In a heated board meeting on September 10, 2024, Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) Board President Libby Hart-Wells declared that a “supermajority” of parents are against removing certain library books with explicit adult content. This bold statement was a direct response to a letter sent to the board on July 31, 2024, by 13 concerned organizations, with backing from former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas.
The letter spotlighted several books in SUSD libraries rated 4 (Not for Minors) or 5 (Aberrant Content) by BookLooks.org. Among these was “PUSH” by Sapphire, available at Arcadia High School. “PUSH” is notorious for its explicit content and frequent use of strong language. The book’s movie adaptation is rated R, which would be banned in SUSD classrooms under current board policy.
An excerpt from “PUSH” vividly describes incest and sexual abuse, sparking outrage among parents and community members who question its suitability for school libraries. Critics argue that Hart-Wells’ stance is at odds with Arizona laws and SUSD policies, which prohibit providing harmful materials to minors and emphasize parental rights in education.
In response to Hart-Wells’ claim, the X account @ALegalProcess posted:
“If she has a “supermajority” of Scottsdale parents that approve of “Daddy…slap my face, pump my pussy…orgasm in me, call me Fat Mama…my pussy popping like grease…” Then we’re done here. ESAs for everyone.” – ALegalProcess
If she has a "supermajority" of Scottsdale parents that approve of "Daddy…slap my face, pump my pussy…orgasm in me, call me Fat Mama…my pussy popping like grease…" Then we're done here. ESAs for everyone. pic.twitter.com/QxvsDuZMOj
— TheLegalProcess (v3.0 | Instruction Not Therapy) (@ALegalProcess) September 16, 2024
Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) 13-3506 and 13-3501 strictly regulate the distribution of harmful items to minors, while A.R.S. 1-602 and 15-711 grant parents significant control over their children’s upbringing and sex education. Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Island Trees Union Free School No. 26 vs. Pico supports the removal of books from school libraries for non-discriminatory reasons, such as vulgarity or educational unsuitability.
SUSD’s own policy IJL requires that library materials enrich the curriculum and uphold ethical standards, adding another layer of complexity to the board president’s controversial position.
SUSD has previously removed the books “Milk and Honey” and “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” due to their mature sexual content.
SUSD school board candidate Mike Sharkey appears to be part of Hart-Wells’ “supermajority” that supports providing children with inappropriate content. Sharkey launched his campaign on LinkedIn, criticizing parents who advocate for educationally valuable books in school libraries, divisively labeling removal as “book bans.”
In addition to publicly influencing the district’s library book review process, Hart-Wells also interfered with a district committee by repeatedly emailing them to remove “navel” from the list of body parts that children must cover at school.
Outgoing SUSD board president Hart-Wells has not clarified her recent actions; however, critics see the push to allow sexualized clothing and for the availability of hypersexual and vulgar books in school libraries as a concern that parents should be aware of. “This is why it is so important that parents know what their school board candidates stand for,” said an SUSD parent who requested to remain anonymous for concern of retaliation.
In a recent opinion piece, Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) Superintendent Scott Menzel highlights what he considers a long list of accomplishments. According to Superintendent Menzel, the “2023-2024 school year has been marked by significant progress and achievements as we continue to implement initiatives aligned with our Strategic Plan to improve academic achievement and outcomes and prepare students for real-world opportunities in an ever-evolving landscape.”
Let’s delve into the statistics.
Nearly 1,800 seniors graduated from SUSD on May 23rd. During the May 14th Governing Board meeting, 11 seniors were recognized for their academic excellence. In his column, Dr. Menzel highlighted that 51 graduates had received math and science diplomas. While these acknowledged students have rightfully earned praise for their hard work and accomplishments, including receiving various scholarships, what about the remaining 1,800 graduates? How have they fared after receiving a purportedly “world-class, future-focused” education from SUSD?
According to the Arizona Department of Education’s comprehensive school report card system, the overall performance isn’t encouraging. In 2023, when these graduating seniors were juniors, their proficiency levels were assessed, yielding the following results:
Only 63% demonstrated proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA), leaving 37% (or 666) lacking proficiency.
Math proficiency was even lower at 55%, indicating that 45% (or 810) were not proficient.
Science proficiency was the lowest, with a mere 25% demonstrating proficiency, leaving 75% (or 1,350) lacking in this area.
On average, only 48% (or 858 students) of the 1,800 graduates were proficient across all three academic subjects.
Given these outcomes, it seems apt to reconsider the SUSD slogan “Because kids,” as it appears the district may not adequately prioritize the needs of all students. Perhaps it should be restated as “Because some kids.” A school district’s quality should be judged by how well it supports its lowest-performing students.
