Latest / The Myth of Education Podcast / Ep. 38 | All Eyes On Peoria Unified

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Ep. 38 | All Eyes On Peoria Unified · The Myth of Education Podcast

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SPEAKER_03: Welcome to The Myth of Education Podcast,
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[music]
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SPEAKER_03: I have with me today a full panel,
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SPEAKER_03: Ms. Inger from the East Valley, Ms. Laura and Loray from the West Valley.
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SPEAKER_03: Welcome to The Myth of Education Podcast.
0:45
SPEAKER_03: The first thing I want to start with, I don't know if this is For me, I'm being unfriendly.
1:02
SPEAKER_02: I have definitely been censored and then when I corrected that and asked why,
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SPEAKER_02: I limit my posts so that I can work with them and they can work
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SPEAKER_02: with me respectfully.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm just being yelled at for being from Mesa so whatever.
1:20
SPEAKER_03: People thought for a long time I didn't live in Peoria because I do speak in a lot of places.
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SPEAKER_03: I think the First Amendment is being shut down because we are crossing over districts, right?
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SPEAKER_03: There's only a handful of people.
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SPEAKER_03: Really paying attention to these issues,
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SPEAKER_03: watching board meetings,
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SPEAKER_03: attending board meetings, who are at least asking questions.
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SPEAKER_03: We're pulling public records.
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SPEAKER_03: There has to be somebody that puts that out there.
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SPEAKER_03: And so we're going to take arrows and be censored for that.
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SPEAKER_03: It's just par for the course.
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SPEAKER_03: There's something going on.
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SPEAKER_00: I think that the censorship is happening and it's happening not just
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SPEAKER_00: in this district, but across probably the nation.
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SPEAKER_00: It's happening because they don't want to tell us the truth because things are happening.
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SPEAKER_00: The same playbook is used across all states.
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SPEAKER_00: The only thing that's different is that right now Peoria is using it way too good.
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SPEAKER_00: So the censorship that they're trying to do is essentially not working
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SPEAKER_00: because there's too many people saying,
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SPEAKER_00: hey, wait a minute, that doesn't make sense, where a lot of areas aren't.
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SPEAKER_00: Because the situations aren't as horrible as what's happened in this district.
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SPEAKER_02: Well, I read this morning the voyeurism that's happening on the east side.
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SPEAKER_02: I believe it's Tempe or Ahwatukee.
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SPEAKER_02: Tempe.
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SPEAKER_02: They put out like three pages of information encouraging kids to come.
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SPEAKER_02: He was thought to be kind of weird by the kids,
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SPEAKER_02: so they put him in charge of viewing security video at the
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SPEAKER_00: I grew up in Tempe.
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SPEAKER_00: The parents of Corona del Sol.
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SPEAKER_00: It's been hard on them,
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SPEAKER_00: but they are starting to band together to realize it wasn't just five kids
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SPEAKER_00: or nine kids or a single situation been going on for a long time.
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SPEAKER_00: Everything that's happened in Peoria is making other districts stand up and
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SPEAKER_00: the parents go, Hey, you know what?
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SPEAKER_00: It's not just us and we do have a voice.
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SPEAKER_00: Peoria has just gotten the most light because parents and people in
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SPEAKER_00: that area actually put it on social media.
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SPEAKER_00: And no matter what, the districts don't want people going on social media.
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SPEAKER_00: How many times have you heard a certain board member over there saying,
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SPEAKER_00: don't go on social media?
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SPEAKER_00: Guess what happens when you tell someone that?
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SPEAKER_01: I think that the parents and Imperia,
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SPEAKER_01: specifically at Centennial,
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SPEAKER_01: have been surveillanced or sheltered out of a lot of the discussions around it.
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SPEAKER_01: People don't want to hear kids' names.
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SPEAKER_01: They don't want to hear families' names.
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SPEAKER_01: And honestly, the only ones that really matter are the students at Centennial.
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SPEAKER_01: Those students should have a voice and they should be able to see this through
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SPEAKER_01: and they should be able to have adults in their life recognize what is happening.
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SPEAKER_01: And to tell them that what happened is not normal.
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SPEAKER_01: It's not normal behavior for adults.
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SPEAKER_01: While we stopped talking about it,
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SPEAKER_01: the kids just think, oh, well, I guess it's supposed to be this way.
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SPEAKER_01: And honestly, it's not supposed to be that way.
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SPEAKER_01: And quite frankly,
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SPEAKER_01: I'm upset about it because my child and friends and neighbors
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SPEAKER_01: and what have you were kids that went to that school and were talking about it.
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SPEAKER_01: And to say that nobody knew is ridiculous because everybody knew.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: Right.
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SPEAKER_01: But the people who aren't mandated reporters didn't recognize what it looked like
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SPEAKER_01: to report things like that.
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SPEAKER_01: And then the people who are mandated reporters weren't reporting it.
