Happy Spring, Secular Fam! It’s been a minute, since springtime is my busiest time of the year, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a BUNCH of stuff going on. Here in Arizona and across the country, we’ve all been dealing with the never-ending onslaught of chaos, driven by evangelical extremists in elected positions of power.
Trust that I am very aware of what’s been going on in Peoria (PUSD) these past few weeks, and I hope to get to it at some point. Since their meetings have become Marathons of Ignorance, averaging about seven hours every two weeks, it is hard to keep up. I’ll just provide a few bullet points of their nonsense until I have the time to give PUSD the attention it deserves:
They’ve rewritten policy to essentially chase out social workers
They’ve codified their bigotry against trans children
They approved a mission/vision/values statement without ANY community input
They’re scrambling to remove any mention of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in their policies
They’re micromanaging staff travel (though the goalposts continue to move)
They recently requested information about teachers that participated in any protests
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.
Author: 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. View all posts by Jeanne Casteen, Secular AZ Executive Director →