Yet, despite this concerning academic record, three outgoing members of the current governing board decided, without public input or feedback from district stakeholders, to extend Superintendent Menzel’s contract by two years and grant him a 4% raise.
Dr. Menzel’s emphasis on using class time for destructive “Social Emotional Learning,” “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion,” and gender identity at the expense of teaching academics appears to be falling short for SUSD students, parents, and taxpayers. It’s perhaps unsurprising that parents are increasingly withdrawing their children from SUSD, and staff turnover, including principals, is at an all-time high.
If you share my frustration with the Governing Board’s apparent rubber-stamping of Dr. Menzel’s failing agenda and believe our children deserve better, I urge you to vote for change this November.
Mike Bengert is a husband, father, grandfather, and Scottsdale resident advocating for quality education in SUSD for over 30 years.
The gender support plan, filled out by school staff, caregivers, and students, allows schools to hide students’ identification as transgender from their parents.
The purpose of the document is to “create shared understandings about the ways in which the student’s authentic gender will be accounted for and supported at school.”
The district’s plan to support a minor’s transgender status despite parent support or knowledge appears to be in direct violation of the Arizona Parents’ Bill of Rights, which states that parents have the “right to make all health care decisions for the minor child.”
The form asks for the name the student uses, the name on their birth certificate, their gender identity, and so-called assigned sex at birth.
The “Parent/Guardian Involvement” section on the form measures parent knowledge of their child’s “gender status.” The form asks if parents are aware of the child’s gender status, then offers a scale of 1 to 10 to denote the student’s parents’ level of support.
“If support level is low, what considerations must be accounted for in implementing this plan?” the form asks.
The “Student Safety” section of the form establishes a “go to adult” at the child’s school, and asks “if this person is not available, what should the student do?”
In the “Privacy: Names, Pronouns and Students Records” section, the plan asks, “How will instances be handled in which the incorrect name or pronoun are used by staff members?”
The document asks for the “name/gender marker” on the student’s identity documents and entered into the Student Information System, as well as the name and pronouns to be used when referring to the student.
The form asks about what adjustments need to be made to protect the student’s privacy and who will be the point person for ensuring the adjustments are made.
Scottsdale also uses the document to denote what bathroom the student will use and where they will change clothes, demonstrating that the district would allow biological male students to share rooms, bathrooms, and changing rooms with females.
“What are the expectations regarding rooming for any overnight trip?” the form asks.
The district, which educates 22,000 students, also suggests that biological male student athletes would be allowed to play in girls’ sports.
“In what extracurricular activities or programs will the student be participating (sports, theater, clubs, etc.)?” asks Scottsdale Unified School District.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) voted Tuesday to halve its public meetings for the upcoming school year, reducing special meetings to every other month. The reduction results in a five-meeting difference from this year to the next.
Superintendent Scott Menzel said that the changes arose after several board members had indicated that their meetings required more work than the board should have to handle, and that public meetings ran too long. Menzel said he initially opposed proposed reductions to the calendar. However, Menzel said he countered with the currently-adopted calendar: a “hybrid” solution that took away five public meetings.
“I didn’t think it would be possible to go to one meeting a month, for multiple reasons. One reason is that there are statutory deadlines that we would miss if we only had one meeting a month,” said Menzel.
Vice President Carine Werner opposed the measure. She said it saddened her that there were complaints from her fellow members about the amount of work they had to do, and that the proposed changes hurt transparency. Werner pointed out that they haven’t even discussed all of the work they needed to do under the current schedule with more meetings.
“I understand it’s a lot of work, but it’s also part of everyone’s jobs, just like it’s our jobs to be here to do the work that our governing board does,” said Werner.
Transparency has been a hot-button issue for the SUSD community over the last few years. Just last summer, the district opted to publish the names of those who file public records requests, but redact educators’ names. The push for greater transparency has come in the wake of discoveries that SUSD allowed and defended educators promoting sexualized and race-focused agendas in the classroom.
Werner added that she found it interesting that fellow board members wanted to reduce meetings, yet was willing to add meetings for the academy attended by administrators.
“I can only imagine the amount of work that’s gone into creating the academy and then fulfilling the work for the 40 applicants that get elected to participate in the program,” said Werner.
Werner also noted that parents and community members had expressed grievances over the proposed calendar change.
— Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity (@ScottsdaleUnite) May 3, 2023
Board member Amy Carney pointed out that, by that point in Tuesday’s meeting, they’d been there two hours discussing key issues — an opportunity not possible in the adopted schedule with fewer meetings.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do. I can’t understand how we can cut meetings,” said Carney. “One of the critical places for school boards to work, to retain informed trust of the communities is the conduct of meetings.”
