By Philip Haldiman
Mail | Twitter: @PhilipHaldiman

After a monthslong battle over transgender students in bathrooms in the Peoria Unified School District, a governing board member on the losing end of that battle encouraged parents to leave the district.

Governing board member Rebecca Hill, who has used her religious beliefs in formulating her decisions at the dais, voiced her displeasure with the vote, and as she said, the road public education is going down.

“God is not blessing this district, he isn’t,” she said.

Peoria Independent reached out to Hill regarding the comments from the dais but she did not return the inquiry.

In a split vote before a crowded board room and heated arguments on both sides of the issue, the board decided not to prepare a draft of a facility use policy for PUSD student bathrooms and locker rooms.

For months, Hill has urged district officials to address this issue and specifically asked for staff to draft a policy for a board vote.

Her desire for this policy, as well as governing board member Heather Rooks, is for district bathrooms to be gender binary — either male or female.

Along with these urgings, Hill has previous mentioned her religious beliefs during meetings that Peoria Unified’s issues stem from God not being present in the classroom.

In past board meetings she has been vocal in her belief that gender exists in the biological differences between males and females, stating “God created man and God created woman.”

That night before the policy vote, she stood by those beliefs.

“This is all about biology, I’ll bring it back to that. I don’t care about the feelings, I don’t care about how they identify. This is a biological issue,” she said.

Later in the meeting, when the agenda allows board members the opportunity to readdress agenda items, she used that platform to expound on her feelings about the failed move to create policy about transgender students in bathrooms, and urged parents to the leave district.

Specifically, she pushed parents to take advantage of Arizona’s school voucher program, which allows funds that would typically be used by a school district to instead be used by families for tuition outside of their assigned district.

Hill, who is a homeschool mom with no children in the district, said the policy vote saddens her and breaks her heart.

“I think that our district is going down a very dark road, morally. I think it’s just wrong. I would advise parents to use their vouchers elsewhere. I don’t endorse PUSD any more. I can’t. I would advise that parents take the ability at this time to take their vouchers, which have been given to them, and use them in private schools, use them on online, home school your kid,” she said. “Choose the curriculum. Choose what happens with their livelyhood, with what is going to happen with them in the future. Public education isn’t going in the right direction. This is not what I want to see for our district.”

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.

Philip Haldiman
Senior News Editor | Peoria
@PhilipHaldiman

phaldiman@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.