This Slate Is Bad News For Peoria Unified School District

This Slate Is Bad News For Peoria Unified School District

By Tiffany Benson |

Voters will forever be disadvantaged if they keep believing school board races are “nonpartisan.” As a formality, progressive candidates David Sandoval, Melissa Girmscheid, and Mikah Dyer are registered with no party declared. Don’t be fooled by this. They fully intend to unleash a far-left agenda if they secure seats on the Peoria Unified Board of Education this November.

All three candidates are endorsed by the sleazy, nonprofit hack Save Our Schools Arizona (SOS). SOS is a radical, union-loving, anti-parent organization with a special hatred for school choice. They even dedicated an entire page to demonizing empowerment scholarship accounts (ESA). One bullet point under “Get the Facts,” says, “The minimum ESA voucher is $500 higher than the state per pupil funding to district schools.”

To that I say, the year-over-year state ranking of 48 to 50 confirms that our public schools are a failed government experiment. At the same time, by some estimates, Arizona ranks #1 in school choice. One source said the average homeschooled student scores 15-30% higher on standardized academic achievement tests. So, it appears that $500 is well spent.

In April 2024, a columnist for The Washington Post found that Arizona spends about $13,500 per public school student compared to an ESA average of $7,143. This prompted the writer to declare, “[I]f everyone opted for ESAs, the state would save money.” Wow, that’s a difference of nearly $6,400 in favor of parents’ choice! I promise not to hold this little discrepancy against SOS members who graduated from Arizona public schools (especially since recent state test scores show math proficiency at 34%).

Board candidate Dyer—who graduated from PUSD in May 2024—is also anti-parent. Of course, this is a rite of passage for teenagers. In an article by The Courier, Dyer spoke against the conservative parent organization Moms for Liberty, a group that was founded around the time Dyer “graduated” from middle school. Dyer told the Courier that he thinks students know how to best serve the majority of their classmates.

Sorry, Dyer, kids don’t know what’s best for kids, and neither do government schools. This is why we have parental rights legislation affirming the ultimate authority of primary caregivers. Children don’t make final decisions on anything they’re not mature enough or financially stable enough to manage on their own, especially K-12 education.

In the same article, Dyer claimed that students were “not worried about what’s happening in the restrooms” on campus. This statement effectively silenced all the PUSD students who spoke out at school board meetings last year and lined up to protest the cross-dressing boy who was allowed to use the girls’ bathrooms. I remember Dyer attending those board meetings. He even made public comments in opposition to those students’ concerns. So, I’d say he’s out of touch with his adolescent peers.

Not only is Dyer’s worldview shaped by a school district that prefers “rainbow libraries” over academics, he’s also campaigning alongside current PUSD board member David Sandoval—a leftist who discriminates against Christians. Sandoval’s claim to fame is his tenure on the board. Despite winning a seat in 2016, and re-election in 2020, he has little to no achievements in the ways of sound district policies, student safety, or academic improvement.

Sandoval voted in favor of permitting males to invade female spaces. He has no issue giving unlicensed, psycho-emotional grifters access to students’ mental health. In a hostile climate of school shootings and bullying, Sandoval doesn’t consider Student Resource Officers a high priority. If teachers and staff want to bypass state law and travel for CRT/DEI/SEL conferences, Sandoval’s vote is guaranteed. Circling back to math proficiency, within a year of Sandoval’s swearing-in, PUSD students were testing at a failure rate of 49%. On his watch, that dropped to 37% by 2023. Notwithstanding various uncontrollable factors and administrative issues, Sandoval is fundamentally lacking in leadership capabilities.

Board candidate Melissa Girmscheid is a cut above the rest having previously taught math and science in PUSD. She’s running a clean campaign to the untrained eye, but let’s be real: Girmscheid’s ideological roots and the party’s agenda won’t let her focus solely on academics. Her “endorsements and distinctions” tell the story of a candidate beholden to hazardous teachers’ unions, LGBTQ and sex-ed advocacy groups, and a “social change” movement that exists to “promote feminist ideals.” Furthermore, Girmscheid earned a seal of approval from “the only organization in the nation focused on recruiting, training, and electing Democrats with a background in science to public office.”  

Earlier this year, the trio participated in a candidate forum hosted by Secular AZ—an anti-God club fixated on mythical interpretations of “separation of church and state.” During the interview, all three candidates gave a resounding “yes” to the question of reintroducing sex education curriculum. They agreed that PUSD educators should be discussing “reproductive health” and “consent” with students as young as 10 years old. There’s only one word to describe an adult who thinks about innocent children in this context: evil.

If Peoria residents want a school district that’s centered on safety, academics, and fiscal responsibility—Jeff Tobey and Janelle Bowles are the trustworthy candidates. We must reject any contender who will prioritize special interests above students, infringe upon parental rights, and plunge our education system further into darkness.

I’ve done my due diligence by bringing all this to your attention. Spread the word.

Tiffany Benson is the Founder of Restore Parental Rights in Education. Her commentaries on education, politics, and Christian faith can be viewed at Parentspayattention.substack.com and Bigviewsmallwindow.com.

Parents: Are You Paying Attention To Your Public Schools?

