies—charges Gress argues are intended to deter requests. State law allows agencies to charge for the actual cost of copying or mailing records, but not for producing electronic files.
The Tolleson Union High School District wants to charge me $26,000 to access basic financial records as a way to discourage such requests.
In a September 17 letter, Gress accused the district of setting “a dangerous and unacceptable precedent” by blocking access to basic financial information. He described the district’s stance as unprecedented, saying that other Arizona school districts have provided similar data without incident.
“Exporting purchase orders from financial software is simple, and other districts have complied quickly,” Gress said. “This refusal denies lawmakers the basic financial information needed to evaluate reforms and ensure tax dollars are spent responsibly.”
The lawmaker also raised concerns about the district’s reported consultation with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Gress noted that Attorney General Kris Mayes has previously provided records to the Legislature when her own office was under review. “It would be deeply troubling,” he said, if the Attorney General advised a district to withhold documents from legislative oversight.
In correspondence with the district, Gress emphasized that Arizona law (A.R.S. § 39-121 et seq.) grants the public the right to inspect government records and restricts fees to copying or mailing costs. He criticized the district’s explanation that the charges were meant to compensate staff time and discourage what it called “unreasonable” requests.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Superintendent Tom Horne and Treasurer Kimberly Yee are at odds over a sizeable loan to a school district.
Horne wants Yee to approve a $3 million cash advance to Nadaburg Unified School District (NUSD), located inside Wittman. He stated in a Monday press release that Yee failed to conduct a proper review of the district’s finances before denying the advance.
The superintendent cleared up previous reports of a projected deficit as a “clerical error.” Horne called Yee’s denial “irresponsible” and urged her to reconsider.
“Our Finance Division did its research and determined that Nadaburg is operating within its budget, and by the end of the year they will have a projected positive cash balance of $1.3 million. Initially it was thought that they would have a negative cash balance at the end of the year, but the Department of Education, being a service institution, checked the forms and found the district made an unintentional clerical error that they can correct,” said Horne. “The Treasurer could have done the same review because she has the necessary forms, which were provided to her by our office, and her office failed to follow up with us to determine why we approved the advance.”
Yee not only denied the district a $3 million cash advance to address a $5 million deficit, she asked the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to direct a special investigation of the district through the Auditor General. The reported deficit amounted to three times the total amount of revenue NUSD anticipates from property taxes.
Yee’s announcement came last week, several days before Horne issued his response.
The treasurer expressed concern that Horne and the Arizona Department of Education had approved an advance to a district “in considerable financial crisis.” Although Horne alleges Yee failed to conduct a proper review of NUSD finances, Yee claimed in that preceding press release that she identified poor financial practices.
“The state’s top education agency should have been able to identify, as the Arizona Treasury has, that this District may desperately need financial experts to bring their books into the black,” said Yee.
In the denial letter to NUSD Superintendent Aspasia Angelou, Yee said the district failed to justify the necessity of the expenses the advance would cover and failed to show efforts to reduce current expenses to the minimum.
“[This] raises concern that the deficit is not necessary due to the timing of property tax collections, but could potentially be indicative of gross financial mismanagement,” said Yee. “[Our office] is seriously concerned that an advancement of funds now will only compound the district’s deficit and harm the financial stability of the district for years to come.”
In his Monday press release, Horne dismissed Yee’s claim of financial mismanagement as lacking any evidence. Rather than evidence of impropriety, Horne said the request was normal.
“District cash advances are common because a school district’s income and expenses may fluctuate,” said Horne. “As long as the district’s cash position is positive by the end of the year, and the funds will be paid back, cash advances are allowable.”
NUSD cited a low ending fund balance from the prior fiscal year and decreased property tax collections in 2024 as the main reasons for the deficit.
There are nearly 1,500 students in NUSD.
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