Litchfield Elementary School District (LESD) Governing Board member Dr. Tara Armstead announced her resignation during Tuesday’s special meeting. Armstead’s total time at LESD lasted five months. The only Black board member alluded to her frustrations with resistance to the district’s equity work.
Armstead’s resignation wasn’t originally a part of the meeting agenda. The ex-board member noted that she’d submitted her resignation on Monday, officially. She said it was her intention when she became a board member this spring to take her advocacy to another level on behalf of students and their families. Instead, Armstead said she’d faced many hurdles: slander against her character and intentions, court battles, and a general lack of support from the very community that purportedly requested her help.
However, Armstead insisted she wasn’t leaving due to these outside pressures. Rather, Armstead said the district was a “sinking ship” she could no longer help.
“I am not leaving because people are running me away, because of people scaring me, because of people pushing me in a position of fear where I feel like I can’t go on any longer, or because I’ve been asked. I am leaving because, even when I’m trying to fight for what is righteous and what is uncomfortably true, I am being treated as though I’m trying to destroy the entity with the intention of serving students,” said Armstead. “I was never here to be served, and I wasn’t here to serve adults. I was here to serve children. So after five months of constant, continuous situations letting me know exactly what they really want to have happen here in this district and in this community, I can no longer be a part of this sinking ship.”
Armstead emphasized that she wouldn’t show any thanks, gratitude, or appreciation for the opportunity to serve on the board. She expressed hope that the district would hire more people of color; she clarified that these hires shouldn’t be for the color of their skin, but for their ability.
“[I] will not say thank you for the time that I’ve served here, or express any gratitude or appreciation, because for the five months that I have been here, I have been treated as though I am not an expert in the field, like I have no idea what I’m talking about, and it’s sad that even a person who is invested in the field of education cannot come and help to improve education,” said Armstead.
Board President Danielle Clymer thanked Armstead for her service as a member, and for getting LESD where they are today.
No other members issued responses to Armstead’s resignation during the meeting.
On Wednesday, Armstead appeared on a “Wednesday Chat” episode with Jeanne Casteen, a failed candidate for Maricopa County Superintendent. Armstead clarified that the final straw had to do with reception to her stance on COVID restrictions. She said she took issue with people challenging her as a professional.
Armstead added that she was tired of her attempts to help falling on deaf ears.
Tuesday’s meeting, starting from Armstrong’s resignation, can be viewed here.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com
The Arizona attorney general’s office found that Litchfield Elementary School District (LESD) violated open meeting law through its Diversity Empowerment Team (DET). In some reporting, social media posts, and even LESD communications and internal documents, the DET was referred to as the “Diversity Empowerment Committee,” or “DEC.”
Deputy Solicitor General Michael Catlett wrote the letter notifying LESD of their violations. For violating open meeting law with the DET, Catlett determined that there wouldn’t be any repercussions, but it would serve to inform the attorney general’s response to any further open meetings violations. LESD was also found in violation of open meeting law for allowing and defending the behavior of one board member, Kimberly Moran, when she interrupted public commentary critical of LESD’s equity statement with a sign that read, “Not True.” Catlett informed LESD that Moran would be required to undergo further training for this violation.
Catlett said that the DET qualifies as a public body, despite insistence from LESD that it didn’t. Information about the DET wasn’t made publicly available through LESD.
“Few government responsibilities are more important than the education of children and the issue of how to education children about discrimination and race is important and complex,” wrote Catlett. “Parents and other community members should be given significant opportunity for input on school curriculum or policies that have any possibility of being viewed as ‘characteriz[ing] the United States as irredeemably racist or founded on principles of racism (as opposed to principles of equality) or that purport to ascribe character traits, values, privileges, status, or beliefs, or that assign fault, blame, or bias, to a particular race or to an individual because of his or her race.’”
LESD’s equity statement was also a product of the DET. In addition to a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, the equity statement announced that LESD pledged to antiracism.
