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.
A Scottsdale mother was victorious in a lawsuit filed against her by the father of the former Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) Governing Board president.
Judge Joan Sinclair issued an anti-SLAPP ruling — Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation — in the case Greenburg v. Wray earlier this week.
The plaintiff, Mark Greenburg, and his son, SUSD’s former and ousted board president, Jann-Michael Greenburg, were involved in a secret dossier on perceived political opponents consisting of parents and community members, including Wray.
“[T]his lawsuit was substantially motivated by a desire to deter, retaliate against or prevent [Wray’s] lawful exercise of her constitutional rights,” stated Sinclair.
The outcome we have been praying for! So proud and grateful for my incredible legal team that believed in me and fought for our community’s 1A rights to advocate for our children. Justice prevailed today! Thank you to everyone who has supported us along the way! @pnjaban… https://t.co/O4ho4KfK4B
Greenburg alleged that Wray committed defamation, false light, intrusion upon seclusion, and public disclosure of private facts.
Greenburg alleged that Wray’s claims that he “intimidated,” “challenged,” and “harassed” her were defamatory, as well as claims including how a source told Wray that Greenburg threatened another individual with a weapon, stalked her, created the dossier to harass and intimidate her, and cyber stalked her. Sinclair determined that none of Wray’s speech qualified as defamatory. Sinclair also noted that accepting any of Greenburg’s defamation claims would chill free speech.
“All of these comments are opinion or hyperbole made in the context of a heated political debate,” said Sinclair. “A reasonable listener would interpret the aforementioned comments to be [Wray’s] perception that she is a victim of political attack, not that she is actually stating that [Greenburg] committed criminal offenses.”
Sinclair also ruled against Greenburg’s claim of false light, invasion of privacy, and intrusion upon seclusion, writing that Greenburg qualified as a limited public figure by participating in a public and “heated” political environment on the reopening of public schools.
Finally, as to Greenburg’s claim of the public disclosure of private facts, Sinclair observed that Greenburg’s dossier only contained information about Wray and his other political adversaries and not himself. Sinclair also noted that it was Greenburg’s son, Jann-Michael, that inadvertently disclosed the Google Drive link to Wray and others. Accordingly, Sinclair ruled that Greenburg’s claim wasn’t viable.
At the opening of her ruling, Sinclair quoted from evidence detailing Greenburg’s advice to his son about running for the Maricopa County Community College District Board. Greenburg said that they needed to launch a litigious campaign against Wray to stop her.
“Amanda Wray is just fixated on you and if you think for one minute that when you run for MCCC that she is going to leave you alone, I think you are wrong,” said Greenburg. “It is a mistake not to surgically punish her with litigation.”
Wray filed the anti-SLAPP motion last April after Greenburg sued her for publicizing his dossier to social media and various media outlets. Scottsdale Police dropped their investigation in December after determining it fell outside their jurisdiction since the dossier consisted of open source and public documents; they referred the case to former Attorney General Mark Brnovich, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, and the FBI. No updates have been issued on the case from the agencies since then.
Wray’s lawyer and top GOP official, Harmeet Dhillon, noted that this ruling was the first in Arizona law after an evidentiary hearing.
Grasshopper here is too modest by far. This case was filed by the father of a school board member to punish a mom for standing up for her parental rights. This is the first anti-SLAPP ruling under AZ law after an evidentiary hearing, and it’s a total victory for @AmandaWray! https://t.co/etdJuV9gHl
This school year, Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) incorporated controversial RFID chip trackers in student and faculty ID badges.
The district approved the chips in a close 3-2 vote in late June. Board members Libby Hart-Wells, Zach Lindsay, and Julie Cieniawski approved the chips; Amy Carney and Carine Werner opposed them. The estimated cost of the chips totaled $125,000.
The chip went through a trial run at Coronado High School before being implemented districtwide. The district reportedly upgraded their ID software to enable the chip system over the last two years.
During the June meeting, the SUSD governing board counsel explained that the chips enable the district to track students when they get on and off the buses.
Carney asked why the chips were put in all student IDs, and not just bus riders. The SUSD Safety & Security team, which will oversee the program, explained that buses aren’t limited to designated bus riders: any students may board the buses if they’re attending the Boys & Girls Club, field trips, or extracurricular or athletic events.
The safety team reported that the IDs can’t be used to track daily attendance because they’re only linked to the district’s transportation software. However, the team didn’t guarantee that the chip technology wouldn’t be expanded to other uses such as attendance in the future. The RFID chips within staff badges have an extra feature: they enable access to school buildings.
SUSD reported that the RFID chip doesn’t store any personally identifiable information, and that no RFID readers were installed inside the school for the purpose of tracking a student’s location.
