Mesa Public Schools (MPS) faces a lawsuit for policies resulting in the secret transitioning of children’s genders and tracking their gender transition journeys while restricting parental knowledge or consent.
The amended lawsuit, filed on Tuesday by America First Legal (AFL) on behalf of MPS Governing Board member Rachel Walden and the mother of one alleged victim, accused MPS of unlawfully hiding policy and evidence of their transitioning of children from parents. Arizona’s Constitution and Parents’ Bill of Rights acknowledge that it is the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children.
The amended complaint contained new information revealing that at least one MPS school maintained a “parent concealment cheat sheet”: a spreadsheet tracking the gender journeys of over a dozen students as well as information on which of their parents were supportive or needed to be kept in the dark.
/1 🚨BREAKING – America First Legal Sues Mesa Public Schools in Amended Lawsuit, Adding Mother Whose Daughter’s Gender Was Transitioned Without Parental Knowledge or Consent, and After Obtaining New Evidence Proving Scale of Deception
MPS policy of transitioning children without parental knowledge or consent, the Transgender Support Plan (TSP), dates back to 2015, according to the lawsuit. The policy asks the children for permission to notify their parents of their gender transition: should the child decline, MPS requires its employees to keep the transition hidden from parents.
MPS has long denied the allegations that TSP occurs without parental notification. Last June, MPS Superintendent Andi Fourlis dismissed the allegations in a public letter.
According to a once-public document students were made to fill out to initiate a TSP, the Support Plan for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students, students were given the option to deny permission of disclosure of their gender transitions to their parents. MPS removed that support plan from public view following community outcry in 2022. The district then issued an updated version of the support plan with a loophole to parental disclosure: name and gender changes were to be requested through Synergy — the district’s online database — in order for parents to be notified. Should Synergy not be updated, parents would not be notified.
AFL noted that this loophole contradicted Fourlis’ claim, which ultimately resulted in the gender transition of the eighth-grade girl at the heart of AFL’s lawsuit, Megan Doe, to a male by school staff without the knowledge or consent of Doe’s mother, Jane.
“[S]chool employees encouraged Megan to lie to her parents and helped her to do so, which harmed the parent-child relationship and delayed Megan from receiving needed mental health counseling,” stated AFL.
Per the lawsuit, Jane’s attempts to learn of what had happened to her daughter were rebuffed by school staff and leadership in 2022. The principal at her daughter’s school refused to disclose further records or information about the conversations school staff had with her daughter, and refused to comply with Jane’s demand to cease referring to her daughter as a boy and by a boy’s name.
“The principal admitted that school personnel intentionally had not changed Megan’s name in the [Synergy] system to avoid any notification being sent to Jane and that there were no plans to change Megan’s name in the system,” stated the lawsuit. “The principal told Jane that even if Jane had asked to be notified about any name changes, pronoun changes, or other choices related to a transgender identity by her child, it was official MPS policy not to tell parents and that school personnel would not notify Jane about any further developments related to these issues.”
It was only after this ordeal that Jane discovered Megan’s struggles and, reportedly, was able to resolve them through conversations with her mother and a psychotherapist. The lawsuit stated that this maternal intervention resulted in Megan’s issues being “completely resolved” within a month.
“[Megan] is now very comfortable presenting herself as a female and using her given name and is thriving in high school,” stated AFL.
AFL claimed to also have discovered, upon information and belief, that MPS employees regularly ignored the requirement to notify parents after students began transitioning genders in school.
AFL further issued evidence of a school counselor, Emily Wulff at Kino Junior High, instructing school staff in an email last March to not disclose gender transitions to anyone outside those allowed within the support plan. Wulff’s email made no mention of parental notification.
In a follow-up email, Wulff clarified that the purpose of the nondisclosure policy was to “protect outing students who are not ready to come out to peers or family members.” Wulff specified that the support plan was designed to keep gender transitions a secret from certain families.
“The main takeaways would be to make sure when contacting home to use their preferred name home,” wrote Wulff. “For example, if I have a student that goes by Emily and she/her pronouns that I need to call home for, and in their plan it says to use their birth name and biological pronouns home, [be] sure you do not out the student by using their preferred name and pronouns they use at school.”
Last March, Wulff also directed school employees to keep up a spreadsheet tracking the gender transition journeys of 17 students, titled “Pronoun Preference,” with notes declaring whether a student’s parents and family were aware of their transition.
