Peoria Unified governing boardmember Heather Rooks has taken her fight in support of mandated reporting to the state capitol.
She and other Republican leaders gathered on the Arizona Senate lawn March 19 to fight for mandated reporting, highlighting a recent scandal at Peoria Unified's Centennial High School.
Arizona law requires anyone who reasonably believes a minor is or has been the victim of physical injury or abuse to immediately report suspected child abuse, neglect, or sexual offenses to the Arizona Department of Child Safety or law enforcement. A “reasonable belief” is the standard, not absolute proof.
“This situation at Centennial is just not ok. This needs to be better,” she said. “I need to make sure the district is going to do right, not only by my children in mandated reporting if there was a teacher that was preying on my students, but other students. We have to protect the kids.”
Peoria Unified has been under the microscope for several months, ever since Centennial High teachers Haley Beck and Angela Burlaka were investigated last year for sexual misconduct with a former varsity football quarterback.
Those investigations have sparked debate over mandatory reporting and whether Centennial administrators reported alleged instances of abuse early enough.
Peoria Police, who have been investigating the situation at Centennial, have publicly said “there is no indication district officials failed to meet their obligations as mandatory reporters under Arizona law,” while some, including Rooks, disagree.
The press conference came the day after news broke that the district had done an about face in naming Associate Superintendent Ryan LaDouceur, moving in a different direction to consider Chief Personnel Officer Tahlya Visintainer for the interim superintendent position.
It also came hours before Rooks was to be at a Peoria Unified board meeting to make a final decision on naming Visintainer as the new interim superintendent.
Rooks claims the move to replace LaDouceur is because she has supported him in being the interim superintendent, as well as her fight for mandated reporting.
“I think they wanted to remove him because I was such a big supporter of him. I think it’s not right to do that to somebody. If everybody wants to be upset with me because I spoke out, they shouldn’t punish somebody if they’ve done nothing wrong and they serve the students and the families and staff,” Rooks said.
Rooks, along with Senate President Warren Petersen and State Treasurer Kimberly Yee spoke in front of the state Senate building Tuesday morning advocating for mandated reporting.
All three are candidates in this year’s election, Rooks for school board and state legislature, Yee for superintendent of school instruction and Petersen for attorney general.
Petersen said the school board and school district are trying to silence Rooks or trying to protect the very people who did harm. He said the superintendent of instruction and attorney general should be more engaged.
These incidences were well known and should have been reported, so hopefully moving forward the culture of silence can be broken and people will report immediately, he said.
“The message that I am hearing from some people is that a public school district is more important than protecting our kids. The success of an image, of a public school district is more important than protecting our kids,” Petersen said. “Unfortunately there seems to be this bias or special protection because this is a district school. Yet when we see it’s not a district school then you see the bias go completely the other direction. When there is a heinous crime committed against our children, nobody should be protected except for our children.”
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and Maricopa County School Superintendent Shelli Boggs have weighed in, and now Republican leaders are contributing to the conversation.
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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