Parents: Are You Paying Attention To Your Public Schools?

By Tiffany Benson |

Positive education experiences from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s are dwindling away. Today, students are facing unprecedented onslaughts of inappropriate attention and criminal behaviors at the hands of district representatives and staff members. Public schools are no longer safe for children. These government indoctrination camps now exist to create and perpetuate cycles of crises while producing a victimized citizenry that’s controlled by fear.

Child abuse is increasing at alarming rates as a growing number of educators and administrators commit atrocious acts against their students. These incidents range from emotional to psychological to illicit sexual encounters. In some cases, predators are impregnated by their victims and vice versa. If that’s not enough, Biden’s new Title IX regulations effectively remove privacy and safety barriers between males and females on school campuses.

According to a report from The Federalist, one in 10 students are sexually abused by teachers. These findings agree with a 2017 case study from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service that revealed 10% of K-12 students will fall prey to sexual impropriety by a school employee. Furthermore, CBS News quoted an estimate from the Department of Education (DOE) that said “12% of all public school students in the United States experience sexual misconduct by the time they graduate high school.”

The Federalist declared:

“Every day millions of parents put their children under the care of public school teachers, administrators, and support staff. Their trust, however, is frequently broken by predators…in what appears to be the largest ongoing sexual abuse scandal in our nation’s history. Given the roughly 50 million students in U.S. K-12 schools each year, the number of students who have been victims of sexual misconduct by school employees is probably in the millions each decade…For a variety of reasons…elected or appointed officials, along with unions or lobbying groups…have fought to keep the truth hidden from the public.”

For clarification: Out of 50 million children enrolled in public schools each year—between five and six million are sexually abused by a teacher or district staff member! Unfortunately, these statistics most likely represent a mere fraction of sex crimes that are never reported or investigated.

According to CBS, Redlands Unified School District (RUSD) paid out over $45 million to settle multiple cases of child sexual abuse dating back to the late 1990s. The report said the district repeatedly failed to take action against predators on their payroll, opting instead to relocate these criminals to different schools or nearby districts. The CBS documentary “Pledge of Silence” further exposed RUSD’s cover up of rape and sexual abuse that occurred between 1999 and 2022.

The DOE is still investigating hundreds of sex crimes and Title IX violations that allegedly occurred on school campuses across the nation.

District policies and school libraries are breeding grounds for sexual grooming and child abuse. Parents Defending Education compiled a list of U.S. school districts that actively implement “transgender support plans” and similar gender-based practices. These programs serve as de facto policies and guidelines that enable government employees to engage minors in intimate conversations without parental knowledge or consent. Many students also have access to pornographic reading materials during educational hours.

Mesa Public Schools (MPS) Board President Marcie Hutchison and Superintendent Andi Fourlis have overseen an unknown number of social gender transitions via the district’s secretive transgender support plan. The plan—which was implemented in 2015 and includes a student’s choice of bathrooms—resulted in a recently dismissed lawsuit. Furthermore, a general search of the MPS virtual library reveals numerous LGBT-themed texts including:

Under the leadership of Superintendent Scott Menzel and a radical majority governing board, Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) supplies students with novels that depict young people as victims of rape, incest, sex trafficking, and graphic homosexual activities. The reality of these situations is irrelevant to the fact that parents/guardians have the authority to decide at what age or maturity level their children are introduced to these topics. The existence of such nasty books in K-12 schools draws attention to the motives of district officials who enable and entertain discussions about multiple sexuality disorders, sodomy, and prostitution among children.

The screenshot below features several titles with an “adult” interest level that appear available on SUSD’s virtual library page.

These examples don’t scratch the surface of what’s being forced on children through public education. We are witnessing a federally funded, trauma-infused, demoralization of the next generation. Not nearly enough parents are outraged by this tragedy. Not nearly enough students have been pulled from government indoctrination camps, though some promising trends are starting to emerge. 

According to the Heritage Foundation’s “State Report Card,” Arizona ranks #1 for education choice and #2 overall in education freedom. The Washington Post said, “ESAs provide an average of $7,143 for parents of children leaving traditional public schools…Arizona spends about $13,500 per public school student; if everyone opted for ESAs, the state would save money.

As leftist politicians work hard to demonize and destroy parents’ choice, it’s not recommended that families solely rely on ESAs. There may be more suitable and secure funding alternatives that can withstand volatile election cycles. Any amount of time spent researching this topic will be worthwhile. Still, as the door of opportunity stands wide open, we should do everything we can to intervene in the lives of our youngest, most vulnerable, and innocent members of society.

Parents: it’s not only your right, but also your responsibility to proactively defend your kids against the evil that’s manifesting in our education system. Use your authority to seize control of your child’s mental and physical health by removing them from dangerous, predator-infested public schools. You won’t regret the sacrifices you make to spare your sons and daughters from becoming the prey of wolves in teachers’ clothes.

Tiffany is the Founder of Restore Parental Rights in Education, a grassroots advocate for families, educators, and school board members. For nearly two decades, Tiffany’s creative writing pursuits have surpassed most interests as she continues to contribute to her blog Bigviewsmallwindow.com. She encourages everyday citizens to take an active role in defending and preserving American values for future generations.