Peoria Unified School District governing board member Heather Rooks has decided not to attend a teacher’s conference that she suspected of inappropriate teachings.
In the first weeks of Rooks’ term earlier this year, she scrutinized district travel expenses by pulling them from the consent agenda for discussion, stating she didn’t trust what is taught at certain teacher conferences, and that the district has to be accountable if educators bring back “inappropriate” teachings to classrooms, including subjects she cites as social justice, LBGTQ+, critical race theory, Black Lives Matter, diversity, social emotional learning, and more.
Then in a surprise move, Feb. 9, she requested to attend one of those conferences — the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development annual conference in Denver, March 30-April 3.
The annual conference is designed for educators centering on teaching and learning, with topics including educators’ roles, burnout and retention, educator capacity, personalized instruction and data driven instruction, according to the district.
Rooks said she wanted to see for herself what teachers are learning at the conference.
The governing board approved just under $2,000 for Rooks’ request to attend the conference, 3-0, Feb. 9.
However, since then, she decided not to attend the conference.
The initial travel request included nearly 10 staff and administrative members of Raymond S. Kellis High School, who planned to attend the conference at about $2,000 each.
However, Rooks said she was informed by Superintendent Jason Reynolds the staff attending the conference was “no longer interested,” so she decided against attending as well.
“I wanted to attend with staff to see how things work, and since they are no longer attending, I decided not to attend as well,” Rooks said.
At that time earlier this year, Rooks’ shift to attendance generated conversation on social media and raised eyebrows from governing board member Melissa Ewing, who said she was “very confused” when she saw an agenda item in which Rooks requested attendance to the conference after she voted to table funds for it only a couple weeks earlier.
Ewing sought the reasoning behind Rooks’ request, partly because the conference is meant for professional educators and not school board members.
A description of the conference, which was pulled from the consent agenda, states it provides “tools to equip staff to build rapport, challenge and support students, and enhance relationships among staff, parents and students fostering community support.”
Travel requests are often put on the consent agenda that groups routine agenda items into a single agenda item.
Board members have the option to pull any item from the consent agenda if they desire to discuss it or bring it to the public’s attention.
Travel requests are usually a matter of routine, but were spotlighted by Rooks as she pulled them from the consent agenda in three board meetings at the beginning of her term.
There are funds allocated in the PUSD budget for professional development and staff learning, which officials say leads to higher student achievement. There are also funds allocated in the PUSD budget specifically for governing board professional development, including items such as conferences and travel.
Officials said $25,000 is set aside for such activities, which has historically been allocated as $5,000 per board member.
Some parents, including board member Rooks, have said they want more transparency regarding conferences that teachers and staff are sent to that may include sessions regarding issues such as social justice, LBGTQ+, critical race theory, Black Lives Matter, diversity, social emotional learning and more.
But others say professional development covering a range of subjects is important for teachers to keep up with in a continually evolving educational ecosystem.
The issue of travel expenses has not been brought up at board meetings since February and has since shifted to a flood of visitors speaking in opposition of transgender students in school bathrooms and locker rooms.
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
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