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SPEAKER_01: So the kids were just laughing it off like it was something funny.
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SPEAKER_01: And the special treatment was, wow, I wish that could happen to me.
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SPEAKER_01: Wow, I wish that could happen to my friends.
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SPEAKER_01: I wish I could leave campus during the day to go And
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SPEAKER_01: so,
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SPEAKER_01: when you put it out on social media, everybody wants you to be quiet.
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SPEAKER_01: Let the police do their work.
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SPEAKER_01: Let the police handle it.
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SPEAKER_01: They have everything they need when,
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SPEAKER_01: in fact,
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SPEAKER_01: they didn't the first time and there's a good possibility that they don't now.
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SPEAKER_01: That's why...
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SPEAKER_01: We have board members asking for attorney client privilege to be waived.
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SPEAKER_01: If they had everything that they needed, why are we still asking them to give more?
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SPEAKER_03: It's creating this unnecessary friction between parents and community members and
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SPEAKER_03: then the school district.
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SPEAKER_03: It's causing chaos, to be honest, to use to use.
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SPEAKER_03: Yes.
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SPEAKER_03: And you need to do it as quickly as possible and parents should be involved right away.
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SPEAKER_03: This centennial situation,
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SPEAKER_03: obviously we have to say that everything is alleged because for whatever reason,
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SPEAKER_03: Haley Beck and Angela Berlaca have not been charged with anything.
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SPEAKER_03: The Peoria Police Department recently had this outcry of needing help
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SPEAKER_03: from other agencies to go through all the paperwork that they took in that raid over
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SPEAKER_03: the summer.
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SPEAKER_03: We're just speculating, but what do you think the police may have found?
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SPEAKER_00: The head of HR and now...
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SPEAKER_00: Now, the superintendent for the time being,
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SPEAKER_00: I have a feeling that she has a background in law that she knows not
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SPEAKER_00: to put things maybe onto a computer but never realized they might take
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SPEAKER_00: that little black book.
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SPEAKER_00: She's got a lot of knowledge.
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SPEAKER_00: We can't deny that.
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SPEAKER_01: I think the emails are one thing.
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SPEAKER_01: I think that there's probably a lot of them that they need to search through.
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SPEAKER_01: But I think too,
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SPEAKER_01: it is going to be things that don't necessarily pertain to,
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SPEAKER_01: but they also need to make sure that they don't.
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SPEAKER_01: I think that's more of a fine-tooth comb,
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SPEAKER_01: if you will, making sure if it does pertain or doesn't pertain.
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SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they don't use specific names or places,
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SPEAKER_01: you know, by calling the district office the DAC.
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SPEAKER_01: It takes out district office.
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SPEAKER_01: So let's say,
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SPEAKER_01: for instance,
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SPEAKER_01: a student,
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SPEAKER_01: rather than using a student's name,
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SPEAKER_01: they'll use They made the comment that it doesn't mean anything just because.
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SPEAKER_02: Obviously, when they had to serve
8:10
SPEAKER_02: And then they put out an email saying they're disappointed in the Peoria Police Department.
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SPEAKER_02: Yes.
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SPEAKER_02: That's the part I found.
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SPEAKER_02: They were disappointed in the search warrant they asked for.
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SPEAKER_00: Well, if you're handed a search warrant up here,
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SPEAKER_00: we need these papers,
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SPEAKER_00: which happens,
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SPEAKER_00: I think,
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SPEAKER_00: to DAX a lot,
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SPEAKER_00: and you hand it over, then they don't have to come in and take over for six days.
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SPEAKER_00: They can just take their things and go, okay, we're going to do our investigation.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: The fact that they handled it the way they did definitely would make me believe that
9:00
SPEAKER_00: the district wasn't working with them like they like to say.
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SPEAKER_01: They didn't want to give them more information than they needed to or than they had to.
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SPEAKER_00: They still don't.
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SPEAKER_01: Right.
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SPEAKER_01: That's in the attorney-client privilege, right?
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SPEAKER_00: If you notice the things that Toby is saying,
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SPEAKER_00: it's not really that he's worried about this stuff.
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SPEAKER_00: It's that, well, if we give you all of this stuff from executive sessions, it goes back further.
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SPEAKER_00: So what else are you hiding?
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SPEAKER_00: Right.
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SPEAKER_00: Because that's what I would really be looking at is what else
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SPEAKER_00: in there do you not want the public to see?
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SPEAKER_00: Because there's obviously more things going on that they think would be questionable.
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SPEAKER_03: The police department too,
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SPEAKER_03: this is what I've noticed,
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SPEAKER_03: is that they do, to whatever extent, rely on people in public forums who talk.
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SPEAKER_03: If it wasn't for Heather and those like her who were raising awareness about
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SPEAKER_03: the mandated reporting,
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SPEAKER_03: that would have never even been looked at because it wasn't being looked at.
