The day after the Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board voted on new “operational goals” omitting any mention of parents, Arizona State Rep. John Kavanaugh successfully passed a bill expanding parents’ and other stakeholder access to school board meetings.
The Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board, according to sources, passed the new goals as part of the administration’s effort “to show parents who is boss.” Parents in the district have been among some of the most vocal in the country against what they say is a culture war on families.
Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board agenda item “BA – School Board Operational Goals” passed on a 3-2 vote as follows:
The Governing Board’s responsibility is to act in good faith in the best interest of the District as a whole, with the paramount concern being the best interest of student learning, achievement, and well-being.
The Board should consider (amongst other matters) the following:
- the likely consequence of any decision in the long-term;
- the interest of the District’s students;
- the interest of the Districts employees;
- the need to foster the Districts relationship with the community, partnerships and others;
- the impact of the Districts operations on the community and the environment;
- District financial and budgetary considerations related to the foregoing;
As duly elected members of the community, the Board accepts the responsibility to employ short- and long-range strategies that are responsive to District needs within the budgetary limitations of the District.
“This is simply meant to prevent a town council, or a school board, or anyone who has a controversial topic, from suppressing public input by keeping the meeting in a tiny room so people can’t get in. And that happens,” said Kavanagh referring to the bill.
Kavanagh, who represents much of Scottsdale in the Arizona House of Representatives, crafted his expanded open meeting bill, after he and many parents were denied access to a Scottsdale Unified Governing Board meeting, forced to stand outside the meeting room in Arizona’s sweltering heat.
The Governing Board knew a larger crowd was coming and COVID mitigation efforts would necessarily make the venue smaller but took no action to move the meeting to a larger venue.
The bill passed along party lines.