At the December meeting of the Arizona State Board of Education’s Professional Practices Advisory Committee, answers provided by an applicant seeking certification as a school psychologist raised eyebrows, questions and concerns.
An exchange between the Committee’s attorney and the applicant brought into sharp focus the fact that school counselors and psychologists do not need to be licensed professionals.
The lack of professional standards has come into sharp focus due to the increasing number of reports of psychological and physical abuse of students by teachers and counselors.
In 2022, Governor Doug Ducey signed bill sponsored by then-Arizona State Representative Michelle Udall, HB2178, that “exempts a school psychologist who is contracted to provide services in an educational institution setting and who is certified by the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) from licensure requirements.”
At the time, Udall, a teachers’ union favorite and staunch advocate of the controversial “Social Emotional Learning,” complained that there were not enough counselors available in schools. Therefore, she argued, it was necessary to lower the standards for counselors and psychologists.
Ironically, Udall now serves as Associate Superintendent of School Improvement for the Arizona Department of Education.
A video posted by the popular @TheLegalProcess account on X.com captures the moment the Arizona State Board of Education’s Professional Practices Advisory Committee got schooled on the lower standards by applicant, Austin Ashley McCall:
➡️Former board-licensed psychologist w/history of drug use, arrest records for DUI, shoplifting, loses license to practice psychology in AZ under a consent agreement with Board of Psychologist Examiners
➡️Believing she does not need a license to become a “school psychologist” and expressing her love for “working with kids” – she applies to the ADE
➡️Application is flagged when she admits to losing board license, investigation is made, and hearing is held TODAY
➡️At hearing, lawyer for ADE confronts applicant with prohibition on holding herself out as a “licensed psychologist” and “practicing psychology”
➡️Applicant admits to ban, but says consent agreement “does not say school psychologist…it says ‘licensed’ psychologist. This is not an application for licensure, it’s for certification.”
In 2022, McCall entered into consent agreement with Board of Psychologists which prohibited her from holding herself out as a “licensed psychologist” and “practicing psychology.”
According to the Arizona Board Of Psychologist Examiners’ Interim Findings Of Fact, Conclusions Of Law And Order For Summary Suspension Of License, prior to being released from probation, the Consent Agreement required McCall to undergo a fitness for duty and substance use evaluation.
As part of the evaluations, McCall was required to undergo substance testing that included nail testing.
The sample was collected from McCall on September 28, 2022, and the results were reported to the evaluator on October 6, 2022:
“The results are positive for cocaine, metabolites of cocaine (benzoylecgonine), and metabolites of cocaine and alcohol used together. The nail specimen was insufficient to test for cannabis, tramadol, MDMA/MDEA, methamphetamine, and amphetamines… on September 15, 2022, Respondent (McCall) underwent a random urine drug screen pursuant to the terms of the Consent Agreement. The results of that drug screen were positive for Marijuana Metabolite.
As more and more school districts adopt the attitude that parents are interlopers in their children’s lives, say critics, the door for child predators has been thrown wide open. They specifically point to the trend of educators to leave parents in the dark about kids experiencing gender confusion.
Earlier this month, At its December 4th meeting, the Arizona State Board of Education took action on multiple recommendations regarding teacher discipline and certification.
Over 30 educators were disciplined for everything from being under the influence of alcohol and narcotics, to the sexual exploitation of students.
In one of the most bizarre cases, one educator, Jon Dowe Kizzia, was fired for inappropriate behavior in the Paradise Valley School District only to be hired by the Scottsdale Unified School District.
Just this year, Paradise Valley High School parents outraged when they learned that they were not notified in a timely manner that an investigation was underway into allegations of sexual misconduct by one of the District’s recently deceased employees, Chemistry Teacher Keiko Yoshimine. Yoshimine took her own life shortly after the investigation began.
It was @ALegalProcess, operated by attorney Christopher Evans, who noted that “just this past May, Coach Yoshimine was highlighted in an ASU student article on teen athletes and mental health…admitting to identifying girls who she perceived needed interventions, how she got close to parents and the girls, picking them up at home, giving them rides to school and to day jobs…and then picking them up again to go to basketball practice.”
Critics say that educators should be required to alert parents to issues with which their children are struggling so they can secure professional mental healthcare services rather than allowing unlicensed ideologues intervene and, in some cases, create the struggle in the first place.
A case in point is headed to court.
A member of the Mesa Public Schools governing board, Rachel Walden, through her attorneys with America First Legal has filed a lawsuit against the district and Superintendent Andi Fourlis for allegedly “encouraging and assisting students to identify as members of the opposite sex without notifying parents.”
Mesa Public Schools MPS is the largest school district in Arizona, with roughly 55,000 students. The City of Mesa is the third largest in Arizona and the second largest in the Phoenix metropolitan area. A 2014 study found that Mesa is the most conservative large city in America.
Mesa has had a transgender support plan since 2015 (my term started 2023). Last year it was discovered that one of the forms involved denied parental knowledge, which is illegal in AZ. pic.twitter.com/wChn6EMCTP
— Rachel Walden – Candidate AZ Corp Comm (@waldenpatriot) May 11, 2023
According to Walden’s attorneys, despite the conservative nature of the community, since at least 2015, MPS has maintained a policy of helping students who want to “transition” their genders. Under this policy, MPS employees ask students whether they want their parents to be informed about the transition.
In the Scottsdale Unified School District, administrators took the lack of regard for licensing to a whole new level by requiring classroom teachers to participate in teacher training on how to identify children who “lacked a sense of belonging.”
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"Inclusion" training strategy suggestion:
➡️Scottsdale Unified teachers were encouraged by administration to use dedicated notebooks to share personal information with children.What could go wrong!? pic.twitter.com/fkwt32ADaq
— Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity (@ScottsdaleUnite) October 27, 2023
“When former Rep. Udall recommended and then Governor Ducey lowered the standards and allowed school counselors and psychologists to be “certified” by the education establishment rather than licensed by the medical profession they opened the door for the potential of untold harm to our children and grandchildren,” wrote former Superintendent Diane Douglas told the Arizona Daily Independent in an email. “ARS 1-602(A)(5) gives parents “The right to make ALL (emphasis mine) health care decisions for the minor child…” “…without obstruction or interference from this state any political subdivision of this state,…” i.e. school districts. Parents beware this type of faux medical “certification” is far more likely to harm your child(ren) rather than help them. We are no longer talking about school personnel merely making a parent aware of concerns about their child but rather potentially inserting themselves into “treating” the child without parental knowledge or permission and in some cases undermining the care the parents are already providing for their child(ren). Of all the insanity I have witnessed over my decades of involvement in the government school system I can’t think anything more potentially dangerous to our precious children than this current end run around parents’ legal rights or the inappropriate medical training of the professionals inserted into schools.”