In response to the House Education Committee hearing on a bill to enhance parental rights, State Representative Daniel Hernandez (D-Tucson) implied that the fault lied with parents, not with the schools. He said that the legislature should maintain a limited government approach and not create more burdens for schools.
“We [should] encourage parents to be more involved in their children’s education,” said Hernandez. “The vast majority of parents aren’t as engaged as they should be.”
The bill in question, HB2161, was introduced by State Representative Steve Kaiser (R-Phoenix). It would prohibit any employee of the state or its political subdivisions, entities, or institutions from: withholding information from parents related to their child’s physical, emotional, or mental health; interfering in parents’ control over their child’s upbringing, education, health care, and mental health; denying or inhibiting parents’ rights to access any of their child’s written or electronic medical records, attendance scores, test scores, grades, extracurricular activities, club participation, disciplinary or psychological records, admission applications, health and immunization information, teacher and counselor evaluations and behavioral pattern reports, email accounts, and online or virtual accounts and data. Government entities or officials may only invoke control over a child’s upbringing, education, health care, and mental health if there’s a compelling government interest demonstrated.
The bill also included provisions specific to schools, such as prohibiting school districts or their employees from withholding information from parents related to purported gender identity or requested gender transitions. It also required schools to obtain written informed consent from parents prior to administering any survey soliciting personal information, as well as share a copy of the survey in question seven days prior to administering it.
Violations of the bill could result in disciplinary action to the offending employee, a $500 fine for school districts, and lawsuits against the governmental entity or official from the parents.
The bill passed the House Education Committee by a bare majority, 6-5.
State Representatives Walt Blackman (R-Snowflake), Lupe Diaz (R-Hereford), John Fillmore (R-Apache Junction), Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott), Michelle Udall (R-Mesa), and Beverly Pingerelli (R-Peoria) voted for the bill. Those who voted against the bill were State Representatives Daniel Hernandez Jr. (D-Tucson), Joel John (R-Arlington), Judy Schweibert (D-Phoenix), Myron Tsosie (D-Chinle), and Jennifer Pawlik (D-Chandler).
During conversations of the bill, several school-related issues reported by AZ Free News were brought up: the encouragement of students to identify their given names as deadnames and instead identify by their preferred names on identification, the formation of K-12 LGBTQ clubs through an organization called GLSEN whose content focuses on the sexualization of children, the pornographic and explicit book assigned even after promised revocation at Horizon High School, and surveys that encourage students to disclose private information about their home life.
Kaiser said he would “absolutely” consider increasing the penalty to schools from $500, which Fillmore said might be too low because that amount was paltry for school districts.
Schwiebert expressed concern that forced exposure of private, more emotional conversations between a teacher and student would result in hardships for the student. Kaiser asserted that it wasn’t the teacher’s role to serve as a support system. He said he hoped he’d get a call from a teacher if his child was struggling with something, and would be horrified if they didn’t because it’s not their job.
“Their job is to teach my son reading, writing and math, their job is not to console my son. Their job is to let me know,” said Kaiser.
John then asked if there was any time where a student could tell a teacher something in confidence that wouldn’t be shared with parents, exempting information involving something illegal. Kaiser said no.
In response, Udall shared that she had several teenage students in the past approach her about their underage pregnancies. Kaiser said that he didn’t have an answer for that specific situation; Udall advised that Kaiser should consider situations which would allow teachers to leave it to the children to tell their parents.
Fillmore chimed in to ask Udall if there wasn’t a duty to report teenage pregnancies; Udall didn’t have an exact answer, saying that she believed that only incidents related to abuse were those teachers were required to report.
Community members who spoke in opposition of the bill said that it violated the rights of youth, mainly an alleged right to privacy. One example came from ACLU of Arizona spokesman Jeff Esposito who said that the bill was unnecessary at best and dangerous at worst. Nguyen retorted that Esposito and his ilk were driving a wedge between parents and their children by allowing educators to decide what information parents may know.
“You’re, in a way, making a decision for me [as a parent],” said Nguyen.
Fillmore then asked Esposito if his only contention with the bill was the outing of a child’s sexuality. Esposito said no, but then repeated that sexuality and its impact on mental health were of paramount concern.