For three students whose parents were documented as “unaware,” Wulff’s spreadsheet directed school employees to hide their preferred names and pronouns. For another seven students whose parents were documented as somewhat aware or partially supportive, the spreadsheet instructed staff to use the students’ birth names and gender to mask the extent of their transition.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Every school district that hosts Black Lives Matter at School (“BLM at School”) perpetuates discrimination while committing intellectual fraud against our youth. Parents and taxpayers should be outraged at the National Education Association for its endorsement and promotion of this race propaganda in public schools.
BLM at School’s parent organization, Black Lives Matter (“BLM”), is a civil rights hack with virtually no ties to the black community. At its core, BLM is anti-God, anti-America, anti-traditional family, anti-police, and anti-white people. Rather than confront overwhelming statistics of black-on-black homicide, BLM’s mission is to “eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on black communities by the state and vigilantes.” BLM claims police brutality is an existential threat to black people. Thus, when black criminals die at the hands of white cops, looting and rioting are perceived as morally justified.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there’s no significant difference in the amount of whites versus blacks who encounter police on an annual basis. Despite representing just 13.8% of our population, a 2019 FBI report shows individuals within the black community committed the highest numbers of robbery and murder. These perpetrators are not victims.
BLM at School advocates for racial equality in public education with four demands:
“End zero tolerance implement restorative justice”
“Hire and retain black teachers”
“Mandate black history and ethnic studies”
“Counselors not cops”
Anyone in their right mind knows this absurd call to action has nothing to do with K-12 instruction.
“Restorative justice” says, if someone is attacked (e.g. sexual assault, violence, bullying), the victim must engage in “peace circles” and “problem solve” with their abuser. That’s insane. “Hire black teachers” is a directive to practice racial discrimination on its face. If an applicant—who happens to be black—is not qualified to teach, don’t hire them. “Ethnic studies” is Critical Race Theory (CRT), which is Marxism. And last I checked it’s resource officers, not counselors, who keep children safe at school.
Race propaganda in the United States is intimately linked to the Civil Rights Movement and its most notable icon, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Because he was a powerful and effective orator, sincere conservatives and sincere leftists quote Dr. King when the need arises. His rhetoric fundamentally improved societal conditions for (black) Americans though he was an economic socialist who believed in reparations and the welfare state. Dr. King was also a supporter of affirmative action with close ties to the radical activist and communist sympathizer, Jesse Jackson. Judge for yourself whether these facts discredit Dr. King or simply provide a more grounded view of history.
Of course, less than a century ago, many parts of society were segregated and in need of civil rights reform. A hundred years prior to that, the deadliest war in our nation’s history served as the catalyst to abolish slavery. No doubt, the United States had problems and progress was slow. Still, these are not present-day issues. Full-blooded, black Americans living in 2024 are not slavery survivors, and no school-aged child has experienced legitimate, pre-1964 discrimination. It’s also important to grasp that serious threats of white supremacy and systemic oppression throughout history are primarily credited to the Democratic Party.
Rather than teach falsified history through a CRT lens, educators should give students all the facts and allow them to form their own opinions. Make sure they know that BLM was wholly inspired by a radical Marxist, racist, white male named Eric Mann. Talk about the Transatlantic Slave Trade that was facilitated by powerful Africans selling off their countrymen. Inform young minds that one of the earliest accounts of slave ownership in America is attributed to a freed black man named Anthony Johnson. Explain that black people make up a mere 14% of our population due to Margaret Sanger’s genocidal Negro Project (a.k.a. Planned Parenthood) that lives on under the guise of “reproductive rights.”
Much of our nation’s K-12 curriculum is polluted with “The 1619 Project”—a debunked, victimhood manifesto authored by Nikole Hannah-Jones. I listened to the entire podcast from The New York Times and found it to be a gaslighting falsehood that lacked intellectual prowess. Sure, I was gravely disheartened that America’s sinful past provided substance for her sadistic narrative. And yet, it never entered my mind to loot a Target or torch a police station. Thankfully, my emotions are not easily triggered by someone else’s perception of reality.
By Hannah-Jones’ account, every part of America—our Founders, the Constitution, capitalism, healthcare, education—is infected with white supremacy. Thus, black people will never succeed unless current systems of morality, economics, and government are overthrown by toxic anti-white legislation. “Diversity” and “equity” are now propagandist terms intended to make racism palatable and undetectable. You have to be deeply deceived or willfully ignorant to believe “The 1619 Project” or BLM created positive outcomes for black Americans.
