One of the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) high school counselors that organized a drag show featuring students was arrested last week for having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl. Tucson High Magnet School counselor Zobella Brazil Vinik, a 29-year-old woman, was charged with one count of sexual conduct with a minor.
Vinik worked alongside fellow counselor Sunday Hamilton, a transgender man, to create their first annual drag show. That event was supposed to take place on May 7 — two days after TUSD put Vinik on administrative leave and launched an investigation into her, and four days before Vinik turned herself in to police.
As AZ Free News reported, TUSD spokeswoman Karla Escamilla explained that not allowing the drag show to occur would constitute as gender expression discrimination.
Vinik and Hamilton also oversaw the high school’s LGBTQ+ student club, “Q Space.” The club encouraged students to explore their identities as they learned about LGBTQ+ history.
Vinik’s ex-wife initially informed police that she and Vinik allowed the 15-year-old victim to live at their residence. According to the police report obtained by KVOA, the ex-wife discovered Vinik’s underwear under the pillow of where the minor slept. Further police searches of phone records uncovered intimate conversations between Vinik and the minor.
Regarding Vinik’s arrest, Escamilla didn’t respond to specific questions submitted by AZ Free News. Instead, she shared TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo’s statement on the matter:
On May 4th, 2022, detectives from the Tucson Police Department Sexual Assault Unit informed the administration of Tucson High Magnet School of an ongoing investigation into one of its counselors, Zobella Brazil Vinik. The administration was informed of an alleged inappropriate relationship between the counselor and a 15-year-old student from Tucson High.
Working with the Tucson High administration, the District administration acted swiftly to remove the counselor from campus and place her on administrative leave. Our School Safety Department immediately initiated a comprehensive investigation into this alleged incident, which is currently ongoing.
On Thursday May 5th, 2022, Ms. Vinik resigned her position from the Tucson Unified School District and is no longer an employee of the district. The Tucson Unified School District administration will continue to cooperate with the Tucson Police Department in its ongoing investigation. Our administration will continue to emphasize the health and safety of our students as our highest priority.
The social media account created for the high school’s inaugural drag show, @tucsonhigh_drag, posted an eight-day countdown featuring some of the students that would be participating. The event also featured adults that would be performing alongside students: local performers under the stage names, “Erotica Powers,” “Onika Grande,” and “Sophia G. Lauren.”
The account deleted its initial post on the page announcing the event.
Arizona school counselor who arranged drag show for students is accused of having sex with a 15 year-old student pic.twitter.com/l2Q7AlZrGY
It appears the drag show did occur. The event hashtag, #thmsdragshow22, was used by at least one of the minor participants who posted pictures related to their attendance. According to an email from Vinik, the drag show occurred on school grounds and received help from other teachers and organizations such as the University of Arizona’s (UArizona) Institute for LGBTQ Studies and the Southern Arizona Aids Foundation.
Grooming happening at Tucson Magnet HS. Counselor that organized the school approved drag show was arrested for having sex with 15 year old student. Maybe don’t approve drag shows at school and just teach class? https://t.co/0ZBU11xd8vpic.twitter.com/A1hMsGy85C
Last month, the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) gave a company $180,000 to do work already within the outlined responsibilities of its leadership: future planning and creation of a new mission statement.
In an email obtained by AZ Free News, Interim Chancellor Steven Gonzales insisted that the need to outsource the mission statement and strategic plan was due to the capacity constraints of the district’s Institutional Research/Effectiveness (IR/IE) experts normally responsible for those duties.
He further claimed that the increased community diversity necessitated a mission statement makeover and brand-new strategic plan. The allusion to diversity likely came, in part, from MCCCD’s new partnership with the technology company Intel to launch a semiconductor manufacturing bootcamp using American Rescue Plan funds — the entirety of the first class were women.
Today, @intel and @mcccd launched a semiconductor manufacturing bootcamp, funded in part by the American Rescue Plan.
The first class will be all women, strengthening Arizona’s pipeline of female technicians.
Thank you @FLOTUS for joining members of @MCCCD during today’s visit of @intel’s Ocotillo campus. As part of our commitment to #workforce development, we continue to build innovative programs like the Semiconductor Technician Boot Camp in order to meet growing industry demand. pic.twitter.com/OWDnzjgcX9
— Dr. Steven R. Gonzales (@MCCCDChancellor) March 8, 2022
Gonzales projected that the new mission statement and strategic plan would be ready by New Year’s Eve, with implementation following in January of next year.