“What I’m saying is a student may make a choice to reveal private information to a trusted adult and then that trusted adult may make that choice to reveal that information to parents,” said Esposito. “But to jump that line and make that information known to parents before the student is ready […] sometimes those students need a trusted adult to go to and their rights to privacy should be respected.”
Fillmore challenged the notion that children had authority to do what they’d like that suits them best without parental knowledge or oversight.
In closing remarks, Blackman said that schools have no right to subvert parents’ wills or act as a parent would in certain situations. He criticized the implication that preventing government employees from serving as middlemen between parents and children would result in children facing hardships such as homelessness and drug addiction.
“When she’s going to bed at night, she’s going to my house. Not at the counselors’ house and not at the teachers house,” asserted Blackman. “Schools are trying to get in the middle where the parents should be to comfort that child, to teach that child. And all I hear is, ‘the parent has no rights.’ If the parent has no rights for those medical records, is the school going to pay that medical bill? You’re not going to do that. As a parent I have a right to know every single thing that’s going on with my child.”
Diaz added that parents are divinely ordained by God to care for their children — not schools. Diaz said he discerned from parent testimonies that a variety of God-given rights were violated by schools, including the First and Fourth Amendments.
“God created the parents to be the responsible entity for the children,” said Diaz. “Our man’s laws should be a reflection of divine law. Every parent is going to stand before God and answer for their children. And I respect you parents who have come here and have stood for your own parental rights and for your children.”
Earlier this month Arizona Auditor General Lindsey Perry published a financial risk analysis of the state’s 207 public school districts, which showed dozens of districts rank at high-risk in one or more of 10 areas of review.
But only six districts finished the review with a designation of “highest risk,” according to Perry’s office. Those districts are Double Adobe Elementary, Elfrida Elementary School District, Flagstaff Unified, Isaac Elementary, Safford Unified, and Wenden Elementary.
Elfrida Elementary is a one-school district in Cochise County which ranked high-risk in 8 of the 10 categories. The district, which had 101 students in Fiscal Year 2020 but only 84 in FY2021, was also on the highest-risk list last year, according to the inspector general.
In response, district officials noted several aspects of the financial risk areas have improved in recent months, albeit not enough to get removed from high-risk status.
“There was a limited possibility that the school was going to be able to get out of all the high risk areas during the year,” the district’s response stated. “However, the COVID relief monies have made quite an impact in the school both budgetary wise and infrastructure wise.”
District officials have used their COVID relief monies in a variety of ways, including spending more than $290,000 for salaries, technology purchases to improve 1:1 computer ratios, and repairs to HVAC systems. Monies were also spent for public health items such as plexiglass, masks, and cleaning supplies. Additional expenditures included an outside cleaning company and a staff aide to help with health scanning of students riding the bus.
Another improvement, according to public records, was addressing the district’s loss of its credit line. As a result, Elfrida Elementary District is now on registered warrant status. In February 2021, the amount was $164,031, but by early November 2021 there were no registered warrants.
“We are striving to not have a registered warrant status at the end of FY2022 by ensuring that the district calls down grant monies monthly and that we do not spend more money than our revenues allow,” the district told the auditor general.
District officials also entered into a food service agreement with the local high school, and a superintendent sharing agreement with another elementary school district. A full-time teacher position with benefits was not filled; instead, a long-term substitute without benefits has been utilized at a savings of nearly $20,000.
The audit report further noted Elfrida Elementary District’s primary property tax rate has been frozen since FY 2014, although district officials had not adjusted its budget to stay within the revenue it would generate based on its frozen tax rate. And the report pointed out that COVID-19 funding is short termed.
“As these are one-time monies, to avoid future financial risk and to ensure it will be able to spend within its available cash resources and budget capacity when these relief monies are no longer available to spend after September 30, 2024, the District should plan how it will adjust its spending in areas where its remaining monies are used,” the report noted.
While Elfrida Elementary ranked at high-risk in 8 categories, Antelope Union High School District in Yuma County hit that designation in only 4 of the 10 categories. Which is one reason the district fell off the highest-risk list from last year, according to the auditor general.
But Perry’s office warns Antelope Union’s data indicates “it could move back in to the highest-risk group in the future” if it does not continue to make progress.
Among the improvements made by Antelope Union officials was a tax levy and a General Fund spending reduction. The district was also aided by COVID-19 federal relief monies, more than $160,000 of which went toward operational experiences through June 30, 2021.
