Making America Not-So-Great Again

Posted on by Jeanne Casteen, Secular AZ Executive Director

Hey there, Secular FAM, how are we holding up? I’ll be straight with y’all.

I’m struggling.

This past week, F(elon)OTUS defied SCOTUS, and now apparently our first amendment rights no longer exist or something?

Also, a prominent Arizona activist publicly announced that she and her family have moved out of the country to keep their trans child safe. You know, totally normal stuff.

Also, this past week, a teacher and coach in the Yuma Union High School District (YUHSD) was fired because she was trying to protect a student from being bullied by his peers.

This teacher and cheer coach, Alyssa Plaza, allowed a male cheer athlete to change in the girls’ locker room when it was empty because the boys’ locker room wasn’t safe for him. His homophobic classmates bully this kid because he’s gay. According to the student, he filed several complaints about the bullying he experienced, but nothing happened (his testimony at the meeting is pretty heartbreaking, so you’ve been warned).

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.

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.