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SPEAKER_03: When she went to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and asked
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SPEAKER_03: if it would interfere with any investigation that Peoria was doing,
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SPEAKER_03: Rachel Mitchell's office told her no.
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SPEAKER_03: If the district was more proactive, there wouldn't have been a need for a raid.
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SPEAKER_03: We're waiting for these victims to have an outcry because that's really what
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SPEAKER_03: the police need to move forward.
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SPEAKER_03: But what I said to one of the relatives of the victims is that I hope
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SPEAKER_03: that this child finds their voice so that they make an example out of the district
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SPEAKER_03: because the district is trying to make an example out of this child that it is okay
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SPEAKER_03: to abuse you And then we can see predators,
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SPEAKER_03: alleged predators,
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SPEAKER_03: who are going on vacations and attending their high school reunions
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SPEAKER_03: and failed mandated reporters who are allowed to just resign from their positions
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SPEAKER_03: but their reputation is still intact and they can go lead another school.
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SPEAKER_03: That is a big, big problem.
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SPEAKER_03: I really hope Peoria is setting a precedent across the nation
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SPEAKER_03: and once these survivors do come forward that we will have laws in their name.
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SPEAKER_01: I agree with that 100%.
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SPEAKER_01: I hope and I pray every day that they come forward and they say what is happening to them.
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SPEAKER_01: Being children, they don't understand the impact that this has had on them.
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SPEAKER_01: And it probably won't have an impact on them until Exactly.
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SPEAKER_01: The average age for children
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SPEAKER_02: A sexual abuse victim to come for is 52, the average, male and female.
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SPEAKER_02: It takes them that long and it messes up so many of their choices and so much
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SPEAKER_02: of their relationships.
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SPEAKER_02: It has a lasting effect on people.
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SPEAKER_02: I was doing my research on this before I ever came forward.
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SPEAKER_02: It kind of just fell in my lap from my neighbor boys.
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SPEAKER_02: I was so shocked.
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SPEAKER_02: And I think that's exactly what I've heard Heather Rook say is that when she saw
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SPEAKER_02: the video and the Yes.
12:06
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
12:06
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
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SPEAKER_02: We would be like, why?
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SPEAKER_02: They don't have very much self-control.
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SPEAKER_02: And now they're sending videos naked.
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SPEAKER_02: I mean, this is a far cry different in 25 years.
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SPEAKER_01: I mean, we've gone from don't cuss to don't cuss.
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SPEAKER_01: Well, we used to have strict guidelines for dress code back in our days
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SPEAKER_01: where you weren't allowed to dress that certain way if you were a student.
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SPEAKER_01: And now the teachers are dressing that way.
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SPEAKER_01: So yes, Laura.
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SPEAKER_02: Male and female, they kind of look like they blend in together.
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SPEAKER_02: To the student body.
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SPEAKER_02: And you wonder why there's so many issues.
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SPEAKER_02: There has to be a separation, a line drawn, and there hasn't been.
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SPEAKER_02: Since 2018, when we first started really knowing about the separation.
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SPEAKER_02: That's why I'm involved.
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SPEAKER_02: We are trying to destroy the district.
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SPEAKER_02: We didn't make any of these decisions.
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SPEAKER_01: These things happened all the time.
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SPEAKER_01: She goes, you know what the difference between then and now is?
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SPEAKER_01: And I'd say, what?
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SPEAKER_01: And she'd say, the media.
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SPEAKER_01: The media is the difference.
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SPEAKER_01: So back in the days,
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SPEAKER_01: these things could get brushed under the rug a lot easier because it was difficult.
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SPEAKER_01: Not talked about.
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SPEAKER_01: You had to go down to the grocery store or the local barber shop or what have you
14:00
SPEAKER_01: to hear the dirt, so to speak.
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SPEAKER_01: Now people are able to talk about it so easily.
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SPEAKER_01: And yes, you can accuse things of happening, right?
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SPEAKER_01: But there is a big difference between accusing somebody.
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SPEAKER_01: Correct.
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SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
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SPEAKER_03: I was talking to Laura about this before we all came on.
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SPEAKER_03: This led me to read through some of the statutes in Arizona for mandated reporting
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SPEAKER_03: for violence crimes against children.
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SPEAKER_03: There's hardly any fines that are assessed against school districts for failed management.
15:01
SPEAKER_03: I think it's a class six felony to fail to mandate report punishable by up to a year
15:06
SPEAKER_03: in jail or it's a small fine.
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SPEAKER_03: So there's really no incentive for a school district or anybody in a position
15:13
SPEAKER_03: of leadership really to do anything.
15:15
SPEAKER_03: We have to have harsher punishments and then we also need it to be enforced.
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SPEAKER_03: The second thing that I want to say to your point, Laura,
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SPEAKER_03: I knew that about mid-50s being that average age of
15:25
SPEAKER_03: when sex abuse victims come forward.
