A group of parents has waged a battle against a nonprofit contracted with Peoria Unified School District — Bloom 365, an organization whose mission is to prevent teen violence before it happens.
It is a conflict that has been emblematic of the drama playing out in school districts across the nation and in Peoria, with some parents wanting more control over what happens in the classroom.
Some local parents have been making their concerns known on social media platforms and at public comment sections at PUSD governing board meetings in recent months. Bloom 365 has responded with their own comments, standing by their mission at school board meetings and on social media, in a back and forth that has led up to this moment.
The governing board will consider renewing a memorandum of understanding, Aug. 11, that will formalize Bloom 365’s partnership with the district for school years 2022-23 through 2023-24.
Some parents say Bloom 365 is pushing an ideology and has overstepped its reach in involving students in discussions regarding LGBTQ, race, toxic masculinity, and other hot button issues. Bloom 365 officials say they are pushing no agenda other than keeping schools and students safe.
At the June 9 governing board meeting, parent Jennifer Peery spoke about her once freshman son who went through the Bloom program as part of his health class three years ago at Deer Valley High School. She said when she initially read the course outline, she had no problem with it, but that changed after the second day when her son came home visibly upset. Peery said her son said an ideology was being pushed that he didn’t agree with.
She stated the presenter gave a lecture on female and male stereotypes, writing examples on a white board: females are nice, kind, smart, and weak; and male stereotypes written on the board were all negative — mean, bully, aggressive, she said.
“The facilitator was setting these young men up to fail, branding them as contemptible from the outset,” she said.
Bloom 365 Founder/CEO Donna Bartos said the June 9 board meeting was the first time she had heard of Peery’s incident, and said Bloom’s curriculum has been significantly modified in the last three years.
She added that Bloom 365 does not align with an agenda or politics and the data shows the problems Bloom 365 deals with — date rape, school shootings, bullying, etc. — are urgent problems.
Bartos urged the board to take the time to become informed and not take only one opinion or one experience, but look at the whole picture.
“Our service alleviates [students’] burden of carrying these problems silently ... People have tried to defame us, discredit our work, discredit me, to create a sense of fear in our community, but Bloom 365’s work does not align with politics or an agenda,” she said. “Look at the data. Look at the overwhelming number of students who this has helped and who have thanked us for being in their classroom. You will see the claims are not true.”
Public school districts use many tools to determine whether a student poses a threat of violence to themselves or others, including the intent and means to carry out the threat and to physically or sexually harm someone.
One of those tools is to conduct a threat assessment, which is intended to prevent violence and involves both assessment and intervention, as well as involves determining whether a student poses a threat of violence, including whether they have intent and means to carry out the threat, according to the National Association of School Psychologists.
Officials say the district has seen a steady increase in the need to perform threat assessments in the district, rising from 34 in the 2020-21 school year to 76 in the 2021-22 school year.
Chief Student Services Officer Carter Davidson said most of these threats have included self injury, suicide, emotional stress, teen dating abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, bullying, stalking, cyber abuse and others.
The district works with many organizations to address these threats and how they affect students. One of them is Bloom 365, which has expertise in a wide range of services, including offering confidential and free licensed counseling services and mentoring, with parent consent.
The organization does not take part in threat assessments, but gets involved when students are at risk of harming others.
Earlier this year, the district agendized an item to consider the MOU to continue working with Bloom 365, but the item was postponed because community members wanted to learn more about the organization.
Davidson said PUSD pays Bloom for training or professional development for district staff, which ranges from $90 to $180 per person, as well as provides all other services free, including programming for students related to healthy relationships and youth violence prevention.
The nonprofit is funded by grants and individual donors.
“It is true our teachers are not trained to handle some of the needs our children are presenting so we do engage with others to give that support. It is beyond the scope of our staff at times,” he said. “Children have needs. We do our best to ensure that we can provide our community and our students with access to support to help them overcome those needs. We certainly see Bloom 365 as a viable partner in this work.”
Bloom 365 was formed in 2006 and has worked with eight school districts, more than 40 schools, more than 20 social services and youth development agencies across Maricopa County. The Bloom team has two licensed supervisors, two licensed counselors, 10 advocate and intervention specialists, most with degrees in social work and public health.
The organization also consults with Special Olympics and local U.S. Armed Services to train 17 to 24-year old service members to respond to sexual assault and domestic violence.
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman.
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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