Parents and community members also weren’t privy to DET members’ identities. In fact, the team wasn’t mentioned on LESD’s website at all. However, some parents did manage to learn the identities of DET members.
AZ Free News learned that DET members were parents Latrice Gettings, Tamillia Valuenzela, Kamaria McDonald; Palm Valley Elementary School special education teacher Brittany Austin; curriculum administrative assistant Eva Aguila; Verrado Heritage Elementary School behavior coach Grizellie Hedges; Litchfield Elementary School behavior coach Heather Maxwell; Mabel Padgett teacher Anthony Munoz; student transporter Jocelyn Zvosechz; Palm Valley Elementary School principal Jen Benjamin; Wigwam Creek Middle School assistant principal Kacie McQuarrie; Verrado Heritage Elementary School principal Meredith Noce; and LESD Title One director John Scudder.
Only one LESD governing board member was on the DET: Moran.
The parents chosen for DET have publicly shown their support for nearly all social justice beliefs, including: critical race theory, Black Lives Matter (BLM), anti-racism, transgenderism, LGBTQ+ lifestyles, ICE abolishment, and DACA continuance.
It also appears through a public post by McDonald that DET has a private Facebook page.
In addition to the DET issue, the attorney general’s office addressed the behavior of Moran at length. During LESD’s April 13 board meeting, Moran disrupted public comments criticizing the board’s equity statement by holding up a sign that read, “Not True[.]”
LESD defended Moran’s behavior, arguing that open meeting law allows board members to respond to public commentary. The attorney general’s office disagreed. They stated that the full text of the law allows board members to respond at the end of public commentary, not during. Catlett wrote that Moran’s behavior was “extremely concerning,” considering she’d just undergone open meeting law training.
“Ms. Moran’s actions violating the Open Meeting Law immediately following Open Meeting Law training are extremely concerning,” wrote Catlett. “Thus, the Office will require that Ms. Moran re-take the training received by the board during the April 13 meeting.”
The DET also had an Outside Facilitator named Amber Checky, the CEO and Founder of Inclusion Counts – a diversity training and consultation business.
Checky and the other DET members earned the ire of parents over the summer for their involvement in DET’s plans for increasing equity at LESD. These plans were published by Young America’s Foundation (YAF). The “Litchfield Elementary School District Transformational Equity Work” explained that the DEC (DET) created the following equity goals:
· Reduce disproportionality in discipline for Black students;
· Reduce disproportionality in achievement for Black and Hispanic students;
· Increase professional development for LESD staff on diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism;
· Develop a diverse and inclusive curriculum by:
· Auditing existing curriculum materials for bias to ensure multicultural perspectives;
· Ensuring teachers have cultural competence: clarity, knowledge, and agency to adapt, modify, or enhance curriculum to bring cultural awareness and diverse voices and perspectives into curriculum;
· Recruit and retain culturally competent and diverse administrators, faculty, and staff (diversity refers to race, ethnicity, gender identity, faith, ability, sexual orientation, appearance, socioeconomic class, age, and life experience).
According to the internal document, these DEC (DET) goals were the primary focus of the 2021-22 school year.
Parents objected to Checky as an outside consultant – partly because of her beliefs, and partly because they didn’t get a say in the makeup of DET. Checky and her wife, Inclusion Counts CFO and Co-Founder Heather Checky, raise their daughter as a son. This is public knowledge: Checky’s foster daughter is widely publicized. The Checkys interviewed with several news outlets in 2019 about their daughter, claiming a summer camp refused her entry because of her transgenderism.
LESD Superintendent Jodi Gunning rebuked parents for taking issue with Checky and the DET. Gunning offered a veiled threat that law enforcement would intervene if parents continued to identify and criticize members of the DET.
“It has come to my attention that the names of our staff members and volunteers who served on the Diversity Empowerment Committee (DET), as well as screen shots from their personal Facebook pages, have been posted to social media as individuals to ‘get to know.’ This even included personal information about someone’s partner and child,” wrote Gunning. “Litchfield Elementary School District denounces any attempts to intimidate or threaten. We strongly oppose personal attacks and fear tactics by anyone attempting to persuade the professional business of our public institution. We are working closely with law enforcement partners to ensure the safety of all of our stakeholders.”
