Depravity abounds in Arizona’s public education system. From Buckeye, to Phoenix, to Tucson—and many school districts in between—the Valley is infested with radical board members, sleazy administrators, and predatory educators. All of these are working overtime to usurp parental rights and corrupt the next generation.
When creating the following list, I took into consideration cases of child sexual exploitation, race- and gender-based curricula, dangerous bathroom policies and failing test scores. Readers are cautioned against ranking these districts from “worst” to “best.” The list is purely based on the volume and severity of complaints I’ve personally investigated—seven is a very modest number!
Without further ado, here is my top seven list of Arizona’s worst school districts:
1. Mesa Public Schools. In 2015, MPS adopted a secret transgender support plan to aid in the social and sexual transition of minor students without parental knowledge. Shout out to Board Member Rachel Walden for exposing the plan. In the summer of 2023, a majority of the board, led by President Marcie Hutchinson, approved contracts for an unvetted suicide prevention program as well as Brain Solutions—a network of psychiatric clinics that appear to have no medical physicians on staff. In an alleged attempt to bypass public discussion, Hutchinson violated Open Meeting Law 7.7.5 by arranging both contracts under the Consent Agenda. Parents are in danger of losing their children to the LGBTQ+ agenda that’s overtaking this district.
2. Washington Elementary School District. In an unprecedented display of bigotry and lawlessness, WESD board members voted 5-0 to terminate student-teacher contracts with Arizona Christian University (ACU). Despite an 11-year, incident-free partnership with the college, Board Member Tamillia Valenzuela—a cat ear-wearing individual who spurns the Pledge of Allegiance—motioned to cancel ACU due to the organization’s stance on traditional marriage. Valenzuela and her vile counterpart, Board Member Nikkie Whaley, also spontaneously erupt into racist rants against their colleagues, including the night Whaley was unseated from the presidency. While the fully reinstated student-teacher contracts offer a degree of hope, past and present board members have resolved to highlight and celebrate alternative sexualities in prepubescent children. Therefore, WESD remains an unsafe and morally corrupt district.
3. Tucson Unified School District. TUSD is an unforgivable case of sexual perversion and abuse that should send every loving parent over the edge. Notwithstanding one Tucson Magnet High School (TMHS) counselor who organized the first student-led drag show on campus—and was later arrested for sexually assaulting a minor—Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo sought legal advice from Michael Areinoff to host a second event in April 2023. Another counselor and drag show organizer, “Sunday” Hamilton, serves as the point of contact for TMHS’s Q Space club. Board President Ravi Shah, who referred to drag shows as “art,” bragged about attending with his minor children and encouraged community support in the exploitation of gender confused students. Meanwhile, TUSD students are testing below 40% proficiency in math and reading across all grade levels.
4. Catalina Foothills School District. Sadly, this entire board of education, led by President Eileen Jackson, continually proves to be anti-parent, anti-student safety, and anti-common sense. In matters of sex and gender, CFSD has side-stepped parental rights at least since 2021, and in March 2023, Jackson banned all bathroom policy discussions from future agendas. One month later, several concerned CFSD citizens were locked out of the board meeting as radical activists occupied at half capacity to protest the permanent, binary reality of human sexuality. CFSD educators also feel at liberty to bypass parental consent and privately discuss gender ideologies with minor students. Shout out to the Center for Excellence in Public Schools for standing firm amid the onslaught of debauchery in this district.
5. Scottsdale Unified School District. SUSD is a never-ending nightmare of agenda-driven, moral violations. From covert gender-identity student clubs to hidden pronoun surveys, students are constantly bombarded with perversion and secular humanism. Superintendent Scott Menzel—who infamously called white people “problematic”—is the mastermind behind the leftist ideologies and corruption that appear as a recurring theme on the Scottsdale Unites media page. Board President Julie Cieniawski and Board Member Libby Hart-Wells are known to display a lack of decorum as they bully, interrupt, and chastise their colleagues…and anyone else they can’t control. What a shame that Scottsdale’s next generation is being raised by wolves.
