SUSD Board Meeting Tuesday, March 21, 2023

The SUSD Regular Board Meeting brought out several parents and community members seeking to make public comments. Topics ranged from people in support of the Board members past decisions and those that were not pleased with their decisions, harassment of a parent speaking out, charter school enrollment and complaints of leadership from the interim principal at Chaparral High School.

Significant Concerns:  Of significant concern involved a parent speaking out about the ongoing issue with a high school club called Unitown.  Although Unitown is promoted as a leadership club, SUSD social workers hide and plan sexual identity and gender lessons.  When high school students participated in the Five-Day Diversity Camp, girls were forced to sleep in cabins with teenage boys who claimed to be girls.

Be Aware of Unitown: Public records revealed that SUSD teachers have been hand selected by the administration to start, Minitown, which is a middle school version of Unitown.  The parent requested that the Board investigate both clubs and include an accurate description of the clubs on the website of the schools, review policies about school clubs and post the agendas and minutes of what goes on during these club meetings or camps.

See link for a June 2022 article in the Arizona Daily Independent with examples of the materials given to students who participate in Unitown.

Scottsdale Unified Accused Of Using “Unitown Club” As Cover For Gender Identity Propaganda – Arizona Daily Independent

Be Aware of Hiring for Chaparral Principal Hiring process: Currently there is a pending position open for a Principal at Chaparral High School.  Discussion regarding the approval of the candidate for this position was debated amongst the Board members, who could not agree upon a vote to approve.  This was due to some Board members not being provided specific information about the candidate, even though they made several requests to the district to obtain such information.  Specifically, parents and teachers have reached out to some Board member to express their concerns about the leadership at Chaparral.  A proposal was submitted to re-post the position and allow for other candidates to apply.  A vote to approve a candidate will be taken at a later meeting.

Further discussion regarding board policies took place, along with future agenda items the Board would like to discuss.  The agenda items include student screen time on cell phones, a possible public meeting about safety and security throughout the district, how pilot programs, such as virtual math, are being implanted, policies regarding incidents of staff and students, the implementation of artificial intelligence into the curriculum and water and energy usage.

Call to Action: The next board meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 7, 2023, at Mohave District Annex, 8500 E. Jackrabbit Road. Start time is 6 p.m.  All public is welcome. If you cannot or do not want to go to the meetings in person, please log in during or after to review the meeting in its entirety by following the link below.

Governing Board / 2023 Board Documents (susd.org)

By Line:  Jeanne