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SPEAKER_03: I find that to be tragic that that is our culture.
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SPEAKER_03: We should have a safe space for survivors of abuse to come forward way sooner than that.
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SPEAKER_03: The culture should be gravitating towards helping these people get the justice
15:43
SPEAKER_03: that they deserve.
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SPEAKER_03: But there's a reason why they Let's
15:49
SPEAKER_03: switch gears and talk about Proposition 428.
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SPEAKER_03: This is not going to affect you,
15:54
SPEAKER_03: Inger, because it's specific to Peoria, but that doesn't matter.
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SPEAKER_03: Because bonds and overrides, I see signs.
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SPEAKER_03: And here in Peoria, they want us to approve roughly rounded about a $33 million override.
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SPEAKER_03: This is a continuation of a 13% override that they've had for 20 years and it failed.
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SPEAKER_03: Overrides are not regulated the same way that bonds and grants and contracts
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SPEAKER_03: with money attached to them are regulated.
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SPEAKER_03: With override,
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SPEAKER_03: Those funds can be marketed as being for disability programs,
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SPEAKER_03: arts programs,
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SPEAKER_03: and sports,
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SPEAKER_03: but then the board can take a vote under the advisement of the attorney and
16:41
SPEAKER_03: the superintendent and executive leadership to spend those funds wherever they are.
16:45
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
16:46
SPEAKER_03: That's why I've asked for accountability.
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SPEAKER_01: I don't understand why people aren't voting.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
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SPEAKER_01: The third line is Peoria Unified Bonds.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: And the third line is Peoria Unified Overrides.
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SPEAKER_01: There is nobody else on my taxes that I pay three times.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: So for me,
17:51
SPEAKER_01: the way that I'm trying to explain it to people,
17:54
SPEAKER_01: what are you Because there's this little pie graph on your taxes.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: And on my pie graph, it says that 69.89% of the taxes that I pay go to Peoria Unified.
18:07
SPEAKER_01: Only 19.76%.
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SPEAKER_01: So if other places can make do with 19 or 10% of the taxes that we pay,
18:12
SPEAKER_01: why does Peoria Unified need more than 70%
18:24
SPEAKER_01: We have to keep paying more and more and more to them out of our taxes when
18:27
SPEAKER_01: the money never gets where it's supposed to be in the hands of the students and
18:30
SPEAKER_01: the teachers.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: Rather, they have the teachers out there begging for classroom supplies and begging
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SPEAKER_01: for things for the students in those classrooms when we have whole warehouses full
18:49
SPEAKER_01: of supplies that everybody in the district office has access to,
18:53
SPEAKER_01: but not teachers and not students.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: Why is that?
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SPEAKER_01: These teachers should have access to those warehouses.
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SPEAKER_03: There's no reason why any teacher should have direct messaged me to vote
19:02
SPEAKER_03: for Prop 428 because they don't have copy paper or toilet paper.
19:06
SPEAKER_03: I made a public comment about that.
19:07
SPEAKER_03: I've emailed the district about that.
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SPEAKER_03: And all I got back...
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SPEAKER_03: What I have specified is that I want receipts.
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SPEAKER_03: I don't just want the general buckets that these monies went to.
19:28
SPEAKER_03: I want receipts because when I looked at the state superintendent total revenue
19:32
SPEAKER_03: for M&O in 2024,
19:34
SPEAKER_03: it said that they had close to $290 million from local county and state.
19:39
SPEAKER_03: Just the M&O I only looked at that one line and I'm not a math person.
19:43
SPEAKER_03: I'm not a tax person in terms of how to follow all of that money.
19:47
SPEAKER_03: All I can see is that at the beginning of that fiscal year, they had a balance of $290 million.
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SPEAKER_03: 2024 happens to be the year I believe that Rod
19:55
SPEAKER_03: I feel like she should be able to produce receipts of where that $290 million have went.
20:03
SPEAKER_03: And if it is going towards merit raises for executive leadership and things like
20:08
SPEAKER_03: that, those are the types of raises.
20:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
20:27
SPEAKER_02: When you go to review all of that, we've had five superintendents since 2018.
20:33
SPEAKER_02: None of the superintendents that were permanent fulfilled their contracts,
20:37
SPEAKER_02: yet they were still given short-term incentives and And now we have
20:41
SPEAKER_02: the Arizona Risk Retention.
20:55
SPEAKER_02: I know that they have my requests about the reinsurance and about
21:10
SPEAKER_02: How much money is in those trust funds,
21:12
SPEAKER_02: which should be accountable to the public since it's our money.
21:16
SPEAKER_02: A lot of people don't understand anything about the way the districts work in
21:21
SPEAKER_02: the state of Arizona.
21:22
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of money involved.
21:24
SPEAKER_02: A lot of money.
21:26
SPEAKER_02: So when I say about Proposition 428, I asked for a forensic audit.