The family that Gunning referenced was the Checkys.
As of press time, LESD hasn’t updated its website with public information about the DET.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office announced that it has signed on to a tentative historic $26 billion multistate settlement with four pharmaceutical companies for their roles in the opioid crisis. The tentative agreement includes Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen – the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors – and Johnson & Johnson, which manufactured and marketed opioids.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, final details, including a critical mass of states and political subdivisions nationally, are necessary to finalize the settlement. If finalized, Arizona would receive up to $549 million from the settlement and the money would be used for opioid treatment, prevention, and education.
If the settlement is finalized, Arizona’s funds will be distributed through the Arizona Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Understanding (One Arizona Plan). In October 2020, the AGO and local governments (90 cities and towns and all 15 counties) signed on to the One Arizona Plan to maximize Arizona’s amount of recovery from opioid settlements. The One Arizona Plan also ensures that funds will be expeditiously distributed across Arizona. Read more on the One Arizona Plan here .
Funding Overview:
Nationally, the three distributors (Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen) collectively will pay up to $21 billion over 18 years.
Nationally, Johnson & Johnson will pay up to $5 billion over nine years with up to $3.7 billion paid during the first three years.
The total funding distributed will be determined by the overall degree of participation by both litigating and non-litigating state and local governments.
After attorneys’ fees and costs, the money is to be spent on opioid treatment and prevention.
Arizona’s share of the national funding has been determined by an agreement among the states using a formula that takes into account the impact of the crisis on the state and the population of the state.
Injunctive Relief Overview:
The 10-year agreement will result in court orders requiring Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen to:
Establish a centralized independent clearinghouse to provide all three distributors and state regulators with aggregated data and analytics about where drugs are going and how often, eliminating blind spots in the current systems used by distributors.
Use data-driven systems to detect suspicious opioid orders from customer pharmacies.
Terminate customer pharmacies’ ability to receive shipments, and report those companies to state regulators, when they show certain signs of diversion.
Prohibit shipping of and report suspicious opioid orders.
Prohibit sales staff from influencing decisions related to identifying suspicious opioid orders.
Require senior corporate officials to engage in regular oversight of anti-diversion efforts.
The 10-year agreement will result in court orders requiring Johnson & Johnson to:
Stop selling opioids.
Not fund or provide grants to third parties for promoting opioids.
Not lobby on activities related to opioids.
Share clinical trial data under the Yale University Open Data Access Project.
In order for the multistate settlement to be finalized, a critical mass of participating states and local governments will need to sign on.
The settlement comes as a result of investigations by state attorneys general into whether the three distributors fulfilled their legal duty to refuse to ship opioids to pharmacies that submitted suspicious drug orders and whether Johnson & Johnson misled patients and doctors about the addictive nature of opioid drugs. The settlement would resolve claims of both states and local governments across the country, including the nearly 4,000 that have filed lawsuits in federal and state courts.
Tragically, last year, drug overdose deaths rose to a record 93,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Arizona saw a 30 percent increase in overdose deaths over the prior year, claiming more than 2,600 lives in 2020. Countless more have seen their lives torn apart by the disease of addiction. The damage, which continues in part every day due to an insecure southern border, also impacts their families, friends and communities.
Although Arizona is not yet back to pre-pandemic workforce levels, a recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows the state is headed in the right direction, with more than 21,000 jobs added in July, boosting Arizona to fourth place in percentage of jobs recovered post-COVID19.
That means Arizona has restored all but around 20,000 of the 331,500 jobs lost in the pandemic’s aftermath, giving the state at a recovery rate of 93.7 percent. Only three states -Utah, Idaho, and Montana- have a better percentage of recovery than Arizona as of July.