In “Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black and White,” David Barton wrote:
“Today, black history is too often presented just from a southern viewpoint, describing only slavery and its atrocities as well as the numerous civil rights violations that continued well beyond the end of slavery. Yet there was also what may be called a northern viewpoint with many praiseworthy events; and to be completely accurate in the telling of black history, the story must be told not only of the martyrs but also of the heroes…”
Barton goes on to list William Nell, Carter Woodson, Benjamin Quarles, Joseph Wilson, Booker T. Washington, and Edward Johnson. To this esteemed lineup, I’ll add the brilliant and powerful contributions of Dr. Thomas Sowell, Col. Allen West, Dr. Carol Swain, Dr. Ben Carson, Winsome Earle-Sears, and the like. Acknowledging the achievements of prominent black Americans shouldn’t be relegated to the shortest month or reduced to skin color. Authentic diversity (of thought) should be celebrated by everyone year-round. Lastly, invoking the phrase “black lives matter,” even while attempting to dissociate from the organization, is an affront to this overwhelming fact:
All human lives—born and unborn—matter.
Educators with integrity, who care about future generations, will refuse to disseminate BLM at School’s segregationist propaganda. Tell students the truth.
Black History is American History.
Tiffany Benson 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 blogBigviewsmallwindow.com. She encourages everyday citizens to take an active role in defending and preserving American values for future generations.
Residents in Arizona public school districts are engaged in a spiritual and moral battle. Some are determined to advance an insidious LGBT agenda, but I choose to fight on the side of God and those who love children. So, when left-wing journalist Richard Ruelas published this sleazy article, I felt it was my duty as a truth-teller to respond in earnest.
First, I’ll clarify for equity cheerleader Ruelas that I didn’t coin the expression “pedophiles by proxy” during the Higley Unified School District (HUSD) board meeting. I initially used the phrase while exposing the shenanigans of Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) Board President David Sandoval and Board Members Bill Sorensen and Melissa Ewing, who refused to read a physical privacy policy. The trio also failed to properly handle community concerns when public records revealed a district attorney advised Executive Director of Education, Christina Lopezlira, to inform administrators of “emerging practices for supporting transgender students,” and to “amicably address the competing interests and rights” of parents who object.
During the Title IX presentation on March 9, 2023, PUSD legal advisor, Lisa Anne Smith, confessed that SCOTUS (still) has not ruled on any case that permits or mandates biological boys and girls to share private spaces at school. This fact was reiterated by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne.
Furthermore, HUSD Board President Tiffany Shultz and Board Member Amanda Wade mocked a proposal for an enhanced dress code, agreeing that it would “sexualize students’ bodies.” Shultz and Wade also agreed that educators’ attempts to regulate indecent and disruptive clothing was a “waste of time.” Wade even advocated for removing the word “immoral” from policies that govern electronic communications between students and district employees. It’s absurd how public servants dismiss concerns from parents and teachers who want to protect children.
Reading Ruelas’ junk mail reminded me of my conversation with Liberty Elementary School District (LESD) Board President Michael Todd. He told me the conservative majority board was “trying to clean house” and that I was “late reporting” on his cross-dressing colleague, Paul Bixler. At this point, Bixler had served on the board two years, had already achieved state-level exposure during a House Education Committee meeting and was trending nationally after invading a female locker room. Todd assured me, “I’ve not ever seen Paul go into a women’s restroom on school grounds. Did I see him go into one at a hotel at a conference, yes I did…but that’s not at our schools.” Hmm…I guess I’ll never know (or care) what spooked Mr. Todd. Suffice to say, it was highly suspicious and unprofessional when this duly elected official threatened to resign over a belated news story.
The Ruelas article also sparked frustrations over responses from Chandler Unified School District Board Member Kurt Rohrs. Parents I spoke with said his position on allowing male and female students to share private spaces is unclear. Ruelas claims Rohrs said “he would not ask the board to enact a [bathroom] policy because it would violate federal law,” and that “the discussion about the issue isn’t rooted in fact.” Rohrs is quoted directly stating, “‘Parents are reacting this way because they are fearful. It’s clearly not rational. It’s emotional.’” At a glance, Rohrs’ comments come across dismissive and calloused. But keep in mind that Ruelas is a pretentious jester on a mission to distract everyone from the severe consequences of transgender ideology.
