Members of the Peoria Unified School District’s Governing Board are being asked this week to approve travel expenses for staff to attend a professional development event featuring material that may run counter to Arizona law.
Approval for travel expenses related to staff attendance at the National School Social Work Conference is on the January 12th Peoria Unified School District’s (PUSD) Governing Board Consent agenda:
“Peoria Unified Social Emotional Learning Team, Kathleen Leonard, Student Support Services Coordinator; Dr. Marshell Walter, MTS/PBIS Coordinator; Jennifer Ramos, Social Worker Intern Field Instructor; Shannon Threadgill, Social Worker Intern Field Instructor; Breann Whitford, Social Worker Intern Field Instructor; Nicole Gee, Social Worker Intern Field Instructor, to attend the 2023 National School Social Work Conference on March 29-April 1, 2023, in Broomfield, CO.
This conference will expand knowledge through professional learning in areas of school social work practice, student engagement positive school culture, and addressing student mental health through evidence based strategies. (Estimated expenses [$2,000.00] to be paid using Mental Health Service Professionals Grant funds”
Critics note that the conference features Critical Race Theory-based workshops such as “Anti-Racist Pedagogy In Social Work Education:”
“There has been much controversy surrounding Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the discussion of race and racism in education. The national emergence of racial injustices such as state-sanctioned violence, police killings of people of color, schools’ pipe-line to prison, COVID-19 racial disparities, in addition to racial justice movements such as #BlackLivesMatter, #SayHerName, and #BlackAndMissing has ignited the need social work education to bring awareness to the pervasiveness of race and to fully acknowledge the role of white supremacy on education. This presentation highlights the need for social work education to develop anti-racist education and practice. This presentation suggests the value of infusing Critical Race Theory as an anti-racist pedagogy and tool to teach race, actively oppose racism and organize social change.
Learning Objectives: 1. Demonstrate how CRT can be used as a theoretical framework or analytic tool that promotes an analysis exploring the intricacy of race. 2. Identify and understand the existing structural and racial inequalities in education and society. 3. Identifies the five central tenets of CRT essential for constructing a critical pedagogy or framework to engage race and organize social change.”
In July 2021, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed two bills concerning CRT. House Bill 2906, prohibits “the state and any local governments from requiring their employees to engage in orientation, training or therapy that suggest an employee is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.” House Bill 2898, “dictates that schools cannot teach that one race or ethnic group is superior to another, or that a person by virtue of their race is racist.”
Also, in April 2021, PUSD Superintendent Dr. Jason Reynolds stated publicly at the Peoria School Board meeting that there was no CRT in the District.
It is unclear why Reynolds, who so adamantly denied that the District injected CRT into the classrooms through curriculum or professional development, would have allowed this request or arranged for this item to be placed on the agenda.
The Peoria Unified Board agendas are always put together by the Peoria School Board President, the Clerk and the Superintendent. Currently, the Peoria Board President is David Sandoval.
A new Board President will be voted in by the Peoria Board at the January 12th Board meeting.
“As a Peoria Governing Board member, I swore to uphold the laws in the State of Arizona and the Constitution. I am very concerned about this agenda item because it seems there is a law regarding this type of professional development,” said Heather Rooks, who was elected to the Governing Board in November. “It appears the workshops for the conference are Critical Race Theory-based. I promised to provide transparency to the community and hold the District accountable, and I intend to keep my promises.”