Director Joshua Friedman said that the RFID chip translates as a coded number within a closed system, and therefore doesn’t qualify as a digital ID. Friedman also noted that the RFID chip doesn’t work as an active GPS tracker, but a passive one: the chips only record a time and location when a student boards or disembarks from a school bus.
Board President Julie Cieniawski remarked in closing that she and the majority of SUSD leaders weren’t interested in “conspiracy theories” of using RFID technology for ulterior motives.
Some SUSD parents have expressed concern with the tracking capabilities of the RFID chips, namely the inability to opt-out from the technology and potential suspensions for tampering with the IDs by attempting to remove the chip.
🚨🚨@ScottsdaleUSD does it again! After 3-2 board vote, SUSD implements RFID chip cards without parental consent. Suspension if tampered with. No opt-in. No opt-out. pic.twitter.com/P5nCUTWHnr
— TheLegalProcess (v2.0 | Post-Election Ed) (@ALegalProcess) August 13, 2023
Former state lawmaker and SUSD teacher Michelle Ugenti-Rita wrote on Facebook that the RFID chips were an invasion of privacy.
“Have they never heard of ‘Find my iPhone?’ This is a complete invasion of privacy. Parents were never notified, or given the option to opt-in to the school district’s new government surveillance program,” said Ugenti-Rita. “What didn’t they learn from masking up our children during COVID? This is something our superintendent, Tom Horne, should investigate and the Legislature should ban when they convene next year.”
No opt-out exists for families who desire to forgo use of the chips. RFID, short for radio-frequency identification, is a technology that allows scanners to engage in automatic identification and data capture (AIDC). AIDC allows for computers to obtain data immediately without human involvement; other types of AIDC include QR codes and voice recognition technology.
During last week’s meeting, Superintendent Scott Menzel said that the chip readers enable the district to locate students using school transportation. Menzel reported that on the first day of school, three children didn’t arrive at their proper location. The superintendent reported that the ID system enabled them to locate them within five minutes, as opposed to 30 minutes or more.
In response to community pushback against the chips, SUSD issued a press release on Monday to further explain the RFID software.
“RFID is not a global positioning system (GPS) and has no tracking capability on its own. Like the RFID in your credit card and debit card, it only works when tapped. The district piloted this program last year and the Governing Board approved it,” stated SUSD. “The RFID in student ID cards is ONLY scanned so that the district’s Transportation department is able to account for those students who board and exit a bus.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) principal serving on the board of a prominent LGBTQ+ activist group has won principal of the year.
Pueblo Elementary School Principal Shelley Hummon won the 2023 National Distinguished Principal (NDP) from the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP). The Arizona School Administrators’ (ASA) Elementary Division selected her to win. Hummon also serves on the board of one-n-ten, a Phoenix-based LGBTQ+ activist group targeting minors and young adults.
We are celebrating @PuebloSUSD Principal Shelley Hummon at the @Arizona_ASA Conference for winning the National Distinguished Principals Award!
— Scottsdale Unified School District (@ScottsdaleUSD) June 13, 2023
As part of the award, Hummon will be flown to Washington, D.C. in October for formal recognition at an NAESP event.
Like one-n-ten, NAESP supports promoting LGBTQ+ ideologies among children. NAESP expanded its focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in recent years to include gender identity and sexual orientation.
In June 2021, NAESP featured another elementary school principal, Seth Daub of Orange County Public Schools, to argue that educators should guide children in LGBTQ+ beliefs.
“When addressing the topic of LGBTQ inclusion at the elementary school level, schools need to exhibit much more than mere tolerance,” wrote Daub. “Educators must make the conscious choice to accept, embrace, and celebrate it, and must do so without question and without hesitation.”
NAESP, like one-n-ten, also opposes the exclusion of males identifying as females from female sports and private spaces.
Another significant one-n-ten board member is Tracy Nadzieja, the first transgender judicial officer in Arizona. Nadzieja, a man who identifies as a woman, has served on the Maricopa County Superior Court bench since 2018. Nadzieja also volunteers with the women’s collegiate fraternity, Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG). (KKG is considered a “women’s fraternity” because it was founded before the creation of the term “sorority.”)
