Individualism is Destroying America

And don't forget lack of empathy, too

I can’t believe it, Secular Fam, but there are less than three weeks until the 2024 election. My ballot came in the mail Monday, and I took about 15 minutes to get both pages filled in. I opted to follow many of Vic Aronow’s recommendations on the judges and ballot initiatives, and I already received notification that the county has my ballot. 

The last few weeks, I’ve struggled to get out a new Substack because I’ve been sick. Trust, there has been no shortage of idiotic behavior at school board meetings and candidate shenanigans off- and online. A friend in Scottsdale told me that the school board race there has resulted in dozens of signs being stolen, destroyed, or defaced, and the level of unfounded attacks on social media is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. 

A group of bigots participated in a candidate event earlier this month. A teacher exodus is taking place in the Liberty School District, apparently due to district leadership. A former board member from Litchfield Elementary School District lost his lawsuit against the district. The sign shenanigans are happening in Pima County as well, and I swear to the lordT, if I never see a political sign for the rest of my life, I’ll die happy. 

Perhaps it’s my proximity to the West Valley, but Peoria (PUSD) continues to provide such spectacular displays of what is on the line for school districts throughout Arizona that my eye continues to be pulled in that direction. There was a regular board meeting in PUSD last week, and a candidate forum this week. I’m really hopeful that after November 5, 2024, I can finally quit PUSD, but for now

More and more at these meetings, the quiet part is being said out loud. They’ve rejected a partnership with Microsoft because of “woke” or something. They rejected a grant that serves children and families in need because of “bootstraps” or something. And this week, a school board candidate proposed taking us back to 1896 to the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.

You remember the one, right? That’s the one that deemed racial discrimination is AOK with the “separate but equal” doctrine. This decision essentially allowed Jim Crow laws to survive and thrive until the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. 

Sometimes, the work I do feels like I’m beating my head against a wall, trying to understand how people can be so myopic and entitled. Because I was raised to be inclusive and kind, their tendency to be exclusionary and cruel baffles me.

I was speaking with a friend who is also a public school educator, and they helped me articulate why these people behave so selfishly. This teacher shared how the “Nice Entitled White Parents” at her school often end up hurting their own children’s academic achievement because they’ve developed such a deep distrust of teachers (thanks, Moms for Liberty!), and assert themselves as the ultimate authority of things they have almost no understanding of. 

During our call, my friend dropped some serious knowledge. They said “the toxic effects of individualism and lack of empathy are destroying our public school system, and in turn, all of society.” This sentence struck me to my core, and it was a lightbulb moment. I didn’t learn about “individualism” or “collectivism” until I was in college. 

As my ASU professor compared and contrasted these two ideologies, I realized that my entire life, I’ve gravitated towards a mostly collectivist mindset. Perhaps it was the team sports I played growing up with two parents who coached me and taught me how to collaborate with and support others. Maybe it was because they were the kind of folks who always lent a helping hand to those in need, even though we were very much a blue collar family. 

Capitalism requires individualism and a “bootstraps” mentality. If an individual is unsuccessful in capitalism, it is viewed as a moral failure. Individualism demands that we judge those who don’t succeed in society, and ignores any societal failures like the practice of owning human beings for 250 years, Jim Crow laws, redlining, or the fact that women couldn’t open their own credit card account in the US until 1974

Though the October 10, 2024 PUSD board meeting had a fairly light agenda, the Bootstraps Brigade love sharing their ignorance and bigotry with everyone so I want to give a brief rundown. The big focus of this meeting was the financial presentation. As stated in the agenda, “A.R.S. Section 15-904 requires the [financial] reports be approved by the governing board and the district provide the Summary of the Annual Financial Report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction by October 15, 2024.”

Every K-12 district in Arizona must provide this update to the community. The people who yell the loudest about fiscal responsibility at the state and local level tend to ignore the fact that every district’s financial reports must be made public. They do this in order to drive the false narrative that school districts are not being transparent with budgets. 

Evangelical extremists reject any information that does not conform to their narrow worldview, and share dis/misinformation with reckless abandon. Since this constituency refuses to believe any facts they are presented with, they bring progress to a screeching halt.

So even though the PUSD CFO, Michelle Myers, shared how every single penny was spent during the 2023-2024 school year, PUSD candidate Jeff Tobey had to speak about the budget to prove how little he understands public school budgets. 

He rejected the expertise of the woman in a leadership position, so this tracks. 

Not wanting to be out-(dim)witted, Board Member Rooks wanted to also share her ignorance about budgets, and to dismiss the expertise of Ms. Myers and district leadership. She voted against this financial report and the board-approved allocation of funds, but since the other members of the board know how stuff works, it passed 3-1. 

There was an update on the M & O override, and some routine policy discussions about credentialing requirements for classified and certified staff. Both Board Member Rooks and the deeply unserious candidate I mentioned earlier asserted that they know more than legal experts. Again. They both seem to reject the idea of due process and want to micromanage every aspect of the district, so this did not surprise me. 

During public comments, Mr. Tobey decided to question why Medicaid administrative claims have increased during the last four years, and I wondered to myself, “huh…did anything happen four years ago that might contribute to an increased need for both mental and medical healthcare?” 

Another public comment came from PUSD board candidate Janelle Bowles, the sister of Arizona’s own J6 Insurrectionist, second-to-last vote-getter in the CD8 congressional primary, Fake Elector, Arizona’s Biggest Manbaby AND Mama Fratelli Look Alike, (almost former) Senator Anthony Kern (R-LD27). 