Yet despite the state’s positive trajectory, many small business owners, economists, and job placement officials remain worried about whether Prop 208’s 3.5 percent income tax surcharge will go into effect or not, and whether legislation aimed at blunting any impact will withstand its own legal challenge.
The surcharge was narrowly approved by voters last November to hit Arizonans earning more than $250,000 (single filing) or $500,000 (joint filing) in an attempt to increase K-12 funding. The tax was designed to be on top of the then-existing income tax of 4.5 percent, but last week the Arizona Supreme Court ordered a Maricopa County judge to determine whether Prop 208 tax revenues will exceed the Education Expenditure Limit set in the Arizona Constitution.
If the answer is yes, then the judge must declare Prop. 208 unconstitutional and enjoin state officials from putting the tax surcharge into operation, the justices ordered.
Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation in June to change Arizona’s individual income tax structure over the next three years and to blunt the surcharge effect. The legislation also provides small businessowners an alternative to the surcharge. But until the Prop 208 legal issue is resolved, there are worries that Arizona’s recovery will slow due to small business owners reducing spending -such as employee compensation and benefits- to cover any additional tax burden.
Others may choose to abstain from hiring or even decide to cut personnel. And that is a point of concern for those trying to get jobs for all Arizonans who want one.
The same Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows Arizona’s rate of unemployment was 6.6 percent in July, ranking 40th in the nation. That ties with Alaska, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania, while Utah, Idaho, and Montana had unemployment rates at 2.6, 3.0, and 3.6 respectively, among the Top 10 lowest percentages for July.
Arizona’s current unemployment rate, however, is a vast improvement from April 2020, when the state had 14.2 percent of work-eligible adults out of jobs, a historical high. In addition, next month’s end of two Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) unemployment benefit programs is expected to spur many out-of-work Arizonans back into the workforce.
Those programs -Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation- are scheduled to expire for the workweek ending Sept. 4. Ducey and DES have created a Back to Work program with several features to help Arizonans transition back to work, including childcare vouchers, educational incentives, and even hiring bonuses for eligible individuals.
The National Education Association’s state affiliate tried to harass and intimidate Rhode Island mom Nicole Solas into silence just for trying to find out what her daughter would be taught in kindergarten by filing a legally baseless lawsuit against her. The union even went so far as to seek emergency relief from the court to circumvent the public records law and prevent Nicole from receiving public information.
Today, the union withdrew its baseless request for emergency relief. Nicole has contended since the union first filed this case that the union has no standing and no legal right to bring the action. The union’s voluntary withdraw of its motion appears to recognize the union’s flimsy legal standing.
Earlier this year, Nicole began making public records requests to find out her daughter’s kindergarten curriculum—doing just as her school district asked her to do. But for making these requests, she was stonewalled and even threatened with legal action. The Goldwater Institute made an additional records request on her behalf—and in response, the South Kingstown School Committee hit her with a $74,000 bill to get the information she sought.
The NEA had asked for a preliminary order from the court that would direct the South Kingstown School Committee to stop responding to Nicole’s public records requests. But today, the union withdrew its extraordinary request, and the School Committee now must still meet its statutory deadlines and other requirements to respond to Nicole’s public records requests.
“Nicole and every parent has every right to know what is being taught in their children’s classrooms,” said Goldwater Institute Director of National Litigation Jon Riches, who represents Nicole. “The union’s reprehensible attempt to harass and intimate Nicole and other parents was seen today for what it is—a legally baseless assault that will not stand.”
Thursday’s announcement by Gov. Doug Ducey and House Speaker Rusty Bowers that Arizona “wholeheartedly welcomes our share of the refugees” fleeing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan is shining a light on a little known state program that provides financial, educational, and cultural support to refugees.
“As refugees come and find homes in states across the nation, we welcome them to our state full of opportunity and choice, and we’re working closely with federal and state officials to offer them safety in Arizona,” the joint Ducey-Bowers statement reads.
Those efforts will be made easier through the Refugee Resettlement Program (RRP) run by the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) which aids refugees as they adjust to life in the United States. The objective is to respect a refugee’s culture and language while helping them reach self-sufficiency as quickly as possible, according to the DES website.