21:32
SPEAKER_02: There's never been a forensic audit.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: Do you know that not in four years of board meetings,
21:37
SPEAKER_02: nothing was mentioned about Sun Valley and Ricky Ordway?
21:42
SPEAKER_02: I'm asking for transparency and accountability.
21:46
SPEAKER_02: That's as simple as it gets.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: Laura, that's a good point in that what I have found in years
21:51
SPEAKER_01: of attending school board meetings is that they spend a lot of time talking
21:55
SPEAKER_01: about all of the good And so that's all great,
21:57
SPEAKER_01: but there's a lot of things that don't get talked about.
22:11
SPEAKER_01: And you're absolutely right on that.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: And there are important things,
22:14
SPEAKER_01: things that the public should know about, at least in my opinion.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: There's land swaps that happen,
22:19
SPEAKER_01: purchases of new properties that happen,
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SPEAKER_01: properties that have been taken by eminent domain and the public never sees.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: And when they vote for these Prop 428s,
22:30
SPEAKER_01: the people of Peoria deserve to know what is happening and
22:35
SPEAKER_01: where those funds are going.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: If the
22:41
SPEAKER_01: So where does that money come from?
22:43
SPEAKER_01: Does that come from our property taxes?
22:45
SPEAKER_01: How are they utilizing the
22:56
SPEAKER_01: I've seen the spreadsheets, right?
22:58
SPEAKER_01: We have a good mutual friend, Linda Bosom.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: She's a very resourceful person.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: And I have seen a tab after tab after tab showing bucket after bucket after bucket after bucket.
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SPEAKER_03: I'm not going to be mad if it does pass.
23:30
SPEAKER_03: I'm just going to stay in the boardroom and dare those teachers to keep speaking
23:33
SPEAKER_03: if they don't get any money.
23:34
SPEAKER_03: Us passing an M&O is a drop.
23:36
SPEAKER_03: That $33 million Peoria is asking for, they were $33 million is a drop in a bucket.
23:40
SPEAKER_03: What the community also doesn't hear, you can watch years worth of board meetings.
23:54
SPEAKER_03: Nobody is digging seriously into why our proficiencies are so low.
23:59
SPEAKER_03: And we can make excuses about kids don't like to take tests.
24:01
SPEAKER_03: That's fine.
24:02
SPEAKER_03: That is something we can't hang our hat on, but we should be paying attention to.
24:05
SPEAKER_03: The school district should be answering the question of why should we continue
24:09
SPEAKER_03: to fund the status quo?
24:11
SPEAKER_00: So I think that there's kind of an elephant in the room that no one actually realizes.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: And I've been learning this over the last nine months is that many times people
24:20
SPEAKER_00: The pomp and circumstance is just as much for the general public as it is for
24:26
SPEAKER_00: the board members.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: Board members do not get a full synopsis of anything.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: They get high level, this is where we're at.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: I've sat in a board They didn't know which building they were talking about
24:38
SPEAKER_00: when they were talking about remodeling it, and everyone was getting confused.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: I've spent a lot of time behind the scenes talking to other boards in other cities
24:47
SPEAKER_00: and their board members asking them, like, hey, have you seen this?
24:50
SPEAKER_00: Have you looked at this?
24:51
SPEAKER_00: Were you given this?
24:52
SPEAKER_00: And the answer is always no.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: So there's a blank wall that's put up that the superintendent shows them the pretty
24:59
SPEAKER_00: and doesn't show them the everything.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: Something that Heather Rooks said the other day,
25:04
SPEAKER_00: she had not seen that piece of paper that came out.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: She hadn't seen it.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: She's a board member.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: So when we look at everything that board members are actually told
25:15
SPEAKER_00: by district superintendency and leadership, they are not getting the truth.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: I agree
25:20
SPEAKER_03: with you.
25:20
SPEAKER_03: It seems very revolutionary for some reason to ask for the information to request it
25:26
SPEAKER_03: as a board member.
25:27
SPEAKER_03: Here we have now Peoria School Board has elected to self-report
25:32
SPEAKER_03: an alleged open meeting law violation, which is a complete joke.
25:36
SPEAKER_03: Information that should be readily known by board members so that they make
25:39
SPEAKER_03: an informed decision.
25:42
SPEAKER_03: And then anybody like a Heather Rooks or Anna Van Hook down in Higley,
25:49
SPEAKER_03: any board member that's going
25:50
SPEAKER_03: to bring up something is automatically being persecuted and shut down.
25:54
SPEAKER_03: I hate that it's that way.
25:56
SPEAKER_02: Can I go back to the Prop 428 with the money?
25:59
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
25:59
SPEAKER_02: I'd like to make a comparison.
26:01
SPEAKER_02: Do you know where Madison Elementary School District is?
26:04
SPEAKER_02: It's in North Phoenix.
26:06
SPEAKER_02: Nice areas.
