What’s good, Secular Fam? I hope all of you are keeping up the good fight and doing all you can to combat white Christian nationalism at every level. This week, a bunch of keyboard warriors, from both sides of the political spectrum, took to their keyboards, either elated or angry over the PUSD vote from September 12, 2024. You know, the one where a tie vote caused the district to lose $275,000 in federal grant funding for mental health services? Yeah, that one.
While evangelical extremists doubled down on their lies all over the land of Make Believe (Facebook), people who understand how all of this works were outraged at such a short-sighted decision. There were some fireworks for sure, and some of the extremists even removed their posts because of the backlash they received.
So the community was pretty ginned up on the September 26, 2024 meeting in PUSD, and it was standing room only. I had every intention of going, but I’ve been dealing with some personal health issues, so I watched from home. The crowd was heavy with pro-public education constituents, and I love how they took up the seats where the extremists usually sit.
The red hearts they wore around their necks symbolize the 1800 students who lost services due to such an illogical vote.
This was a long day for the PUSD board members and members of cabinet because they started with a study session, went into executive session, and then conducted the regular business meeting. It started as these meetings usually do, and before we knew it, it was time for governing board reports!
Click here to read the rest of this post on Secular AZ’s Substack.
Jeanne Casteen, Secular AZ Executive Director
JEANNE CASTEEN has a bachelor’s degree in human communication and history from the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at ASU and a master’s in education, also from ASU. Jeanne has over 11 years of experience teaching in Maricopa County’s public schools. In 2011, Jeanne completed the Emerge Arizona program and in 2012 became a school board member of the Creighton School District. She served as Board President from 2016 through 2020. In 2020, Ms. Casteen ran for Maricopa County School Superintendent, and came within 12,000 votes of winning. She has been awarded the Arizona School Public Relations Association Award for Excellence in Advocacy and Political Contributions to Education as well as the Arizona School Board Association’s All-Arizona School Board Member Award.
