Promising Changes at PUSD

And a Few Hurt Fee Fees, Too

Another week, another group of garbage bills moving through the Arizona legislature! Whether it’s a bill that allows the Ten Commandments (which ones? NO ONE KNOWS!) to be posted in public school classrooms or one that aims to completely erase the LGBTQIA community, our legislators are working super hard to codify religious indoctrination and discrimination into state law. You know, totally normal stuff. 

I forgot how the legislative session exhausts those of us who track all the bills and committee hearings. These past few weeks have kind of felt like a marathon, trying to fight the endless flurry of culture war nonsense bills blasting through both chambers. And while we’ll continue to provide legislative updates and work behind the scenes to push good bills and block bad bills coursing through the veins of the AZ Legislature, school board and city council meetings continue happening, and we’ll continue covering them amidst all the chaos of an election year. 

I’m a bit behind schedule, but Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) had a meeting last week, and I’m FINALLY able to get to what went down. In order to share the new change to the regular meeting agenda, I need to talk about the PUSD Study Session that happened on 2.07.2024, before the regular meeting.

A study session is a meeting that is open to the public, but is designed for board members to study specific topics. PUSD does not stream these meetings, so I relied on the meeting minutes and some reports I read from some Facebook groups. 

If you recall, PUSD has a brand new president with a WHOPPING four months experience, AND they’re onboarding a new superintendent. It makes sense to have a study session (also referred to as a board “retreat”) to strategize and get on the same page for the district’s strategic plan and any other pertinent issues. The bulk of this meeting was to do just that, and the district shared the onboarding plan while the discussion around it seemed thoughtful and congenial. 

The next discussion item was about Board effectiveness, roles, and responsibilities, and President Proudfit read through the responsibilities of governing board members. They had a discussion about board comments first, and Board Member Rooks stated she was uncomfortable speaking without her attorneys present.

You know, totally normal that she’s suing the district she should be serving because she doesn’t know how to read silently. 

Overall the discussion seemed cordial, and then they moved to the discussion about public comments. Board Member Rooks expressed her opposition to this idea, and there was a healthy discussion about it, and I was like, “WOW! They’re doing it! They’re working together and behaving like adults! This is great!”

And then…Board Member Ewing (remember how she was blocked from a leadership role, but so far has been the only leader on the board? Yeah, her) said something about how “public comment is being misused by potential paid activists” and then apparently, Board Member Rooks stated that there “are no paid activists at board meetings” and abruptly left the meeting. 

So during the one chance that she had to advocate for her paid operatives constituents, she took her ball and went home. I soooo wish that there was a video of this, but she provides all of us with video evidence of her deeply unserious governance on the regular, so I’ll be OK.

But really, she left in a huff at precisely the time where her constituents were relying on her to act as their voice. Instead of maintaining composure and working together with her fellow board members like a goddamned grownup, she had a full-on temper tantrum, once again proving that she is unfit for school board service. 

Is anyone surprised? I’m not. But man! I would be so irritated knowing that someone I sent to be a serious member of a governing body and act as my voice on important matters just flaked and left her professional role in a spoiled girl snit. But when you elect deeply unserious evangelical extremists, that’s what you get, I guess. 

So guess what, Secular Fam!? THEY MOVED PUBLIC COMMENTS! Much like Paradise Valley (PVUSD) did last year, the comments are now towards the end of the meeting, and the most recent meeting was the first time they rolled out this change, SO! Without any further ado, let’s get to it!

The meeting started as they usually do with a moment of silence and the Pledge. President Proudfit again acknowledged that there is a substantial amount of people watching online, and I love this, but also wonder why she brings it up. Not that I think there’s anything nefarious about it, but it’s just an interesting acknowledgement, and I’m glad she knows that we’re out here on the interwebs watching them. 

Next we were onto approval of agenda items, and Board Member Rooks made a motion to move public comments back to the beginning of the meeting, and miracle of miracles! NO ONE SECONDED HER MOTION!

See? It’s that easy. Make deeply unserious motions after shirking your duty to participate in meetings with the governing body you belong to? Reap the rewards!  It’s that easy!

