"Am I At a School Board Meeting or a Church Sermon?"

Bible-Quoting and Back-Turning at the Peoria Unified School District Meeting

I attended the Peoria Unified School District governing board meeting last night, and…buckle up…things got Qooky. 

As usual, two board members, Heather Rooks and Rebecca Hill, opened by reciting the PUSD slogan “Every student, every day” but added “except the girls” at the end of the slogan. Trans girls are girls, so they continue to be confused about science, but as the meeting progressed, it became clearer why (I’ll get to that in a minute). 

Of course, they both also opened with scripture (violating their oath to the Constitution). Hill chose Matthew 18:6 (“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”)

Let’s break that down. First of all:

And second of all, she’s talking about people who are trans or who want trans people to be protected and free from discrimination. She’s advocating for violence against them based on her narrow, evangelical worldview. 

There was a woman sitting next to me who had some concerns with the special ed department, and she said, “Am I at a school board meeting or a church sermon? Are they always like this?” We shared contact information because she was appalled at what was happening in her district board meetings, and now wants to get more involved (yay!). 

Next, a couple of students spoke eloquently about the recent hullabaloo happening at PUSD board meetings about trans students and bathrooms. While they spoke, a grown woman in the audience made a point of standing up and turning around while wearing a homemade t-shirt promoting America Pack (she does that a lot whenever someone says something she disagrees with — it is Anthony Kern’s district after all, so she probably learned it from him during Hobbs’ State of the State address in January).

Interestingly, the first student to speak acknowledged that by dehumanizing trans kids, people put a target on their back, and that instead we need to honor everyone’s humanity. He encouraged folks to work harder to understand what the other side is saying. 

Welp, when you literally turn your back during the comments of a student, it’s pretty clear you don’t WANT to understand. 

Next a parent came to the lectern to “serve” board members Melissa Ewing, David Sandoval, and Bill Sorensen with some manilla envelopes. I’m guessing she learned this move from Sonny Borelli? Still no word on what was in those envelopes. 

TPUSA — an organization once known for promoting the free market, now known for promoting Christian nationalism —  was in full force as well. While not all of their speakers were called upon, the ones that spoke were…something. 

First up was Sloan Adams, the TPUSA “desert regional manager of faith.” He quoted the Declaration of Independence and the bible, and then berated the board for not protecting children, blah, blah, blah…He closed by quoting Abigail Shrier, a known TERF who wrote Irreversible Damage. 

These people are seriously obsessed with other people’s genitalia in a way I’ve never seen before. But I guess when your evangelical faith promotes toxic masculinity and purity culture, that’s what happens. 

More parents spoke about bathrooms, a teacher implored the board to behave better, and then a member of the LD27 Republican party censured board members David Sandoval, Melissa Ewing, and Bill Sorenson. 

At this point, I was convinced I must have died in a car crash on the way to the meeting, because I was clearly in hell. Then I remembered that I don’t believe in hell, and settled in to contemplate the fact that this lovely GOP grandmother censured three Democratic/Independent members of a nonpartisan board from participating in their Republican meetings.

Next, there was a discussion about approving a bond and/or override measure, but because not all school sites were notified about the date change of the board meeting this week, there was no vote. Board members Hill and Rooks of course promised to vote against it because of their obsession with genitalia, and when a student spoke in favor of it, the woman in the homemade shirt stood up and turned her back. 

On a child. 

Who is a student in the district. 

Finally, there was a discussion about approving the science and math curriculum. For those of you who have been following, Board Member Rooks put the district in legal danger when she spoke against science curriculum that was in the middle of the RFP process on Fox News last year. A district administrator walked the board and audience through 69 slides about the Request for Procurement (RFP) process, and then opened it up to comments. 

A 2024 PUSD school board candidate and lifelong educator, Melissa Girmscheid spoke in favor of the adoption. AND WOW! I just need to take a moment here and say THANK GOODNESS that good, smart, pro-public education people are still willing to run in districts like this. 

What happened next was downright alarming. After public comments, board member Hill had a lot of comments and questions. First she asked what environmental science is 👀, and wanted to know if that meant climate change. There are a lot of white Christian nationalists who believe that climate change is all part of god’s plan and that god will save us, so this tracks. 

She then asked about scientific method, how validity is tested, and how we discern between fact and fiction. And then, GET THIS! Right after asking about fact/fiction, she wanted to know if the books reference…creationism. 

The staff member reminded Board Member Hill that they have to follow state standards and that creationism is NOT in the standards. Next, right on cue, she brought up the issue of gender and said, “science doesn’t generally change all that much.” At that point, the crowd erupted into groans and laughter, and all I could think was, 

After that, Board Member Sorensen, a school administrator in another district, commended the committee for their hard work and reminded folks that this didn’t happen behind closed doors with just a handful of stakeholders, but that this process involved hundreds of people. 

He brought up that PUSD is in the midst of a culture war and that we need to get back to trusting people and processes. It was really thoughtful and lovely, and you can watch it here. 

So this is one meeting in one district, out of about 300 districts across the state of Arizona. The science-denying, genitalia police are showing up to their local school board meetings. 

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