Carney asked whether SUSD had ever cut meetings this drastically. Menzel said he wasn’t aware, deferring to Board President Julie Cieniawski. Cieniawski said that, in the past, the board had held more non-public meetings.
Cieniawski also claimed that the addition of town halls were sufficient for the reduction of public meetings.
“This isn’t anyone’s voice being limited or taken away,” said Cieniawski.
Cieniawski contended with Carney’s insistence that the changes would erode community trust, and claimed that community trust came from engagement with local schools, not the board.
Carney attempted to respond to Cieniawski, who ignored and spoke over her and filed a motion to vote on the calendar. Board member Libby Hart-Wells, who appeared remotely for the meeting, seconded Cieniawski’s motion.
Menzel said that regular meetings should concern core business of the district, and that this calendar would free up the board to voluntarily call special meetings with at least 24-hour notice to focus on specific issues as needed. Menzel noted that he didn’t believe special meetings should take place every month, either.
“I don’t see the calendar as taking away from being able to conduct the work of the district, I think it actually enhances and keeps us focused in a way that the current calendar drifted away from, with the way the schedule is at the present time,” said Menzel.
Hart-Wells said she hadn’t heard any concerns from the community about the meeting restructuring.
Arizona law only requires school boards to have a minimum of one meeting per month.
Watch discussion of the board meeting reduction here:
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) unintentionally provided a parent with blank transgender patient intake forms for a Phoenix hormone and gender transition facility. The district provided the form in response to a public records request for communications concerning Michelle Schulke, a librarian at Desert Mountain High School involved with their Genders & Sexualities Alliance (GSA) Club. Schulke previously made headlines for being included on plans for sexuality and anti-racist programming for minors; one exercise asked minors to question their heterosexuality and if they’d had any “good gay/lesbian lovers.”
The top of the intake forms for the transition facility, Identity Hormones, reads as follows:
“Transgender History/Intake: This form should be done in addition to the regular intake form. It tells us more about you as a transgender person and how we can help you. Identity Hormones uses a Harm Reduction method to help transpeople. We want to keep you safe and healthy. We know that not everyone needs to or can follow the WPATH (formerly HBIGDA) Standards of Care. We will NEVER penalize you or deny you care based on what you tell us on this form. If you feel uncomfortable answering a question, leave it blank.”
The intake forms ask the individual to check all the boxes affiliated with how they identify: man, woman, transgender, nonbinary, FTM, MTF, genderqueer, intersex, and/or other. It then asks at what age the patient felt that their gender identity didn’t match their physical body.
The intake forms also ask about the sexual activities of the individual: if they’ve ever had sex, the gender identities of current and past sexual partners, the last time they had sex with another person, their sexual habits and safety, and if they want to discuss difficulties in their sex life.
SUSD General Counsel Lori Bird told the parent that the form was included in the records request by error, elaborating that the form was originally part of an attachment to an email sent by a parent to Schulke. When the parent asked if they could have the email in question, unredacted, to confirm that claim, Bird responded that no further documents would be provided. The Arizona Daily Independent first reported on this incident.
Several days after publication, the incident was noticed and posted about by the viral Twitter account highlighting leftist culture and ideology, Libs of TikTok. The account owner advised Governor Doug Ducey to investigate.
A parent submitted a public records request for communications involving a GSA teacher at an Arizona school. It included patient intake forms for hormone therapy. The school reportedly claimed it was an “error.”
According to Schulke’s profile on DMHS, the librarian wants to make the school a “diverse and welcoming space for all students.” Schulke is a graduate of the Arizona State University (ASU) Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. Prior to serving as the high school’s librarian, Schulke was an English teacher with the district for over four years.
As AZ Free News reported, Schulke is also one of over 200 Arizona educators who signed a pledge to teach Critical Race Theory (CRT) and all other social justice-oriented curriculum regardless of parental law or consent.
Attorney General Mark Brnovich already announced on Monday that his office sued SUSD for violating open meetings law. The lawsuit sought to remove former board president Jann-Michael Greenburg from the board. In a press release, Brnovich accused SUSD of putting its interests above those of SUSD parents.
“SUSD manipulated public input and silenced the voices of parents in order to advance its own agenda,” said Brnovich. “This type of bad school behavior demands expulsion.”
Today, our office filed a lawsuit seeking to remove Jann-Michael Greenburg from the Scottsdale Unified School Board.
Parents should never be silenced regarding the education of their children. https://t.co/iIrJPn2kBm