Now, I wish her minions would see how she failed them and that they may begin to reject her brand of boardsmanship, but these folks tend to follow all kinds of deeply unserious people who make promises they never keep, so I’m not optimistic. 

Jeff Tobey/Touvi asked to pull an item from the Consent Agenda, and President Proudfit generously pulled the agenda item about student travel on his behalf (they’re running mates, so this makes sense). 

Next, we were on to student celebrations, and I have to commend the staffers who introduce and promote the celebrations of PUSD because they’re so positive. They are great ambassadors of the district, and don’t allow for the knucklehead-regulars at these meetings to derail all the kickass things that are happening in PUSD. All I have to say about the young man who was highlighted during this meeting is…

Once again, y’all, the kids are alright! I think it’s high time to appoint/elect young people to their local school district board so that we can hear the meaningful, first-hand experiences of actual students in the district. As a matter of fact, Board Member Melissa Ewing brought this up a while back, and I think that since all these pArEnTaL RiGhTs people want to speak for kids, maybe it’s time for the kids to speak for themselves. I would LOVE to see districts adopt a policy that gives students a voice as student advisory board members. 

The board members lavished this young man with praise since he’s a freaking rockstar, and then we were on to the rest of the agenda. President Proudfit launched the rest of the meeting by explaining that public comments have been moved, and while I still have the highest of hopes for her bringing the board together, the people she’s running with are sus AF. 

Like, I went into her appointment to the board thinking she’s maybe a real Christian, but given the company she keeps, I have my reservations.

Her running mates are devoted to white Christian nationalism, NOT Christianity, and trust and believe, Secular Fam, there IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE. If Mrs. Proudfit doesn’t see that clearly now? Well, I have no faith in her - PUN INTENDED. 

Board comments were next, and I was impressed that the board mostly stuck to positive reports, Mrs. Rooks needed to use her time to whine and cry about the board moving public comments. You know, the part of the study session she willfully left of her own volition rather than advocating for her constituents? THAT PART?? Yeah.

She was big mad about a board decision that she chose not to participate in. Cry me a river. 

Since a consent agenda item was pulled, the public comment tied to it was allowed, so Photoshop expert extraordinaire, Jeff Tobey/Touvi was up at the lectern to complain about a consent agenda item about student travel. He urged the board to keep any agenda items that are over $100,000 onto the regular agenda instead of consent as he’s done in the past. Jeff is running after all, so he seems to be using absolutely every excuse to blast the public with his comments whether they matter or not. 

Next up was the “Action Items” section of the agenda. School boards divide the agenda into distinguishable sections. There’s always the welcome part, the consent portion, the action items, and the discussion items. Public comments may or may not be included, and many boards, over the last few years, have opted to push them to the end since the “Evangelical Extremist Toastmasters Club” has taken to hijacking these meetings. 

In fact, your elected legislators at the Capitol have noticed that these meetings have been taken over by these knuckleheaded conspiracy theorists. You may be imagining that they want to put an end to this kind of QAnon takeover of school boards, but you’d be WRONG since evangelical extremists have been in control of the state legislature (almost entirely) in Arizona since the mid-1960s.

No, Secular Fam, our legislature actually WANTS conspiracy theorists to lead our public meetings as they’ve shown to us through the creation of some truly terrible legislation. Of course, these same rules would not apply to them if this bill actually passes. 

The next agenda item was all about staff contract language changes. This was a general update about minor changes, but when you don’t understand how anything works, everything is a conspiracy, so of course the questions that came from Jeff Tobey/Touvi were yet another example of how important it is to only elect people who understand how the world works. Spoiler alert: Jeff seems confused. 

Next, during Jeff’s confused line of questioning, a “point of order” was called. 

I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed this happen at a PUSD meeting before, so I was intrigued. Jeff’s commentary was not germane to the agenda item, so Board Member Melissa Ewing pointed that out. It seems that Candidate Tobey/Touvi was trying to dig into the qualifications of social workers, but had he just emailed the district, he would have gotten his answers.

Since he’s running, my guess is he’s trying to create a “campaign footprint” to use during his campaign. You gotta love a thirsty candidate, amirite?

