Another Week, Another PVUSD Meeting...

...in which Secular Activist Lady™ gets a little verklempt

Another week, another school board meeting, Secular Fam, and this week, something was calling me to attend the Paradise Valley (PVUSD) regular board meeting. Just kidding, there’s nothing magical about how I choose meetings. I go where I imagine a Secular Activist Lady™ should go. 

And a big, fat, thank you to everyone who became members and/or upgraded their Secular Substack subscription to paid. You really warmed my heart. 

Sometimes it’s hard to keep all these evangelical extremist board members straight, so a quick reminder that PVUSD’s parental rights darling, and self-proclaimed “woman of God” is Sandra Christensen. She’s always reminding people that she’s a Latina that doesn’t see race, and is a big opponent of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Social Emotional Learning (SEL). 

In the past, she’s voted against offering mental health services to families in need, and tries to micromanage the day-to-day operations of faculty and staff. You may recall that this board was fed up with bigots and conspiracy theorists running their meetings, so they moved their public comments towards the end of the meeting, instead of the meeting.

(And here’s a quick reminder, folks, that there is nothing in AZ statute that dictates there even have to be public comments.)

I rolled up into the parking lot, and it was clear that something big was happening at this meeting, and it was…and it was beautiful. There was a group of Horizon High School students circling the boardroom and singing in harmony. And folks, you may not know this about your friendly neighborhood, Secular Activist Lady™, but I was my choir president 100 years ago. 

So when I walked into this incredible display of public school children singing so beautifully together, I admit, I got a little verklempt. Hats off to the choir director at HHS, because these kids were GOOD (if you’re interested in checking out this stellar group of kids perform later this month, you can find a calendar of events here).

And folks, this is what these meetings should be like. They should be a celebration of all the good that our public schools are responsible for, and the focus should be on the KIDS, not the adults, and especially not adults who offer bugsnacks to attendees. 

Once all the kids finished their performance, there was the standard Pledge of Allegiance and board member reports that were all pretty much positive (!!), and then there were even more student and teacher recognitions because our public school kids and teachers do amazing work every day in their schools and classrooms.

Remember, over 90% of parents send their kids to public schools, DESPITE the fact that our elected leaders continually try to dismantle and disparage them from their lofty positions. 

After all the celebrations, the Superintendent gave his report, and it seems President Case skipped consent agenda items and went ahead to the first item for approval, the approval of the Annual Financial Report for the 2023-2024 school year. These items can be very dry, but also very important. They examine revenue, expenditures, and all the different funding sources as well as how they’re allowed to be spent.

The thing about these reports is that they have to be completely transparent. Every penny must be accounted for, and the budget must be made public. And anyone in the state can check out the Auditor General’s Report to see how their local school district compares to others in the state (note: private schools do not have to be transparent despite receiving public taxpayer dollars).

During discussion of the Annual Financial Report, Board Member Christensen commented on how there’s a LOT to try to understand in budgets, and she’s not wrong. Luckily, with the comprehensive onboarding trainings provided by organizations like Arizona School Board Association (ASBA), board members have lots of opportunities to sharpen their school finance skills. 

Captain Obvious Board Member Christensen stated the importance of understanding budgets, and expressed a need for a study session so that board members can better understand them, and now I’m wondering if she even goes to any of the stellar trainings offered by ASBA.

Additionally, as a former board member, I had access to all district administrators whenever I had a question or needed clarification, but I’ve heard that a lot of these ultra MAGA types refuse to meet with district leadership. Not sure if that’s how Board Member Christensen rolls, but her ignorance on so many basic topics definitely causes me to wonder. 

OK! Now we’re back to a consent agenda item that was pulled by Board Member Christensen. She once again showed everyone she doesn’t take her role as a school board member seriously since she didn’t know what the School Facilities Oversight Board is.

You might remember that her MAGA buddy from DVUSD, Kim Fisher, got hella confused about this agency at one of their meetings last month. A simple email to her superintendent or a quick Google search would have answered any of her questions, but I guess she couldn’t be bothered to do that. 

Understanding the work that these agencies do is part of being an engaged school board member. Typically, school boards partner with organizations like the Arizona School Board Association (ASBA) to learn as much as possible about their very important roles as public education servants, but the ultra MAGA crowd has been sowing distrust in these established professional organizations since COVID. 

Next up on the agenda is everyone’s LEAST favorite, Call to the Public. There were four speakers at this meeting, which is a FRACTION of what they used to be, and the first one was…something…

She wanted to know if the board considers taxpayers in their decisions (they LITERALLY just spoke about meeting with both student and parent constituents during all of their reports), and then asked if they’re really looking at budgets (they LITERALLY just shared two reports about the district’s VERY TRANSPARENT budget and financial reports).