6. Chandler Unified School District. During the CUSD board meeting on July 12, 2023, the CFO’s report revealed a steady decline of student enrollments, prompting Board Member Kurt Rohrs to ask:“Why don’t parents want to send their kids to our schools?” The superintendent astutely pointed to parental choice while Board President Jason Olive—in an apparent case of narcissism and willful ignorance—stated: “It sounds like there’s a lot of parents who just don’t know any better…” Perhaps Olive slept through CUSD employees encouraging minors to attend gender utopia workshops, and the district’s alleged cover up of a teacher who reportedly sexually assaulted multiple students. Of course, only the best school district promotes immorality and graduates half its students without basic math and reading skills.
7. Peoria Unified School District. This anti-parental rights district is the epitome of corruption and subversion. Since my last op-ed, interim Superintendent Kevin Molino is now overseeing plans for a third bathroom—an open concept, transgender-friendly facility that offers biological females no protection. Rather than announce the plan, Molino is conducting private meetings with select parents, administrators, and constituents (my meeting with him was a waste of time). Molino acts as if he’s listening but assures community members there’s “nothing he can do” to help during his short-term appointment. Well, at least he’s not lying. Meanwhile, the biological boy—with unrestricted access to female spaces on campus—allegedly assaulted a fellow student. Most parents also don’t know that Chief Student Service Officer Jason Nuttall is researching how to effectively profile children and report data to the federal government via MTSS (“multi-tiered system of support”).
Honorable mention:One-n-ten. While this technically isn’t a school district (yet), One-n-ten is the parent organization of the “Queer Blended Learning Center” in Phoenix. With a mission to “provide LGBTQ and Straight Allied Youth a welcoming and safe space to earn their high school diploma,” QBLC now accepts ESA vouchers to cover tuition for gender-confused middle school students. When One-n-ten hosted sex and gender spring break activities this year, teachers and counselors in Chandler Unified School District gladly made recommendations. At best this is moral kidnapping, at worst our tax dollars are financing the emotional, mental, and sexual exploitation of minors.
Whether readers agree or disagree with my picks on this list, it’s obvious that district representatives and government employees are coming after our children. As long as parents and fearful teachers remain ignorant and silent, mayhem and perversion will increase its presence and influence across the Valley. It’s time to wake up, pay attention, show up, and speak at board meetings. Don’t stop asking questions. Never go silent. Confront the perpetrators and issues that threaten your child’s safety and well-being on school grounds.
Finally, where alternative and private education options exist, every parent is without excuse for not exploring them to the fullest extent.
For nearly two decades, Tiffany Benson’s creative writing pursuits have surpassed all other interests. When she’s not investigating the Kennedy assassination and other conspiracy theories, she enjoys journaling and contributing to her blogBigviewsmallwindow.com. Join her and other engaged citizens at WestValleyParentsUniting.com.
The Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) is facing a lawsuit from one of its own board members after prohibiting her from quoting Scripture during meetings.
The First Liberty Institute filed the lawsuit on Tuesday on behalf of board member Heather Rooks.
The lawsuit noted that public officials have a storied history of quoting Scripture and using religious references to solemnize public occasions, opening with President Joe Biden’s citation of the Book of Isaiah in his 2021 address to the nation following his withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. Accordingly, Rooks defended her Scripture citations as a continuation of a longstanding American tradition.
“Heather Rooks isn’t a famous historical figure or a household name, but she too wants to be part of the longstanding tradition of government officials solemnizing public occasions in this way,” stated the lawsuit. “To vindicate her statutory and constitutional rights as a Board member and citizen, Rooks respectfully brings this action to declare those rights — and to dispel the confusion that has regrettably clouded a practice as old as the Republic itself.”
Rooks joined the board in January. From her first board meeting until the district ordered her to stop in July, Rooks made it a regular practice of hers to cite Scripture as part of her comments to the public.
The lawsuit noted that after PUSD received a complaint from Secular Communities for Arizona about Rooks’ recitation of Scripture in February, the board’s legal counsel advised board members in an email that they couldn’t pray or recite Scripture during meetings because it allegedly violated the Establishment Clause.
Rooks was one of two board members chastised by district counsel for quoting the Bible during board meetings. The other board member, Rebecca Hill, resigned last month.