What happened twice in Loudoun County is a fact. What happened in Appomattox County is a fact. What happened in Vermont is a fact. What happened in Oklahoma is a fact. What happened in New Mexico is a fact. What happened in California is a fact. What’s happening in Arizona is a fact. So, I’d say irrational describes the diabolic social experiment that’s been deployed against America’s youth. And I’d say, if your kids are exposed to or assaulted by a member of the opposite sex on school grounds, you should be emotional about it! Ring every district phone, fill every inbox, darken every doorway, occupy every board meeting, alert the media, pull your kids out, sue that government-funded hotbed. Somebody is bound to get the message.
In general, board members looking for “middle ground” on school bathrooms are in for a turbulent 2024. When it comes to the safety and innocence of children, I implore you not to run as a conservative if you’re going to govern like a moderate. Your credibility will be shot, and your career will end in disgrace. There’s no such thing as moderate morality. You either have dignity and common sense, or you want boys and girls to share private spaces at school. You either believe parents have rights in public education, or you’re pro-government. You’ve either read the Title IX transcript and know that the corrupt Ninth Circuit ruling needs to be overturned, or you’re not up for the fight.
Of course, fiscal responsibility, increasing enrollments, and improving test scores are important. But these are not primary concerns for most parents. Preventing rape, violent assaults, hypersexualized curriculum, secret teacher-student relationships, and other exploitive behaviors are the leading issues in education right now. If these matters directly affect your district but you’re not in the majority (or you have a dissenting opinion), the best you can do is make coherent public comments, introduce constitutional policies, and cast votes that convey logical consistency to your constituents.
The worst you can do is entrust the verity of your statements to a narrative pirate like Richard Ruelas.
I want to highlight the passion and prowess of one board member who persisted in taking corrupt colleagues and administrators to task for their reckless policies and predatory practices. On November 21, 2023, America First Legal (AFL) announced that Mesa Public Schools (MPS) Board Member Rachel Walden is suing her district. The Arizona Sun Times reported that AFL “is representing Walden in her Maricopa County Superior Court lawsuit against [MPS] and Superintendent Andi Fourlis, which alleges they schemed to circumvent the Arizona Parents’ Bill of Rights after the community learned it was blocking parental notifications.” The MPS transgender support plan—adopted in 2015 without parental knowledge or consent—is dangerous, unlawful, and immoral. To grasp how radical MPS has become, read the Sun Times article alongside Walden’s opinion editorial and Mesa school board candidate Ed Steele’s analysis.
Teachers and Counselors should NOT suggest putting children on a transgender support plan but that is happening. Parents will not be notified. This is the meeting last night. I was prohibited from talking to the district lawyer under "legal advice." pic.twitter.com/qUPWZyCgAa
— Rachel Walden – Candidate AZ Corp Comm (@waldenpatriot) May 11, 2023
Using public education to push transgenderism on children is pure evil. Discussions on human sexuality are the primary responsibility of parents, not the government. Swapping clothes and pronouns, taking puberty blockers, and undergoing sex reassignment surgeries does not change the biblical, biological, and binary reality that dysphoric people are trying to escape. Moreover, unrestricted access to private spaces with members of the opposite sex is not a prescription for gender confusion. And pretending to be something you’re not will never cure suicidal ideations. Despite the U.S. Department of Education’s misinterpretation of the Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia case, and their ludicrous Title IX amendment proposal, forcing male and female students to share bathrooms is not the law of the land.
Parents, when hardened LGBT activists say they’re coming for your children, believe them. Invest time researching this issue and avoid gaslighting anecdotes like those propagated by the Arizona Republic. Before you openly chastise any board member, make sure you have sound knowledge and understanding of the Constitution, state laws, and district policies. Let’s continue to stand up together and push back against this present darkness.
I’ll see you in the boardrooms.
For nearly two decades, Tiffany Benson’s creative writing pursuits have surpassed all other interests. When she’s not investigating Kennedy Assassination conspiracy theories, she enjoys journaling and contributing to her blog Bigviewsmallwindow.com. She encourages average citizens to take on an active role in the grassroots fight for future generations.
K-12 schools in Arizona are currently flush with cash. Between billions in increased state spending from the legislature, COVID cash from the feds, and declining student populations, district school spending is at an all time high. But next week, voters across Arizona will decide the fate of 23 bond requests from schools that total a historic $3.5 billion.
