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.