Prior to Hill’s resignation, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) threatened to sue PUSD in May if Hill and Rooks didn’t cease their religious speech.
“While board members are free to promote their personal religious beliefs however they wish in their personal capacities outside of the school board, as government officials they cannot be allowed to commandeer the board in order to impose their personal religious beliefs on district students, parents, and employees,” stated FFRF.
Around the time of the lawsuit threat, PUSD held a public presentation warning against Scripture readings. The presentation was reportedly shared later with staff and parents.
Andy Gould, senior counsel at First Liberty, said in a press release that Rooks’ use of the Bible was part of a historical American tradition.
“Heather takes her responsibilities serving the parents and students in her community seriously, and quotes Bible verses as a source of courage and strength in performing those duties,” said Gould. “Like so many dedicated public leaders throughout our history, Heather most certainly can use inspirational quotes from religious, historical, and philosophical sources and figures as a source of personal inspiration, as well as encouragement to the community at-large.”
Rooks stated in the press release that she was grateful for her membership on the PUSD board, and that Scripture serves as a source of encouragement.
“As a member of the school board, I understand the weight and significance of all of our decisions, and simply find quoting scripture out loud to be encouraging to myself and to many in attendance,” said Rooks.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A west valley mayor is continuing to keep his commitments to his city.
Last week, Peoria Mayor Jason Beck announced that there would be a police presence at all Peoria Unified School District schools during the 2023-2024 year.
Beck highlighted that there would be four new SLO’s (School Liaison Officers) and rotating SLO’s at every school; that this presence would be expanded to all elementary schools; that there would be 22 Peoria schools with police coverage and an increase in SLO salary.
The mayor said, “It’s the fact that we are trying to take care of our kids. Our first priority as a city is to take care of the residents. Safety and well being is our first priority.”
Peoria’s increased investment in school safety followed a communication from the first-year mayor in the city’s May 2023 newsletter, where he updated residents on his plan for keeping children safe. Beck wrote, “As Mayor, I believe the first priority of our city is to ensure that the kids, teachers and staff of the Peoria Unified School District not only feel safe, but are safe while in and around schools and associated facilities. Likewise, parents and loved ones should be able to have peace of mind that this is always the case. With this in mind, there should be nothing more important in our city’s budget than providing for the protection of our kids, teachers and staff while allowing them to have a great educational experience and positive work environment.”
Mayor Beck concluded his letter, stating, “No one should pit the skills, dedication, and good intentions of these wonderful public servants against one another. The choice is not between social workers, counselors, and law enforcement. We need an all-of-the above approach to show our children and community that we value safety and education for the happiness and prosperity of our community.”
The action to provide additional school safety personnel for Peoria schools comes on the heels of an earlier announcement from Mayor Beck on funding for the city’s police pension funding. In a Facebook post, Beck noted that the Peoria City Council had moved $6 million to the police pension funding, which was now 80% funded – compared to 48% funded in 2020.
Earlier this year, Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and the Arizona Department of Education released the findings of a poll, which found that “81% of Arizona Public School parents support having a police officer” and “78% of Arizona Public School parents think that safety at schools is VERY IMPORTANT.”
Protecting Arizona's children shouldn't be a partisan issue, and parents agree. School resource officers are specially trained and provide more than just protection for our students. We encourage all schools to apply for the school safety grant here: https://t.co/63Uy6DQJZPpic.twitter.com/jFaLIx5wmJ
— Arizona Department of Education (@azedschools) April 13, 2023
Horne held an April press conference with Arizona legislators to address this issue. The group called on school boards “to support having an officer at every school and to apply for funding through an available school safety grant.”
If a deranged gunman entered your child's campus, would you prefer a school resource officer to be present, or a school counselor?
While both are important, in this day and age we're living in, SROs are crucial to the safety of our students, and new polling released today… pic.twitter.com/v6VmgdpHev
After that press conference, Senator T.J. Shope added, “While we certainly see the value in school counselors as a component to safe and healthy schools, we believe SROs (school resource officers) are a necessity in this day and age where we’re witnessing increasing school shootings across the country. SROs can also help detour gang activity as they foster positive relationships with students.”