District officials have told auditors they plan to use its remaining relief money for non-operational purposes. In the meantime, the auditor general is recommending Antelope Union begin formulating a spending plan sooner than later, as COVID-19 funds dry up in 2024.
However, another problem is facing Antelope Union High School District’s finances.
Last June, Perry’s office notified the State Board of Education about accounting and bookkeeping problems with Antelope Union. As a result, the Board deemed Antelope Union in noncompliance with the Uniform System of Financial Records for Arizona School Districts (USFR) due to deficiencies dating back to June 2018.
This means the district is not receiving certain state monies. Which once lost, stay lost.
“The District will remain in noncompliance until cleared by the State Board of Education,” Cristan Cable, Director of the Auditor General’s accountability services division, told AZ Free News.
Cable explained that Antelope Union cannot be cleared by the Board until auditors determine the cited deficiencies have been resolved. Those deficiencies were first brought to the attention of the Antelope Union governing board back in 2019. At the time, a corrective action place was provided to district officials but there is much work remaining.
“The State Board of Education will reconsider the District’s noncompliance when we are able to report to the Board that the District has addressed its deficiencies either based on our subsequent review at the request of the State Board of Education or based on our review of the District’s fiscal year 2022 or a later financial and compliance audit performed by the District’s independent auditors,” Cable said.
During Monday’s House Health and Human Services Committee meeting, health experts and law enforcement warned lawmakers of a burgeoning crisis with Arizona’s youth: fentanyl, a dangerous drug overtaking the opioid market. The drug often appears in “M30” pills, which are purported by sellers to be oxycodone.
Chairman Joanne Osborne (R-Goodyear) explained the need for the meeting arose out of the increased issue of both prescribed and illegal narcotics. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), heroin deaths have been decreasing while opioid deaths have increased. The National Conference of State Legislatures appointed Osborne last year as an Opioid Policy Fellow.
Phoenix Children’s Hospital (PCH) pediatrician and American Academy of Pediatrics spokesperson Dr. Gary Kirkilas shared that adult opioid overdose deaths outnumbered car accident deaths for the first time in 2019. Kirkilas added that he fears the same will become true of children, considering the trajectory of their overdoses. He shared that there were 93 pediatric car fatalities in 2020; total opioid overdoses reached 60, with 57 of those caused by fentanyl. Deaths related to substance abuse increased 32 percent from 2019 to 2020.
“I fear that if we don’t do something, the pediatric overdoses and deaths are going to eclipse the car accident deaths,” said Kirkilas. “Just anecdotally, the pediatric rooms are filled with kids coming in with opioids — either they’re intoxicated or overdosing.”
Tomorrow I’ll be presenting to the Arizona House Health Committee on another public health crisis: Pediatric #Opioid#Overdoses. 60 children lost there lives to opioids in AZ in 2020…unacceptable and sad. pic.twitter.com/502Q8Vujzh
On top of that, there were similar numbers of homicides and suicides: 53 and 49. Kirkilas explained that the suicides were even related to the opioids: often children use drugs to self-medicate for mental health issues.
Kirkilas reported that marijuana appears in near-equal rates to fentanyl in the hospitalized children’s systems. He related this correlation to the fact that many children encounter fentanyl inadvertently, through M30 pills. Fentanyl M30 pills are nearly indistinguishable disguised from their prescribed oxycodone counterparts.
“Our public enemy is M30s. When I do my screenings and I ask, ‘Are you using any substances?’ It usually comes up that they’re using cannabis, and it also comes up that they’re using prescription drugs,” said Kirkilas. “I don’t even have to really ask them what they’re using, I know the next thing they’re going to say is ‘M30s.’ It’s everywhere. It’s in every party, every high school. It doesn’t matter if you’re from a high-income family, affluent neighborhood, or a low-income, not affluent neighborhood.”
Kirkilas suggested that the legislature make a greater effort to disrupt drug culture that attracts kids, such as removing billboards advertising marijuana; interrupt the supply, such as making it more difficult to access oxycodone; and offer more readily accessible resources for behavioral health.
Contrary to popular belief, Mexico and its cartels aren’t the true root of fentanyl and other opioids.
Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Colonel Heston Silbert explained that China, and even India, are the root of the fentanyl and meth crisis. Those two countries ship the chemicals to Mexico, where they are produced into drugs.
“These problems don’t happen without a geopolitical perspective and impact,” said Silbert. “Without these precursor drugs from these countries, the Mexican cartels could not produce in the quantities they do. The drugs that hit the United States of America. When you’re getting upset with what the cartels do and the complicity of the Mexican government, you have to look at the governments of both China and India, particularly that of China.”
Silbert warned that the drugs coming over have been cut with other drugs, like adderall — a drug popular with youth. He likened the country’s interstate system to an “arterial system pumping illicit drugs into our communities.”
As for solutions, Silbert requested the legislature to enhance sentencing for possession for sale, rather than coming down hard on mere possession. He asserted that those using were in need of rehabilitation efforts, but those intending to sell are connected to larger organized crime.
“There’s no middle man anymore. It comes in here,” said Silbert.There’s not this huge criminal organization who is the hub. Anyone’s the hub now [….] Anybody can be a dealer, and really on pennies on the dollar.”
Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb requested that the legislature put politics aside and put a stop to where the drugs come into the country. Lamb explained his county experience overdoses so often — 115 overdoses and 71 suicides in 2020, 127 overdoses and 84 suicides in 2021 — that law enforcement carries narcan, a drug to reverse an overdose.
“I think some of the issues we’re talking about today are truly American issues. They transcend politics,” said Lamb. “When I wake up in the morning, it’s not COVID that’s on my mind. It’s, ‘How do I stop fentanyl from killing our communities? How do I stop our children from committing suicide?’ More kids have committed suicide in 2020 than have died of COVID, yet we did nothing in the schools to address the fentanyl issue.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A proposed bill, HB2488, would prevent Arizona or any public utilities from entering into contracts with companies unless the contracts stipulate that they don’t and won’t rely on forced labor of the Uyghurs within China. The Uyghurs are a Muslim ethnic group that the Chinese government has detained in “reeducation camps” since 2017.
State Representative Justin Wilmeth (R-Phoenix) introduced the bill, pulling in nine cosponsors with him: Majority Whip Leo Biasiucci (R-Lake Havasu City) and Assistant Minority Leader Jennifer Longdon (D-Phoenix), along with State Representatives Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix), Frank Carroll (R-Sun City West), Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale), Steve Kaiser (R-Phoenix), Teresa Martinez (R-Casa Grande), Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott), and Amish Shah (D-Phoenix).
If passed, states and any of its political subdivisions or agencies, boards, commissions, or departments would be limited from engaging in contracts without confirmation that labor hasn’t and won’t be derived from the imprisoned Uyghurs. The bill extends to organizations, associations, corporations, partnerships, joint ventures, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, limited liability companies or other entities or business associations including a wholly-owned subsidiary, majority-owned subsidiary, parent company, or affiliate that engages in for-profit activity and that has 10 or more full-time employees.
“A public entity may not enter into a contract with a company to acquire or dispose of services, supplies, information technology, goods or construction unless the contract includes a written certification that the company does not currently, and agrees for the duration of the contract that it will not, use: 1) The forced labor of ethnic Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China. 2) Any goods or services produced by the forced labor of ethnic Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China. 3) Any contractors, subcontractors, or suppliers that use the forced labor or any goods or services produced by the forced labor of ethnic Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China.”
In a press release, Wilmeth alluded that the Uyghurs’ treatment is paramount to the 20th century detainments of the Jewish and Japanese peoples.
“As a student of history, I know what happens when good people remain silent,” stated Wilmeth. “The Chinese Communist Party keeping millions of people locked in internment camps, which harkens back to the darkest chapters of the 20th century. HB 2488 sends a strong message that the State of Arizona won’t do business with anyone that turns a blind eye to this horrible human rights abuse.”
