Brace yourselves, Secular Fam. We’re about to wade into the deep brown shitwater that has become the standard for PUSD governing board meetings.
Once again, this meeting went on for several many hours (7:07:19 to be exact), and consisted of both a study session and the regular business meeting of the district. Since the meeting was so long, I’m going to do my best to cover the most important parts, and this is either going to break records for my longest Substack or I may just channel my inner King Solomon and split this baby in two!
The study session’s agenda included an organizational chart redo that ended up getting tabled and yet another discussion about social workers. I’m going to go ahead and cut right to the chase here about social workers and the cult members currently leading this board: they want to remove mental health care supports for the students and families they were elected to serve, and they are twisting themselves into human pretzels to make it happen.
At this point, nothing else makes sense. Last year, they turned down their own grant money from a school safety grant for social workers, and then a few weeks later, after realizing that their constituents actually like having social workers on staff, dipped into their own carry-over funding to keep the program going.
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 →