Senator @TJShopeforAZ's Snapshot of the Week: Better Access to Care for Pets and Their Owners⬇️ pic.twitter.com/e8vCqqhiUq
Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) Board President David Sandoval and Board Members Bill Sorensen and Melissa Ewing have effectively silenced all women and girls on school grounds.
Despite hearing concerns from countless community members, the trio remains calloused and uninterested in resolving the bathroom crisis. Discussions and actions taken during board meetings tell the story of an agenda-driven district that couldn’t care less about the well-being of its students.
On April 27, 2023, the pro-transgender board members rejected a bathroom policy proposed by Board Clerk Heather Rooks and Board Member Rebecca Hill. This is the same facility usage privacy policy Rooks advocated for at the April 13 board meeting. Essentially, the policy is intended to “ensure student safety and maintain school discipline” by providing administrative guidelines for accessing restrooms, locker rooms, and showers.
Of course, district leadership was always aware that a cross-dressing male student at Liberty High School regularly used girls’ bathrooms for social media photo-ops. By siding with the disturbed teenager, Sandoval, Sorensen, and Ewing lost all sense of moral decency and respect for half of PUSD’s student population.
No one knows exactly when the district started allowing biological males into female spaces. Formal communication was never provided to the public. Thus, parents were forced to wade through rumors and speculation while relying on reports from their children. It’s possible the district concealed this dangerous practice for nefarious purposes.
In December 2022, Executive Director of Education, Christina Lopezlira, received advice from the district’s attorney to inform administrators about “emerging practices for supporting transgender students.” If parents or students object to the new guidelines, Lopezlira wrote that PUSD must “amicably address the competing interests and rights.” By February 2023, Director of Information Systems, Jill Thompson, relayed that the Synergy upgrade included an option to record students’ preferred pronouns.
PUSD’s willingness to hide this information reveals a blatant disregard for the law and a particular disdain for familial bonds. There’s no length the administration won’t go to overthrow parental rights under Arizona’s Revised Statutes. It’s conceivable the district will soon pursue policy guidance on gender transitioning and clinical referrals without parental knowledge or consent.
Before casting her vote on April 27, Hill stated: “I understand we’ve had multiple instances at Liberty High School where a young man has been allowed to enter the girls’ bathrooms based on his claim that he identifies as a female. The fact that the district has allowed these actions to continue unabated—without establishing an accommodation or implementing appropriate consequences—is both irresponsible and unfathomable…”
Rooks followed suit stating that she had listened to multiple concerns from parents and students while district leaders remained silent on the issue. “It’s very disappointing that this has been going on [and] parents were not made aware of it. I think every parent in this district has a right to know what we are doing with their kids…and I think we need to move forward with this policy,” Rooks said.
Ewing justified her opposition, “If you look at our incident reports in [PUSD], and the narrative about assaults in the bathroom, it has not come as the result of a transgender-identified student. There is not a single incident that has happened. And if you look at the nationwide data, that does not show it as well. As board members, we need to be making sure that we are making data-driven decisions.”
It’s unclear whether Ewing was truly unaware or willfully ignorant of the landmark case in Loudoun County, Virginia. In 2021, a male student—who identified as gender fluid and frequently utilized girls’ facilities—sexually assaulted two female students. A grand jury later found district administrators “failed at every juncture” to properly report the violent crimes, and school board members were “deliberately deprived of information” until the second incident occurred.
Sandoval and Ewing maintained that their votes align with Title IX while Sorensen flat out refused to explain his position. During the June 22 board meeting, one parent’s criticisms finally compelled Sorensen to respond, “What I can tell you is that I was convinced that people don’t really want to listen…the end vote is ultimately what mattered.”
Although Sorenson agreed he could have been more transparent during the voting process, he figured that inclusive isn’t a “bad word” and the policy proposed by Rooks and Hill was “too restrictive.”
PUSD is increasingly becoming a dangerous place for children. If the administration can secretly change a student’s pronouns while advocating for shared private spaces, what’s next? Where are the boundaries?
How much control will the majority of the board take from parents and give to the public education system?
