by Corinne Murdock | May 17, 2022 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
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.
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.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Mar 9, 2022 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
Tucson High Magnet School (THMS), part of the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD), announced that it would host its first-ever drag show in early May. The THMS employees behind the event are Zobella Vinik and Sunday Hamilton, both THMS counselors that also lead the LGBTQ+ student club, “Q Space,” in which students learn about LGBTQ+ history and are encouraged to explore their identities. Vinik and Hamilton explained on the event announcement that the drag show would occur annually; the last day to sign up for the event was Monday, with a mandatory meeting for participating students on Tuesday.
TUSD spokeswoman Karla Escamilla told AZ Free News that the drag show was a club activity coordinated by TUSD students, not staff. The original social media post about the event identified it as the “THMS Drag Show,” with the username “@tucsonhigh_drag.” Escamilla added that the event not occurring in association with TUSD would constitute as gender expression discrimination.
“The event is a student club activity. It is driven by students, not TUSD staff. This is not an instructional activity and it’s being held on a Saturday. Tucson Unified has a strong policy of nondiscrimination regarding gender expression and restricting the free expression of these high school student club members would be inconsistent with that policy. Participation in the show is voluntary in all capacities (performances, lighting, audio & visual, and outdoor stage set-up),” wrote Escamilla.
The counselors created an Instagram page for the drag show, which followed one other account, THMS counseling, which followed the account in return along with the THMS yearbook account. The counselors also invited students to access a “drag inquiry form” using their Microsoft Office student account. AZ Free News was unable to access the form by press time. The original Instagram post of a flyer announcing the event was removed.
One of the counselors behind the event, Hamilton, is a transgender man whose legal name is “April Hamilton,” once a star student and athlete hailing from Cienega High School. In a podcast during her final year of working as a University of Arizona (UArizona) graduate student within the LGBTQ+ Resource Center, Hamilton asserted that the “binary system” of gender was “violent and harmful.” Hamilton said at the time that she really identified as a “nonbinary gay boy.”
“Black women are definitely seen more as masculine,” asserted Hamilton.
The other counselor, Vinik, serves as the educator support lead for Scholarships A-Z (SA-Z), an organization working to help illegal immigrants earn a higher education and relevant educational scholarships. Among the organization’s biggest donors are A for Arizona, Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, the Ford Foundation, Graesser Foundation, Joe Kalt & Judy Gans Family Foundation, National Justice For Our Neighbors, OneAZ Community Foundation, Resist, and Unitarian Universalist Funding Program.
While earning a degree in Peace and Justice Studies with a minor in Latinx Studies from Tufts University, Vinik organized “A Resolution to Establish Equal Opportunity for Undocumented Students” through the group she presided over, Tufts United for Immigrant Justice (UIJ), in a campaign to make higher education accessible for illegal immigrants at the school. Vinik’s work resulted in the university awarding admission and scholarships to illegal immigrants.
Vinik has also worked as a preschool teacher and a K-12 substitute teacher, and earned a master’s degree in school counseling from New York University last year.
“[Zobella] is working to unlearn practices maintained by white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy and recommits daily to prioritize mental health, community care, and visions for freedom offered by Queer BIPOC organizers,” stated Vinik’s profile.
Neither Hamilton or Vinik responded to our questions on the event by press time.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