26:07
SPEAKER_02: They spend right at $10,500 per student.
26:09
SPEAKER_02: Peorius gets $13,000.
26:15
SPEAKER_02: $400 per student.
26:17
SPEAKER_02: Their reading and their math efficiencies are 54%,
26:23
SPEAKER_02: 55% in reading and I want you to look at Peoria's proficiency.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: It's under 50%.
26:29
SPEAKER_02: Math proficiency is 38%.
26:35
SPEAKER_02: We get a lot of grant money and that's not even included in the monies that I just said.
26:40
SPEAKER_02: $13,400 per student.
26:43
SPEAKER_02: Madison Elementary, they get $10,500 and their proficiency scores are that much greater.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: If you look at the two districts, Madison isn't top heavy either.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: They don't have a huge district side like Peoria does.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: Peoria, Mesa, Gilbert, all the larger school districts, they're very top-heavy.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: They're very expensive in their district office.
27:03
SPEAKER_03: And I would argue that Peoria, even for the size that it is, it's not the most top-heavy.
27:08
SPEAKER_03: I have sat in,
27:09
SPEAKER_03: for example,
27:10
SPEAKER_03: a Deer Valley board meeting and they have two rows full of administrators,
27:15
SPEAKER_03: executive level in the cabinet, deputy level, their assistant level.
27:18
SPEAKER_03: And maybe my estimation is wrong.
27:20
SPEAKER_03: I have eyes on that school district.
27:22
SPEAKER_03: I'm not in every board meeting,
27:23
SPEAKER_03: obviously because I don't live over there,
27:24
SPEAKER_03: but I've just I've remarked to several people who lived in Deer Valley,
27:27
SPEAKER_03: y'all have way too many administrators.
27:29
SPEAKER_03: To your point as well, Laura,
27:31
SPEAKER_03: are we teaching to the tests or is there any organic learning that is happening
27:37
SPEAKER_03: in our public schools?
27:38
SPEAKER_03: I'm being led to believe that there's not.
27:40
SPEAKER_03: And this is a factory line education.
27:42
SPEAKER_03: Public education is very much a communist idea and is factory line education
27:47
SPEAKER_03: that is not working for the majority of American people who are used to living under
27:52
SPEAKER_03: a constitution and having freedom, learning.
27:57
SPEAKER_03: If you have rural farm kids,
28:00
SPEAKER_03: it might not be the most important thing in the world that they know how to write
28:04
SPEAKER_03: a 30-page essay or whatever the case may be.
28:06
SPEAKER_03: They might not be pursuing that.
28:09
SPEAKER_03: They want to learn how to till the land.
28:11
SPEAKER_03: They want to know how to have a successful business based off of their inheritance.
28:16
SPEAKER_03: There should be a pathway of success through our education system for that,
28:20
SPEAKER_03: just the same as the lawyer, the doctor, or whatever.
28:22
SPEAKER_03: Last thing I'll say on this topic,
28:24
SPEAKER_03: there is no pathway of success to somebody who just wants to be an activist.
28:28
SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately,
28:28
SPEAKER_03: a lot of our teachers,
28:30
SPEAKER_03: these union thugs, I can't say based on Peoria, but I can say based on others.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: Peoria is hurting because they're not listening to the parents.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: To Inger's point, they don't want the parents to be involved.
29:16
SPEAKER_01: They don't ask our opinions.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: They don't ask for us to be involved.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: And then it's always an excuse that the parents aren't involved.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: The parents don't care.
29:25
SPEAKER_01: You know, we have all these students at school that don't have breakfast in the morning.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: I personally have been volunteer trained probably close to 12 years.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: Ask me how many times I've been selected to go on a field trip with my kids.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: Ask me how many times I've been selected to go on a field trip with my kids.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: And it's okay, so you don't want...
29:58
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
30:13
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we could come together for the better of the kids.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
30:17
SPEAKER_01: 100%.
30:30
SPEAKER_03: We do get complaints from taxpayers and family members of students who say,
30:37
SPEAKER_03: yeah, we never got that email.
30:38
SPEAKER_03: We never took that survey.
30:39
SPEAKER_03: And now these changes are happening.
30:41
SPEAKER_02: That's one of the questions I asked, Melissa.
30:43
SPEAKER_02: Lucy Ewing and Danielle Airy, they are so quick to put that in the board meeting.
30:48
SPEAKER_02: We've gotten this feedback.
30:50
SPEAKER_02: And I said, well, what's the percentage and where is that located?
30:53
SPEAKER_02: And Danielle Airy told me that she would email that to me and I received nothing.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: I agree.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: I've asked that same question myself is what's the total numbers?
31:03
SPEAKER_01: If you surveyed 4,000 families, how many did you get back of those surveys?
31:08
SPEAKER_01: Because that's important to know when you don't know the total amount of the numbers
31:13
SPEAKER_01: and you just say, oh, we have 80%.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, was that 80% of 100 of 4,000?