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 blogBigviewsmallwindow.com. Follow her on Twitter andTruth Social @WritingWoman84.
A west valley school district governing board declined to take proactive measures against males or females using bathrooms of the opposite sex, and many parents are outraged.
Last week, the Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) Governing Board voted to reject a “motion to direct administration to prepare the first draft of a facility use policy for PUSD student bathrooms and locker rooms.” That motion was offered by board member Rebecca Hill and seconded by Heather Rooks. Board members David Sandoval, Bill Sorensen, and Melissa Ewing voted to sink the motion.
According to PUSD, “the District does not currently have a Governing Board policy regarding bathroom or locker room use, and the purpose of this agenda item was to determine whether or not the Governing Board should adopt a formal policy that limits the use of bathrooms and locker rooms based on biological sex.”
Rebecca Hill, the PUSD member who brought the motion, told her colleagues and the attendees in the crowded meeting space that during her tenure on the Peoria Unified School Board, “there has never been an issue more important to me than the one at hand tonight.” She appealed to the other board members, saying, “as leaders of this district, it is incumbent upon us to implement a policy that upholds common decency and respects the right to privacy that both our girls and boys are entitled to when using campus restrooms, locker rooms and any other private facility at our schools.”
Hill informed the audience she was of the understanding that there were multiple instances at Liberty High School in Peoria, where a young man has been allowed to enter the girls’ bathrooms based on his claim that he identifies as a female. She argued, “the fact that the district has allowed these actions to continue unabated without establishing an accommodation or implementing appropriate consequences is both irresponsible and unfathomable.”
Heather Rooks, Hill’s ally in this issue before the board, agreed with her colleague, stating that she had been dealing with this for months and hearing from parents and girls in the district. Rooks charged that parents were not made aware of the situations of boys in girls’ restrooms, adding, “Every parent in our district has a right to know what we are doing with their kids each day.” She also spoke in defense of the girls who had raised concerns over these alleged instances of boys in their restrooms, making the case that it is not wrong of girls to feel uncomfortable or to use their natural instincts when seeing biological males in women’s restrooms.
A West Valley lawmaker, State Senator Anthony Kern, attended the meeting and shared his thoughts on Twitter following the board’s lack of action to initiate the policy, writing, “Three Democrats on the Peoria Unified board meeting last night voted down protecting girls from predators in girls’ bathrooms.” He included the hashtags “Vote the Democrats Out” and “Home School” as his solutions to this decision from the board.
Three Democrats on the @PeoriaUnified11 board meeting last night voted down protecting girls from predators in girls' bathrooms; voted in favor of ZERO School Resource Officers (Police); and 23 additional marxist social workers for the schools. #VoteTheDemocratsOut#HomeSchoolpic.twitter.com/HMLwNjzPF6
Republican Tom Horne, Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, was closely following this contentious meeting and subsequent outcome, telling AZ Free News his “prediction is that many parents will not want their daughters to attend a school where biological males can come into the girls’ restrooms.” He said he had “received many texts and emails from parents who say their daughters were very upset when this happened.”
After seeing her motion end up on the losing side, Rebecca Hill wasn’t willing to accept defeat on behalf of the girls in her district who may have been – and still may be – faced with encounters with biological males in their restrooms and locker rooms. Hill stated, “I would advise parents to use their vouchers elsewhere. I don’t endorse PUSD anymore. I can’t. I would advise that parents take the ability at this time to take their vouchers, which have been given to them, and use them in private schools, use them on online, home school your kid. Choose the curriculum. Choose what happens with their livelihood, with what is going to happen with them in the future. Public education isn’t going in the right direction. This is not what I want to see for our district.”
Hill’s comments referred to the universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA), which were expanded by the Arizona Legislature in 2022 and signed into law by then-Governor Doug Ducey. The program is run under the watchful eyes of Horne at the Arizona Department of Education, and it is rapidly increasing in popularity among Arizonans. In an email communication this past Friday, an ESA Account Holder Liaison wrote that there were now 53,704 Arizona students in this program. That number will continue to grow in the weeks ahead as more parents hear about this program and the opportunities to choose the educational direction for their children.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