Other one-n-ten board members are:
Rick McCartney (chair), CEO of InMedia Company and board member for the Children’s Museum of Phoenix and Gov. Katie Hobbs’ Workforce Council;
Kris Cano (vice chair), WestWorld general manager and former Scottsdale Police Department forensics director;
Scott Greenwood (treasurer), longtime ACLU general counsel, board member, and executive committee member;
David Cane (secretary), Wag! executive and former Uber program lead;
Cory Braddock, partner at Snell & Wilmer law firm;
Bev Crair, senior vice president for Oracle Corporation;
Calvin Cole, vice president of AmTrust Bank and board member for Terros Health, Keogh Health Foundation, and Boys and Girls Club of the East Valley;
Angie Dittrich, American Express senior manager and lead for the company’s PRIDE+ Colleague Network;
Darryl Embrey, Vanguard senior business technology project manager;
Valdo Figueroa, Wells Fargo senior technology operations manager and formerly Bank of America senior vice president;
Lou Goodman, retired Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections executive and pro tem Maricopa County justice of the peace;
Floyd Hardin III, Rio Salado College’s executive officer of equity and college relations;
Manuel (Manny) Soto-Griego, health information management professional and Arizona Health Information Management Association board member;
Sima Thakkar, Raza Development Fund senior director of health & climate equity, with former roles as regional relationship manager for PetSmart Charities, and manager of the city of San Diego’s Community Development Programs on affordable housing and homelessness;
Judie Verb, U.S. Bank executive vice president, Arizona Council on Economic Education board member, and Government Relations Council member for Consumer Bankers Association;
Nate Rhoton (one-n-ten CEO), chair of the city of Phoenix’s Human Relations Commission, vice chair of Leading for Change, member of Maricopa County Community Colleges’ LGBTQ Advisory to the Chancellor, with former roles as a Human Rights Campaign steering committee member, Greater Phoenix Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce board member, and Equality Arizona board of directors co-chair.
Sponsors of one-n-ten include American Airlines, Cox, SRP, Tito’s Vodka, and Estrella Jalisco.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Republican state legislators representing Scottsdale condemned a local superintendent for racist remarks that recently made national headlines. Scott Menzel, the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) superintendent, called the white race “problematic.”
Republicans representing District 3 — State Reps. Joseph Chaplik and Alex Kolodin, along with State Sen. John Kavanagh — urged Menzel to issue an apology and resign.
“The racist words and sentiments Menzel publicly expressed have no place in Scottsdale schools,” stated the trio. “Menzel’s racist views not only compromise his ability to lead, but he has made himself the center of a controversial spotlight that will only distract from learning.”
The three legislators also asked the SUSD Governing Board to remove Menzel. They noted that SUSD has faced mounting criticism in recent years over its incorporation of various progressive ideologies, such as on gender and race.
Menzel issued the remarks in a 2019 interview while working as a superintendent in Michigan. He said that white people, including children, needed to feel uncomfortable about themselves due to their race. Menzel further claimed that meritocracy was a myth.
“[W]hite people have racial identity as well, and in fact problematic racial identity that we typically avoid,” said Menzel. “[White people] should feel really, really uncomfortable, because we perpetuate a system by ignoring the realities in front of us, and living in a mythological reality.”
Menzel went on to celebrate public chaos as an opportunity for social reform.
“[White supremacy is] in the very fabric of the way this country was established, and we’ve never righted the wrongs of the genocide of the indigenous population, and the enslavement of a population from Africa on which the wealth of this country was built,” said Menzel.
At the time of the 2019 interview, Menzel had received numerous awards, honors, and recognitions for his leadership, and was a frequent featured panelist and guest speaker for local and state events. During the Obama administration, the White House named Menzel a YMCA Champion of Change in 2013. The next year, the Michigan Department of Education named Menzel to their advisory council on early childhood education.
SUSD hasn’t addressed this latest controversy from Menzel.
Under Menzel’s leadership the divide between parents and the district has only grown. Last year, the district adopted a controversial policy in which they posted the names of individuals submitting records requests, yet they would redact staff members’ names in response to those requests.
Menzel has also defended staff members that discussed gender ideology with kindergarten and elementary students without parental knowledge. He claimed those parents opposed to these discussions were in violation of Civil Rights law, insisting that the staff member in question was attacked because of her identity. Menzel further informed parents that the district wouldn’t punish employees over such behavior.
“To target an individual publicly for their personal identity — in this case the individual against whom this complaint was filed does not identify as either male or female — is overt discrimination and inconsistent with state and federal law as well as school district policy,” said Menzel.
In a separate incident in 2021, Menzel admonished parents and community members opposed to clubs focusing on children’s gender and sexuality. Menzel called them bullies.
Last April, SUSD’s social justice professionals promoted a drag queen storytime.
As the Arizona Daily Independent reported recently, the district falsely denied the existence of an official transgender support plan for nearly a year. The support plan, labeled “Confidential” by the district, noted that caregivers should be included in the completion of the document — not “must.” The district also considered ways to implement a gender support plan if the student’s parents or guardians weren’t supportive of such a plan.
In a 2015 equity panel hosted by Menzel’s former employer, Menzel proposed a “cradle to career education continuum” that resembled the controversial “cradle to grave” approach proposed by former President Barack Obama for lifelong government involvement.
The district only went so far as to remove the former board president, Jann-Michael Greenburg, from presidency after the 2021 discovery of his involvement in a dossier on parents and alleged political enemies within the district. Court cases concerning this dossier are ongoing.