Next item up was about the “Real Time Crime Center” which appears to be a partnership with Glendale Police Department to give them access to district surveillance cameras to help with police investigations. And while for me, I’m in the ACAB camp, given the targeting of a non-binary employee of the district and the absolute sh!tshow happening in Gilbert, Queen Creek, and Chandler, who knows? maybe this is a good thing. 

Also, Jeff Tobey/Touvi needed to give his two cents again. 

Next we were on to everyone in PUSD’s least favorite part, PUBLIC COMMENTS! It was nice that President Proudfit read the expectations for public commenters, so I was at the edge of my seat waiting to see if the governing board would stick with it and stop bad behavior. 

First up was a dad in the district who supported the board’s decision to move comments while acknowledging he’s not running for office. 

Next up was Laura T. who continues to impress and surprise me. Laura is a lifelong educator who seemed to be part of the conspiracy theorist crowd at the beginning of 2023, but now?! She’s fully on board with sanity. Every meeting, she talks about what districts SHOULD be focused on, and dispels myths.

I imagine she’s persona non grata in extremist circles these days, but I for one am grateful for her words. During this meeting, she questioned the integrity of the so-called “Christian conservatives” who only seem to care about culture war issues when they get marching orders from their church/party leaders. I’m so grateful she’s speaking up for public education. 

Next up was a former PUSD band director who shared being targeted with alleged fabricated stories of his sexual arousal while teaching in the district. A(NOTHER) point of order was called when he mentioned being accused by his students of “having erections” and I wasn’t sure why he was silenced, so I chalked it up to Purity Culture and how hearing accurate terms about body parts is scary for a bunch of people in our society. 

Also, BIG SHOUT OUT TO SCOTTSDALE (SUSD) for considering bringing back Comprehensive Sex Ed (CSE)! The MAGAts are LOSING THEIR MINDS and I’M HERE FOR IT!

Next up was Angry Homemade T-shirt Granny, and as usual, she seemed to be experiencing verbal diarrhea. Again. Poor woman, get her some Imodium AD! Stat!

She started her sermon speech by praying and pledging her allegiance to Tom Horne so that was weird. She praised his recent partnership with PragerU to call PUSD schools “evil government schools” and again, ANOTHER POINT OF ORDER WAS CALLED!

Angry Homemade T-shirt Granny quickly asked “why?” and Board Member Ewing cited the use of the word “evil” to describe the board and the district, and then (AGAIN) did President Proudfit’s job for her when she didn’t answer to the point of order. President Proudfit did her best to handle the situation, but she has about four months experience so of course she’s not great at running a meeting, but hey!

The men on this board trusted her enough to run the meeting while not at all coming to her defense when she needed help actually running the meeting, so here we are! Women have always done the work of men and cleaned up their messes, so why should this Arizona suburb be any different? 

“Blah, jesus, blah, jesus, blah,” Granny went on to say and then we were on to the next speaker. 

Yet another Rooks groupie was up to ask for comments to be moved because she cares so much about parents. 

After her, Janelle Bowles, who just happens to be the sister of Arizona’s own J6 Insurrectionist, CD8 Congressional Hopeful, Fake Elector, Arizona’s Biggest Manbaby AND Mama Fratelli Look Alike, Senator Anthony Kern (R-LD27)

spoke about SERIOUSLY WHO EVEN CARES, and then Three Time Tobey™ was up again to compare the multiple points of order to Nazism. 

Next up was the hostess with the MAGA mostess who seems to have organized a fundraiser for her MAGA faves (according to social media reports), and then the woman who wanted the blood of Christ to spill o’er the district was up and big mad that the comments were moved to the end, but otherwise, that was it.  

The public comments were over! It was lovely, and though some of the regular attendees were upset over it, they all survived! The meeting happened, and all voices were heard! How cool is that?! Democracy was preserved while prioritizing serious issues. 

I know that it’s impossible for me to say with any certainty that these changes happened because of your activism, Secular Fam, BUT! I think that your activism has made a HUGE difference in preserving the integrity and professionalism of our local school board meetings. 

So! Keep it up, friends! There are about nine months until the 2024 election, so let’s make every moment count! Volunteer, become a member, support local candidates, or bring your unique perspective to our board of directors.

Now more than ever we need your voice and your activism to preserve our democracy.