Valley School Board Members Applauded For Rejecting Policy That “Undermines” Parents

governing board

Parents are applauding Valley school board members for rejecting a proposed policy aimed at shutting down public comment in the name of decorum. The policy would allow the presidents of school boards to recess meetings without a vote of the whole board.

Both the Peoria Unified School District and the Western Maricopa Education Center (West-MEC) boards rejected the policy change pushed by the controversial Arizona School Board Association (ASBA):

The Governing Board President may recess the meeting without a vote of the Governing Board in order to maintain decorum and Governing Board meeting rules of order.

“Any policy should not work to undermine the voice of parents. That is why a number of school boards are rejecting this type of restrictive language,” said Peoria Governing Board member and Arizona State Rep. Beverly Pingerelli.

West-MEC Governing Board member Peter Pingerelli said he was pleased his board blocked the policy in a 3-3 vote.

Peoria Unified parent Heather Rooks thanked the board and her fellow parents in a Facebook post:

“Thank you parents for coming last night at the Peoria School Board Meeting ! This is huge! Because we came together at this meeting and voicing our concerns about the DOJ  U.S. Attorney statement that Parents are Domestic Terrorists; THIS was voted down 3 to 2.

“I also want to thank the 3 board members for voting against this and ensuring parents/community can still have the opportunity to speak at board meetings without the president shutting down a meeting. The three board members who voted against this were Representative Beverly Pingerelli , Rebecca Hill and Dr. Sorensen.

Across the country, public school boards are taking steps to silence parents. The National School Board Association went so far as to reach out to the Department of Justice requesting the federal government to “investigate” parents and use “other extraordinary measures” against those parents who hope to have a say in what and how their children are being taught.

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