Transition efforts are further assisted by local nonprofit Refugee Resettlement Agencies (RAs) which provide frontline essential services during a refugee’s first few months. RAs also link refugees to federally-funded programs such as Employment Services, English Language Training, Refugee Cash and Medical Assistance, and Case Management.
The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act provides several criteria for who qualifies as a refugee. For most Afghanistan nationals, the applicable criteria will likely be the provision for any person outside the country of their nationality, who is unable to return to that country due to a “well-founded fear of persecution.”
Many of the Afghans coming to the United States are expected to receive a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) connected to their past service to the U.S. government and military during the 20-year war which included Operations Enduring Freedom and Freedom’s Sentinel. SIV visas apply also to one’s spouse and children.
“They helped out military members in their country, and now we stand ready to help them in ours,” Ducey and Bowers noted in their statement.
The U.S. Department of State also recently announced another program, one which pertains to Afghans who worked for private American contractors, as well as in-country programs funded by the U.S. It would also apply to Afghani employees of media outlets and those who worked for nonprofit, non-governmental organizations which are headquartered in the U.S.
Before releasing his statement about refugees, Ducey expressed concern with the unfolding Taliban expansion in Afghanistan after the U.S. Air Force released a photograph showing 823 Afghans -men, women, and children- crammed in the cargo hold of a C17 flying out of Kabul. The governor pointed the finger of blame for the chaos directly at the top man in the White House.
“As we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the events unfolding in Afghanistan represent complete negligence and an abdication of responsibility by President Biden,” Ducey tweeted on Aug. 16. “If the promise of President Biden was that he would restore America’s standing in the world, he’s just done the exact opposite.”
Government statistics show more than 120,000 people died during the U.S. war in Afghanistan, which included Operations Enduring Freedom and Freedom’s Sentinel. Among the dead are 2,443 U.S. military members, 66,000 Afghan military and police, roughly 47,000 local citizens, nearly 3,850 U.S. citizens working in the country, and more than 1,100 military members from other nations.
Meanwhile, many U.S. service members and defense contractors who deployed to Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021 are speaking out about the problems now facing that country. One such Veteran is Arizona lawmaker Rep. Steve Kaiser, who served with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.
“America’s military have put their lives on the line to defend freedom at home and abroad. Our friends and allies in Afghanistan now face a terrifying future because we deserted them in the dead of night,” Kaiser wrote Aug. 17. “They are now alone, hiding behind barred doors with their families, and being targeted by Taliban members seeking revenge.”
DES reports show the most resettlements from one country to be served by Arizona’s RRP between October 1981 and August 2021 is more than 12,300 Iraqis. By comparison, less than 3,200 Afghanistan nationals came to Arizona during the same period.
The number of Afghans served by Arizona’s RRP started slow -only 240 Afghanis throughout all of the 1980s- but jumped to 254 in 1990 to 1994. Then over the next six years, only 142 Afghans came to Arizona, nearly one-half the number (271) who arrived the next year ending Sept. 30, 2001.
The data shows more than 1,000 Afghanistan nationals settled in Arizona in the decade after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks before falling to a decade-and-a-half low of only 14 between Oct. 1, 2011 and Sept. 30, 2012. The annual number resettling to Arizona jumped to 237 for the year ending Sept. 30, 2014, then hit an all-time time high of 292 in 2016.
Since then, the RRP data shows a steady decline of Afghanistan nationals resettling in Arizona, with 95 reported for the year ending Sept. 30, 2020.
The U.S. Department of State shows roughly 4,200 Afghans have come to the United States since Oct. 1, 2020, with 31 reportedly making their new home in Arizona. However, DES records put that number at 53 as of Aug. 16.
Any Veterans in need of someone to talk to about their concerns related to Afghanistan can call the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255. Assistance is also available by text messages to 838255 or via online at chat at www.veteranscrisisline.net