This level of borrowing being sought by local school districts is both unwise and unnecessary, especially given the large amounts of money that have been pumped into the system. State funding has increased so quickly in the last 36 months that the legislature decided to override the constitutional spending limit the last two fiscal years. This is funding over and above the formulaic cap in the constitution that exists to protect taxpayers from runaway and unaccountable spending.
And contrary to what you probably hear from teachers’ unions and their sycophant friends in the media, lawmakers continue to increase school spending with every state budget. With all this new spending, district schools receive more money per student than ever before, and it’s not even close.
Not included in the state spending cap, however, are federal funds. And when schools were shut down during COVID, the federal government poured trillions of dollars into them. Many of the school districts asking their taxpayers to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars in bonds next week are still sitting on a pile of unspent COVID cash…
As Arizona’s largest public school district, Mesa Unified School District is a critical case study for the future of K-12 funding, particularly in a state that champions competition and choice for its families. Despite headlines boasting of population growth across the state, the nationwide decline in childbirths and cost-of-living increases will weigh heavily on district enrollment and balance sheets for years to come.
While solving these policy issues is admittedly outside the scope of superintendents and governing boards, how districts adjust to these changes remains within their control. In the case of Mesa USD, the district faces an existential crisis in enrollment that will almost certainly require consolidation and closure among its 78 schools over the next 10-20 years. Furthermore, the district’s statewide assessment performance leaves much to be desired, with just 38% and 31% of Mesa USD students achieving proficiency in English Language Arts and Math, respectively.
Next month, Mesa taxpayers will have an opportunity to make their voices heard and rein in the district’s spendthrift ways by rejecting a $500 million bond and an override continuation that, if passed, would allow the already overstretched district to exceed its revenue control limit by 15% for another seven years.
When voters last approved a bond for Mesa USD in 2018, they did so with a margin of <1% and at a cost of $300 million to taxpayers. A year later, the district was beset with allegations of financial impropriety and steep administrative costs, leading to the resignation of the district’s superintendent. The poor transparency on the part of the school board in communicating the issue to the public further underscores the lack of taxpayer accountability. Furthermore, over the last three years, Mesa USD received over $245 million in federal pandemic relief funds, with hundreds of millions still unspent.
Nevertheless, Mesa USD’s pitch to taxpayers remains unchanged, and approval of the bond and continuation of the override will result in little more than throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars in costly capital projects for underutilized campuses and unsustainable personnel costs.
Demography Is Destiny
In the early 2000s, Mesa boasted a population of over 400,000 residents. During the same period, Mesa USD reached its peak enrollment at over 87,000 students during the 2002-2003 school year. Today, the city is home to nearly 510,000 people, yet the city’s population growth over the last 20 years never trickled down to Mesa USD’s enrollment. Today, the district serves fewer students than it did in 1990 when Mesa had just 290,000 residents.
An additional cause for alarm comes from the pronounced decline in Mesa USD’s Kindergarten-6th grade enrollment. For large, comprehensive school districts like Mesa, enrollment in feeder schools is an important signal of a district’s future headcount. Over the last 20 years, 16 of Mesa USD’s elementary schools have lost over 40% of their students. In the same period, the district’s junior high schools saw an average decline of 50% of their enrollment.
Source: Mesa Public Schools – Demographics Report 2021-2022
As another signal of its unpopularity, Mesa USD is one of the state’s largest sources of ESA students, which has its most substantial adoption rates in the elementary grade levels. Given the expansion of ESAs and charter schools, Mesa USD will continue competing for a depleting student pool. In turn, a decline in enrollment necessitates a reduction in operational expenses, which Mesa USD has rebuffed in favor of taxpayer-funded bailouts.
Around 77% of school districts in Maricopa County have one or more overrides in effect. While East Valley voters have typically displayed enthusiasm for K-12 bonds and overrides in the past, the powerful impact of free market principles via ESAs makes the decision different today. With nearly 70,000 Arizona families using ESAs today, enthusiasm for the program has made it larger than any school district in the state, with the additional benefit of not requiring bonds or overrides.
To realize the substantial cost savings from ESAs, a corresponding change is required from public schools in rightsizing their districts by adjusting their property and personnel costs. In preparing for the inevitable, Mesa USD must take steps now to address under-capacity and explore the sale of its real estate before requesting additional funds from taxpayers. In rejecting this bond and override, Mesa voters sidestep a lousy deal and send a clear message about taxpayer accountability.
Arman Sidhu is a lifelong Arizona resident and previously worked in K-12 education as a principal and teacher. He currently leads a nonprofit microschool.