Then she talked about how the “tRuE pAtRiOtS oF aMeRiKKKa aRe DiSmAyEd” at every level, blah, blah, blah and the patriots will SHOW UP! And then she said she’s super down with fascists which is a weird flex, but mmmkay.

I myself come from a long, proud line of anti-fascists, but this lady was big mad that anyone would be against fascism for some reason. 

Next up was another taxpayer of the district who accused the board of withholding emails from her and lying about constituent input. After that was a parent of a trans student who wanted to thank the board and district for being accepting and inclusive of the LGBTQ community, and there was so much huffing and puffing from the pro-fascism lady that it was downright distracting. 

Once again, school board presidents! DO BETTER! GAVEL WITH AUTHORITY! A strong president would have lead with authority and demanded decorum from attendees.

Next up was a report about Bond and Budget Override Programs and Capital Improvement Projects, once again, because public schools must be completely transparent with how they use taxpayer dollars. And here I realize that folks may need a quick school funding lesson.

Because the Arizona legislature doesn’t fully fund our public schools, the burden of maintaining our schools and school budgets fall largely onto the taxpayers. Many districts in the state have bond and/or override measures in place so that they can adequately(ish) pay teachers, maintain buildings, and/or build new campuses. 

So the financial department presented how these dollars are being used, and of course, Board Member Christensen complained about the burden to taxpayers. Here’s the part that really gets me with these ultra MAGA types: they keep voting for the folks that continue to heap the burden of school funding directly onto taxpayers.

Don’t like paying taxes for public schools? THEN DON’T VOTE FOR THE PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO FUND OUR SCHOOLS!

She went on to talk about her neighbor’s annual tax bill of $8000, and when I did the math and realized that this means that her home is worth $1.3 million, I kinda drifted off.

Like, when I was teaching, 100% of my students qualified for free and reduced lunch. The vast majority of the parents were living FAR below the poverty line. And this was in a district where there has never been a bond or override in place, and the schools are literally falling apart.

So when Sandra’s neighbor, (probably Karen), is sad that her million-dollar home’s taxes are helping to fund her neighborhood schools and actually increase the value of her home, you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t give a rat’s ass. 

This discussion was too much for the Pro-Fascism Lady, and Board Member Baker had to ask that President Case do her job and gavel to stop the audience disruptions since PFL couldn’t stop herself from harrumphing and guffawing.

Board Member Pantera expressed his delight that the district fully informs the public about how this bond and override money is being spent, and is (rightfully) happy that his strong public schools are positively affecting the value of his home. 

Board Member Christensen asserted that this bond equates to the “emotional blackmail” of teachers and Board Member Greenberg pushed back, saying that these bonds and overrides make the district more stable generally speaking. Ms. Greenberg also reminded everyone that she’s been in this rodeo for a long-ass time, that the state STILL hasn’t restored full funding levels from pre-2008, and that without these bonds and overrides, the district would be a helluva lot worse off. 

Then there was EVEN MORE FISCAL TRANSPARENCY about how money was spent on summertime construction projects, and seriously, when people complain about fresh paint or other school improvements, all I can think is that they don’t believe that ALL children deserve to attend schools that are beautiful and well-kept. 

Folks, I’ve seen firsthand the difference between “rich” schools and “poor” schools. And you know what? The kids see it too.

When I coached sports in a high-poverty school district, my students would get off the bus to play against a “rich” school, and they would look me dead in the eye and say, “This is a rich school, isn’t it, Ms?” We’d show up in our mismatched and outdated uniforms, and walk onto a campus to play against students, many of whom were able to play club ball or pay for private lessons, who were all wearing matching uniforms AND cleats??

My students could tell in that one moment of getting off the bus what the politicians in their state thought of them. 

And now, some evangelical extremists don’t even want the kids of parents who CAN afford million dollar homes to have access to opportunity. Make it make sense, because I can’t. 

But you know what? Those extremists audience members were awful quiet these last couple of meetings in PVUSD, and that’s because of y’all!

YOU emailed the board.

YOU let them know that our public school boards are the heart of our democracy.

YOU let them know that hate has no place in PV.

Keep it up, folks. Become a member. Upgrade to a paid subscription. Volunteer to support your public schools. Even when it seems that the other side is getting more attention than they deserve, we need to stay strong and keep defending the Constitution and our freedom from religion.