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report earlier this month on the Uyghurs explaining that the minority group is subject to forced labor within the textile, apparel, agricultural, consumer electronics, and other industries under threat of detention. Additionally, Uyghurs suffer forced assimilation efforts by outlawing their traditional dress and appearance, customs, and dietary laws; demolishing or shutting down mosques; reducing birth rates through forced sterilization and birth control; requiring their children attend state-run boarding schools; forcing them to renounce their beliefs; and installing Chinese spies and law enforcement within their homes and communities to monitor their compliance. The research reported that former detainees described poor detainment conditions: factory labor, crowded and unsanitary conditions, food deprivation, psychological coercion, sexual abuse, medical neglect, and even torture that sometimes led to death.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A group of Afghan refugees were caught wandering the golf course of a local gated resort community in Scottsdale, according to security reports first obtained by the Arizona Daily Independent. The group was part of the Afghan refugees housed at the Homewood Suites, a nearby hotel that made headlines last year for sheltering illegal immigrants for around seven months. The refugees aren’t confined to the hotel and permitted to roam the surrounding areas at their leisure; the hotel sits across the street from the gated community.
Mike Anderson — security director for the community, Gainey Ranch Golf and Country Club — informed residents that the refugees were anticipated to be gone from the nearby hotel by April. Anderson further informed residents that their staff had upped security measures.
“The Homewood Suites site is being used by the federal government to temporarily house Afghan refugees evacuated by the U.S. in August 2021. The families and individuals housed there are free to come and go as they please,” wrote Anderson. “These individuals who are found walking on the course GRCA believes are from the settlement program defined above and followed vehicles in through the north vehicle entry gate. The individuals were escorted out of the community.”
As AZ Free News reported last week, not even Scottsdale’s leadership or law enforcement were apprised of the refugee situation until over a week after the federal government began to house them in the hotel. Although the hotel no longer functions as the Homewood Suites — or even would be identified legally as the Homewood Suites — the managing company answered the phones last year and again this week as the “Homewood Suites.”
It appears that the lack of notice from the federal government didn’t give Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) leadership any pause.
Unlike their response to parental concerns over the presence of comprehensive sex education (CRE) and critical race theory (CRT) in curriculum, SUSD was quick to act when they learned of the refugee children. AZ Free News reported Sunday on Superintendent Scott Menzel’s announcement promising SUSD would immediately plan to provide educational services and support to around 80 school-aged Afghan children.
Gainey Club security alerted the Scottsdale Police Department (SPD) of the trespass incident. SPD contacted the group managing the hotel, one hired by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), to put the refugees on notice about trespassing at Gainey Ranch.
Locals have begun to report sightings of Afghans panhandling on the streets.
Hey @dougducey just drove by Shea & Scottsdale – on each corner Afghan families panhandling! How did you think this was a good idea? Seriously! @scottsdaleazgov are you going to do something about this?
State Representative Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott) introduced HB2449, a bill to ensure that long-term care facility residents have a right to visitation from clergymen. According to the bill, a care facility must allow clergy visitation if they allow any in-person visitation of any kind, even during a state of emergency. Additionally, care facilities must allow clergy visitation when a patient’s death is imminent and either the patient or their representative requests the visit. The bill covered any health concerns by allowing care facilities to impose health and safety precautions on clergymen, and barring visitors from holding the care facility liable for contracting any communicable diseases during their visit.
If a care facility denies clergy visitation, the requestor or religious organization would have the right to take legal action against the facility. The legislation would apply to assisted living centers, facilities, and homes; hospice; and institutions that provide nursing care or residential care.
Nguyen hearkened back to the restrictive visitation protocols imposed for the better part of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced severe isolation upon the hospitalized and elderly. In a statement, Nguyen insisted that one’s spiritual health bears equal importance to physical health.
“Some of the restrictive visitation policies put in place by facilities during the coronavirus pandemic ended up having consequences far beyond that of protecting patient health,” said Nguyen. “Onerous restrictions detrimentally separated patients from their families, clergy, and others for long periods. For many, spiritual care is as important as health care. It must also be accommodated when providing comfort and support for patients in long-term care facilities. My bill will help ensure that it is.”
Sweeping visitation bans on care facilities led to the rapid physical and mental decline of residents, with families nationwide reporting observations of their loved ones declining rapidly in their “COVID Isolation” and dying of loneliness, broken hearts, and neglect.
The bill attracted nearly all House Republicans as cosponsors with the exception of State Representatives Tim Dunn (R-Yuma), Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley), John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills), Joanne Osborne (R-Goodyear), and Michelle Udall (R-Mesa).
There were several senators who signed on as cosponsors as well: State Senators Paul Boyer (R-Glendale) and Sine Kerr (R-Buckeye).
Nguyen’s bill has yet to be considered by the legislature.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
