Higley board exchange highlights conflict over communication, roles 

By Tom Blodgett
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A Higley Unified School District governing board self-evaluation exercise erupted into a tense exchange after President Amanda Wade alleged that Anna Van Hoek violated communication protocols in response to a staff member’s personal social media post.  

Van Hoek rejected the allegation that her use of district email to respond was inappropriate, and the dispute dominated a portion of the board’s review of its own effectiveness Dec. 9. 

Wade introduced her concerns about consistency with policy as she began discussing board effectiveness.  

“My interest and intent is to hold ourselves accountable,” Wade said. 

She then described the incident as inappropriate board member conduct and said a staff member had contacted her believing Van Hoek’s response exceeded her role.  

“You emailed them to respond to the criticism that they had about your person on their social media page, and you included their administration,” Wade said.  

She said the action “put us at risk of liability” and called it “deeply unprofessional.” 

Wade said board policy requires routing staff-related concerns through the superintendent. She also noted the staff member had a First Amendment right to express himself on his own social media. 

“Our first approach every single time should be to contact the superintendent,” she said, “and the idea that we would take our own personal HUSD-issued email to send an email out to their work email and include their bosses, it feels vaguely threatening. It feels again as an abuse of your position and what our roles are.” 

Van Hoek disputed the allegation immediately.  

 “I am very well aware of my role,” she said.  

She also said she had a right to respond because she believed the teacher’s language was inappropriate, and she is also a community member as well as a board member.

“Your accusations and your assumptions are absolutely incorrect,” Van Hoek said. 

Wade noted Van Hoek’s response, if it was as a community member, came from her official district email and not her personal email. 

The conflict escalated when Van Hoek criticized Wade’s conduct during meetings.  

“You want to talk about unprofessional?” Van Hoek said. “Let's discuss your behavior on the dais with your facial expression, your body expressions that you can't seem to control and behave appropriately and professionally on that dais.” 

Wade responded by acknowledging her own communication challenges.  

“I would like to reiterate again: I have ADHD, and I am autistic,” she said. “I genuinely process very difficultly just straight audio information. So when somebody is just talking, it's difficult for my person. In no way have I done anything to go out of my way to be disrespectful to you.” 

Wade said those challenges did not justify bypassing board protocols.  

“If you felt that what they said was unprofessional, your only course of action is to contact the superintendent,” she said. 

Wade said the board should receive additional training on communication expectations to prevent similar conflicts. 

Van Hoek’s assertions about her role 

Throughout the self-evaluation, Van Hoek argued she performs duties she views as essential to the board’s work.  

She said she consistently prepares extensively and raises the majority of agenda-related questions.  

“When you look at the Q-and-A for the agenda items, I would say 90% of the time I’m the only one asking questions,” she said.  

She said that trend concerned her.  

“I can’t be the only one that is asking questions,” she said. 

She also said she follows protocol by routing complaints she receives to the superintendent.  

“When a complaint comes to me, I contact the superintendent,” she said. 

Board’s overall view of its performance 

The board’s discussion reflected a mix of frustration and self-critique as members evaluated themselves under the six standards in the district’s self-assessment tool. 

Several members said the board struggles with trust, communication and cohesiveness. Board Member Sara Jarman said she saw a pattern of judgment rather than attempts at understanding.  

“I think the biggest issue I see is the more of an attempt to just silence or judge versus an attempt to understand,” Jarman said. 

Wade said members need to be consistent in how they respond to staff and community concerns.  

“It doesn’t always feel as if that’s what we as a board are working hard to do,” Wade said. 

Members said long, unfocused meetings remain a concern. Board Member Tiffany Shultz said she believed the board needs to improve meeting efficiency.

“We are the longest-running board meeting I think in the state, maybe the country,” Shultz said. 

Several members said they believed the district itself is performing well, but the board’s internal conflicts are holding it back. Wade said the board must recommit to following its communication protocols. 

Later in the meeting, Board Member Scott Glover and Wade praised Jarman's growth during her first year. Wade acknowledged how much information new members must absorb.  

“It’s a lot, and I’m appreciative of all the work because it’s not an easy position to be in,” Wade said. 

Wade closed the evaluation by noting that the board recognized its own shortcomings.  

“It does look like we as a board have work to do,” she said. 

Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X. 

Tom Blodgett
Senior News Editor | Gilbert

tblodgett@iniusa.org

Meet Tom
Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.

Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.

Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism. 

Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.  

Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).