She wanted everyone to know that she understands budgets very well, kthxbye, and complained about school safety. She also advocated for random drug testing for some reason. For people who blather on about the dangers of cOmMuNIsM, they sure do like communist practices. Weird. 

The PUSD candidate forum took place on 10/15/2024, so each candidate had a chance to share their policy positions and priorities for the district in detail. 

The candidate forum was sponsored by the Peoria Chamber of Commerce, and local journalist Philip Haldiman was the moderator. I don’t live in the district, but I’ve been paying attention.

I’ve said it before, but I see PUSD and the Peoria community as the “canary in the coalmine.” Many people in the far west Valley have been radicalized, and these extremists loudly drive a narrative of fear and exclusion. 

This candidate forum was about two hours long, so I’ll just share some of the best and worst takes on what’s happening and what’s needed in PUSD. 

While many of the candidates shared really thoughtful solutions to complex problems, I found the answers from candidates Micah Dyer and Melissa Girmscheid to be the most compelling. Mr. Dyer, who is a former student from PUSD, opened by calling out the adults who show up to board meetings and act like petulant children (my words, not his). Ms. Girmscheid shared her first-hand classroom knowledge as a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT). 

Becoming NBCT certified is no joke, friends. It is an intense year of training, observation, revising lessons, and a capstone project. I know many teachers who attempt it, but buckle at the workload. It ain’t easy, and if you see that your child’s teacher is NBCT, you should celebrate. So of course, she and Mr. Dyer (and Mr. Sandoval, and Ms. Proudfit) have been attacked nonstop by the radicals in PUSD

During this forum, I was eager to finally get a straight answer about whether they support the bond. Four of the six candidates gave an enthusiastic “YES” to that question, but both Mr. Tobey and Ms. Bowles tap danced around it, accusing the district of lying about the bond. 

This confused me since the district has an award-winning finance department, and the district also has a comprehensive FAQ page about the bond and how it will affect the taxpayers. Given how frequently they question the experience, expertise, and authority of degreed employees, administrators, and specialists in their community, their misleading non-answers did not surprise me. 

So far during this election cycle, extremists have accused immigrants of overtaking our towns, forming armed militias, and eating their neighbor’s pets. During this election cycle, extremists have accused Democrats of controlling the weather. During this election cycle, extremists are accusing educators of performing gender reassignment surgeries in schools. 

Truth-telling isn’t exactly their strong suit. 

It was adorable when Mr. Tobey and Ms. Bowles said the community needs to support the teachers, since all the people they pal around with regularly attack educators. The biggest cheerleaders for these two candidates aren’t really the brightest bulbs on the Xmas tree, so I guess that’s why they are so easy to manipulate into believing their disinformation.

When asked “what can you do to achieve a balanced curriculum for PUSD students” Ms. Bowles again seemed to show her distrust for the professionals in the district who “waste millions” on the “next shiny penny.” This insinuates these degreed educators are incapable of making sound decisions in curriculum creation and/or adoption. Also, remember how I said that PUSD has won awards for fiscal responsibility (see above)?

They accuse the professionals in their community of being a bunch of know-nothing simpletons so often, I don’t even think they hear how offensive their statements are anymore. While the other candidates spoke about rich curriculum across content areas to serve a diverse student body, Mr. Tobey talked about…checks notes…his ex-wife. 

Interestingly, he mentioned a humanities-based education, and even mentioned the humanity in all of our community members, so you can imagine my surprise when he then called trans students mentally ill, and suggested a separate but equal policy for those students. The commonsense candidates cited legal precedent and advice from the district’s legal counsel. Ms. Girmscheid used Mr. Tobey’s whole “recognizing the humanity in others” comment to defend trans students and their humanity. 

Once again, I marveled at the extremists’ fascination with children’s genitalia. 

Both Bowles and Tobey continued to lie about the work that social workers do, and Mr. Tobey accused the district staff (again) of not knowing their own job descriptions or the laws and policies of the district and the state. Ms. Bowles incorrectly stated that social workers are performing psychotherapy on students. They’re not, but this crew just repeats their lies regularly, assuming, I guess, that if they repeat them enough, they become true or something. 

You can watch the full forum here, and you’ll really see a sharp contrast between candidates who have a collectivistic vs an individualistic mindset. The pro-public education candidates support additional funding through bonds and overrides. They believe that we should lead with our most vulnerable and marginalized students in mind. They believe that our diversity and cultural inclusivity makes us stronger. Individualism is basically every person for themselves, and whoever dies with the most toys wins. 

There was a school safety town hall this past week put on by ABC15 where the idea of collectivism - caring for, protecting, and including - was on full display. PUSD candidate Melissa Girmscheid was part of the panel discussion, along with another teacher from PUSD, a social worker, a few K-12 superintendents, a couple of school resource officers (SROs), an attorney, a parent, and a student. This event was held to provide a space to discuss school safety, and the focus was on the entire system, not just the individual.

When this is published, there will be about 18 days left in this election cycle. Big money is funneling into these radical school board candidates’ coffers at unprecedented rates. 

I just received notification from the Maricopa County Recorder’s office, letting me know that they got my ballot. There are still MANY people who haven’t voted yet, so this is it, Secular Fam! The homestretch! There are plenty of places to support great secular candidates and issues, so get plugged in. And as always, support the work we do here at Secular AZ, and become a member today!