Although Gonzales said that the district was under capacity constraints, they formed a steering committee to offer resources to the vendor: MGT of America Consulting. The company has held many contracts throughout Arizona: they were hired by the city of Glendale, city of Scottsdale, city of Goodyear, Maricopa County, Coconino County, and Mesa Public Schools over the past few years.
The announcement came shortly after the Phoenix Business Journal selected Gonzales as one of the “Most Admired Leaders of 2022.” Gonzales assumed the interim chancellor role in January 2020.
Incredibly humbled to be selected as one of @phxbizjournal's Most Admired Leaders of 2022. This honor is a reflection of every @MCCCD employee, and their unwavering commitment to serving our students and communities, our success is made possible by them. https://t.co/vBtxRF1ob9
— Dr. Steven R. Gonzales (@MCCCDChancellor) March 23, 2022
75 percent of MCCCD’s income comes from property taxes. Only 23 percent comes from tuition. According to a railbird, MCCCD’s enrollment dropped to one-third of its previous enrollment.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Mesa Public Schools (MPS) ignored additional requests from our reporters to obtain data on how $32.3 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds were spent. In March, MPS toldAZ Free News that no records existed detailing how exactly those funds were spent.
Over a month ago, AZ Free News inquired about records for the chart of accounts related to Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding. There were three separate COVID-19 federal relief grants administered: ESSER I, coded under 326; ESSER II, coded under 336; and ESSER III, coded under 346.
We requested those records because the public ESSER report given by MPS in December didn’t offer an in-depth explanation. MPS attributed those tens of millions spent to a variety of ambiguous explanations: “other,” “etc,” “indirect costs,” and “COVID relief positions.”
When we asked for further information about the $32.3 million, MPS told us they couldn’t offer further explanation of those expenditures because they weren’t required by law to create records.
Of the over $4 billion Arizona received in ESSER funding, MPS received the second-largest allotment: around $229.2 million. Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) received the most in the state.
Last October, MPS reported that they had nearly $40 million remaining in their maintenance and operation funds.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The latest endeavor from Arizona State University (ASU), a full-time online high school that awards university credits, offers a curriculum focused on woke ideologies on the taxpayer’s dime.
The bulk of the program relies on daily seminars in addition to online lessons, small-group tutorials, and peer tutoring. The sample of seminar subjects challenge students on ethical norms, such as editing the human gene pool, freedom of speech versus “freedom of reach,” social media moderation, and life extension. The seminars are student-led and supported by learning guides and guest experts.
All this at no cost to students who are Arizona residents. Instead, the state covers the cost. Students in other states would pay close to $10,000 a year, and students outside the country would pay nearly $13,000.
The program, ASU Preparatory Academy’s Khan World School, is poised to launch in August with 200 students to start. If all accepted students were Arizona residents this fall, that would cost taxpayers anywhere from $2 million to $2.6 million.
Rather than tests, the academic model emphasizes discussion with teachers, peers, and “industry experts” for learning and assessment. Students advance through a mastery-based model. At the end of the program, students will receive a transcript with final grades for college admissions and scholarships.
Specifics on curriculum weren’t offered. The program asserted that each student would receive their own custom plan.
Governor Doug Ducey called the program a “groundbreaking innovation.”
“Choice in education works and Arizona leads the nation in school choice!” tweeted Ducey.
Another groundbreaking innovation from @ASU, @michaelcrow, and Salman Khan!
Choice in education works and Arizona leads the nation in school choice! https://t.co/SzzjG6JnnL
ASU offered a quiz for students to determine their fit for the program. Only one of the seven questions related to academic competency.
The first question asks the student to select the desk that best represents their mind: “Albert Einstein’s Mess,” “Marie Curie’s Order,” or “Katherine Johnson’s Spotless.” The second question asks the student what time their alarm wakes them up: before the sun, before lunch, before dinner, or “lol, what alarm?”
A third question asks the student how many books they read in a month: none, one or two, or three or more. A fourth question asks the student who they turn to for answers: Google, their friend, their family, or themselves. A fifth question asks the student which animal best describes their learning pace: slothful, steady, or sprinting.