31:18
SPEAKER_01: What are the numbers?
31:20
SPEAKER_01: And those numbers have never been revealed, at least to my knowledge.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: When we met with them,
31:25
SPEAKER_00: I was actually,
31:26
SPEAKER_00: and I don't remember the exact number,
31:28
SPEAKER_00: I was actually surprised how many they did get back based on other school districts
31:32
SPEAKER_00: that send out similar questionnaires.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that they're doing it right because I'm not sure that I didn't see facts.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: But there's not everything that's wrong in Peoria School District.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: There are really good things in this district and I want to get that out there.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: Every school district has their talking points and their great things that they're doing.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: I can't remember the exact number, Laura, but I was surprised.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: They can send out in Mesa to everybody and they'll get like 150 answers.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: I think she was around 2,000 or 3,000 for the answers.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of things that I would say is awful with that district,
32:05
SPEAKER_00: but that was not one of them.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: To your point on that,
32:08
SPEAKER_01: as far as having really good things that happen in the district,
32:11
SPEAKER_01: I would agree with you on that.
32:12
SPEAKER_01: I've had a child play football in the district.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: I've had a child go to accelerated classes.
32:17
SPEAKER_01: I've had a child in the MET program.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: And I think they're all really great programs.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: But there's also a group of kids or several groups of kids that are not included in that.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that I'd like to see in PUSD is...
32:31
SPEAKER_01: There's different levels of autism and you can't just cater.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: I truly believe that we're like a coin.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: There's two sides.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of good things on one side and there's a lot of bad things.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: And you have to be able to flip the coin.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: You have to be able to address both sides of the coin.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
33:15
SPEAKER_03: I agree.
33:15
SPEAKER_03: This last topic is about the increased cases of adult sexual misconduct.
33:20
SPEAKER_03: In the state of Arizona from 2012 to 2024,
33:24
SPEAKER_03: there were some statistics that came out from the ADE that said we had
33:27
SPEAKER_03: a almost 500%.
33:29
SPEAKER_03: It was like 491 increase of adult sexual misconduct in our school districts in Arizona.
33:35
SPEAKER_03: And then in 2025, there was additional disciplinary actions.
33:38
SPEAKER_03: This should be a lot more alarming because to parents and families than what it is.
33:43
SPEAKER_03: I see this getting worse before it gets better and I do believe that
33:47
SPEAKER_03: the Centennial situation as well as the Ricky Ordway situation is going to set
33:52
SPEAKER_03: a precedent for how to protect students from adult sexual misconduct.
33:56
SPEAKER_01: There's been a lot of talk in the media lately about putting cameras in rooms so
34:01
SPEAKER_01: that students can be watched from in a classroom and I don't disagree with that
34:05
SPEAKER_01: because I've seen that happen in a lot of child care centers, right,
34:09
SPEAKER_01: where they have children And really,
34:12
SPEAKER_01: those cameras are just there to keep people accountable.
34:15
SPEAKER_01: There's been a lot of speculation that that violates the child's rights
34:19
SPEAKER_01: by another parent being able to see how they behave in a classroom or what have you.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: And in childcare, They say that they don't want to be watched while they're at work.
34:40
SPEAKER_01: Hear, hear.
35:07
SPEAKER_00: There's pluses and minuses about having the cameras.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: I've also seen school districts have cameras and things go on and
35:15
SPEAKER_00: then magically there's no film.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: I think kids are actually starting to say, hey, wait a minute, I have rights.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: When you see something, say something.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: Yes, for sure.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: People start forgetting about cameras.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: We've had cameras all over.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can't go anywhere without a camera,
35:28
SPEAKER_00: but it's also not deterring theft in the real world.
35:33
SPEAKER_00: They'll figure out where the cameras are facing Centennial's situation from what I see.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: And my point is education.
35:39
SPEAKER_00: It's communication.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: It's development.
35:54
SPEAKER_02: We have an environment in PUSD that is them versus us.
35:59
SPEAKER_02: Students versus the teachers.
36:01
SPEAKER_02: The students versus administration.
36:03
SPEAKER_02: Teachers against administration.
36:05
SPEAKER_02: That they just stay quiet because...
36:09
SPEAKER_02: We have to change the environment.
36:11
SPEAKER_02: We have to change the way we communicate and handle things.
36:15
SPEAKER_02: When you deal with students that have been sexually abused, there is absolute characteristics.
36:24
SPEAKER_02: Why would a grandmother be brought into a Title IX investigation?
36:28
SPEAKER_02: Because she turned in a video.
36:30
SPEAKER_02: Administration,
36:31
SPEAKER_02: the principals,
36:32
SPEAKER_02: all of them knew what was going on with Haley Beck because they had gotten the email
36:37
SPEAKER_02: in February.
36:37
SPEAKER_02: We just sent them along to another school district.