It’s not until the sixth question that the student is asked about something to do with core subjects. The student must answer a math question about where the vertex of a parabola would fall.
The seventh question reverts to a social question about the student’s way of thinking versus that of their friends.
Announcing Khan World School (https://t.co/b0rtuTMbcX ), a partnership with Arizona State University. It is a fraction of the cost of comparable world-class online high schools (and FREE to any Arizona resident). Please spread the word. pic.twitter.com/fr9M5AtVds
The online lessons are a mix of Khan Academy and ASU course content. In order to be admitted, students must be entering their freshman year of high school, proficient in Algebra I, earned grades A or B in 8th grade Math and English Language Arts, and in possession of a computer with a web camera and internet access. Algebra I proficiency appeared to be measured by proof of program completion. Other than that, admissions doesn’t require a GPA or any other academic standards.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
On Monday, the Arizona legislature approved a bill requiring K-12 schools to implement parental review and notification procedures for school library books.
Specifically, HB2439 requires schools to give parents lists of the books or materials their children borrowed from the library, make available online a list of all books purchased for school libraries, and notify parents of the public review period for the books. Certain schools and school districts were exempted: those without full-time library media specialists and those engaged in agreements with county free library districts, municipal libraries, nonprofit and public libraries, tribal libraries, private schools, and tribal schools.
The Arizona House passed edits made to HB2439 on Monday along a party line vote. The Senate passed their version with amendments last week. One of the major amendments to the bill removed the requirement that school boards review and approve all books prior to their addition to a school library.
State Representative Beverly Pingerelli (R-Peoria) sponsored the bill.
Activists argued that children should have the right to read anything without parental oversight.
A local high school has enforced its district mask mandate relentlessly but students dropped their masks to participate in the “Day of Silence,” or “DOS,” a day of action for LGBTQ acceptance. Pre-pandemic, students participated by taping their mouths shut. This year was no different for some, according to reports received by AZ Free News.
Last Friday, the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) Club at Betty H. Fairfax High School within the Phoenix Union High School District (PXU) organized a slew of activities to commemorate students taking a vow of silence for the purported silencing that the LGBTQ+ community faces. The club handed out rainbow lanyards with DOS informational cards, rainbow stickers, and rainbow masks. There were several large tables set up outside with posters, and they encouraged students to participate in either of the two “solidarity circles” during lunch: students standing or walking in a circle holding hands.
AZ Free News reached out to PXU for comment. They didn’t respond by press time.
DOS and the GSA clubs, also identified by a number of other names such as “Genders & Sexualities Alliance” or “Queer-Straight Alliance” at other schools, are the brainchild of Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an activist organization focusing on minors’ sexualization. GLSEN has expressed repeatedly that they never advocated for duct tape wearing for DOS, but acknowledged that it was a popular outward expression of the vow of silence.
Current students weren’t the only ones subject to GSA exposure that week. Several days prior to the DOS protest, Betty H. Fairfax High School welcomed future freshmen with a GSA booth, among others.
Several months before these events, the club passed out pronoun pins for students and faculty to wear on their lanyards.
Former Arizona Attorney General and Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Tom Horne said in a statement to AZ Free News that Arizona students’ SAT scores were above the national average but declined after he left office. Horne characterized the GSA club events like Day of Silence as diversions that hurt academic outcomes.
“This is because leadership has neglected the necessary emphasis on academics, with harmful diversions, such as critical race theory, or, as in this case, A day of silence, which interferes with learning,” said Horne. “Schools need to be teaching the academics and not promoting racially divisive critical race theory, or other similar diversions such as the day of silence. The exception for the mask mandate shows runaway hypocrisy. My heroes are teachers who love their subjects, and focus on teaching them, rather than those who see their role as pushing ideological agendas.”
Betty H. Fairfax High School GSA has led the charge on LGBTQ popularity and acceptance in the district for years. In 2018, they won the GSA of the Year award.
Then in 2019, the woman who started the GSA club, Dayna Monroe, won GSA Sponsor of the Year. Monroe explained in an interview on receiving the award that her efforts caused district-wide policy changes. Her students nicknamed her “Mommy Monroe,” with one female student likening Monroe to a “therapist” figure.
“Mrs. Monroe, I consider her my school mom. She’s someone I can trust,” testified another female student.
Monroe has taught in schools for 20 years, with a decade spent in PXU.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