36:52
SPEAKER_02: They put their school craft in as principal, and yet he's named in the police report.
36:58
SPEAKER_02: So if you want to really change things and make students safer,
37:03
SPEAKER_02: you have to address the elephant in the room, and you have to change.
37:08
SPEAKER_02: But do you
37:13
SPEAKER_01: feel like whenever we've had that opportunity to talk about the elephant
37:18
SPEAKER_01: in the room and to change the environment,
37:20
SPEAKER_01: we voted in and we say, yep, here it comes.
37:23
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be good.
37:24
SPEAKER_01: Then something gets turned around.
37:27
SPEAKER_01: Oh, no, we were just kidding.
37:28
SPEAKER_01: We didn't want that person or we didn't want that to happen.
37:32
SPEAKER_01: We need to look at it again.
37:34
SPEAKER_01: We need to revisit again.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: And then the district ends up paying more money.
37:38
SPEAKER_01: They didn't want to go that direction.
37:54
SPEAKER_03: I can
38:03
SPEAKER_03: understand having a lot of guardrails with parents not getting that footage
38:07
SPEAKER_03: because it'll end up on social media and all the things,
38:09
SPEAKER_03: but our law enforcement basically should just,
38:12
SPEAKER_03: they should be able to flip on a camera and look at a school district at any time.
38:17
SPEAKER_03: I think something like what Senator Kevin Payne is working on,
38:21
SPEAKER_03: where you can hit a panic button,
38:23
SPEAKER_03: I think we can probably have all of these guardrails in place.
38:38
SPEAKER_03: But if we don't have leaders willing to put the protection of kids first,
38:41
SPEAKER_03: if they are not willing to put those proficiencies first,
38:44
SPEAKER_03: if they're not willing to look at the issues in the areas where there's unique needs
38:48
SPEAKER_03: and disabilities, then we're kind of just stuck going around and around.
38:52
SPEAKER_03: Parents have no choice.
38:55
SPEAKER_03: We have no choice but to vote no on things like POP 28 because unless it hits
38:59
SPEAKER_03: the pocketbook, the district, they won't listen.
39:01
SPEAKER_03: They just won't.
39:08
SPEAKER_03: Whereas an actual sexual relationship allegedly happening between these students
39:12
SPEAKER_03: and these teachers is that there is a claim that it didn't happen until
39:16
SPEAKER_03: the child turned 18.
39:23
SPEAKER_03: The guy that was in the position before him actually got acquitted for having
39:29
SPEAKER_03: a sexual relationship with a student because he said that penetration didn't happen
39:32
SPEAKER_03: until the child was 18.
39:34
SPEAKER_03: These are my words, not his words in court.
39:36
SPEAKER_03: This is my summation.
39:38
SPEAKER_03: I said at the beginning of the podcast,
39:39
SPEAKER_03: we have a weakness in our laws and then something is wrong with the enforcement
39:44
SPEAKER_03: of what we do have.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: I'd like to see PUSD do more with less and do better.
39:50
SPEAKER_01: Simple, sweet, but more with less and do better.
39:53
SPEAKER_02: I concur.
39:53
SPEAKER_02: I am definitely voting no for Prop 428.
39:56
SPEAKER_02: They were given ample opportunity to have a forensic audit for free by Gretchen Bell.
40:03
SPEAKER_02: They wouldn't even put it on the agenda.
40:05
SPEAKER_02: And I believe that we've come to a place.
40:08
SPEAKER_02: That it needs to be done.
40:09
SPEAKER_02: They're not going to allow that to be done and I want to know why.
40:13
SPEAKER_02: On the 15th of October there's going to be a session for the people that are running for office.
40:20
SPEAKER_02: I know what I have found.
40:21
SPEAKER_02: I know all of the police reports that I've read,
40:23
SPEAKER_02: the public records that I've read,
40:25
SPEAKER_02: the court records that I've read, the news media reports.
40:28
SPEAKER_02: I have a pretty good understanding of how PUSD has operated in the last 10 years
40:33
SPEAKER_02: and I'll make my decision about that on the 15th of October.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: I think what's happening in Peoria right now is going
40:40
SPEAKER_00: to hopefully reshape Arizona public education for the better.
40:45
SPEAKER_00: I would really hope for people to stand up
40:48
SPEAKER_00: and make sure all your districts understand what the laws are
40:50
SPEAKER_00: with mandatory reporting,
40:52
SPEAKER_00: because there's still a lot of them that don't understand it.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: Everybody should have gone to their training,
40:57
SPEAKER_00: but unfortunately,
40:58
SPEAKER_00: as we see it across the districts, there are still continuing issues.
41:02
SPEAKER_00: I hope our lawmakers change the laws at the state level to support,
41:07
SPEAKER_00: but also police our districts to make sure they're doing what they're supposed
41:12
SPEAKER_00: to do, which is teach the students and protect the students.