Two governing board members received praise from their local GOP leadership for removing a president who sought a probe into the alleged mishandling of predator teachers.
The executive committee of the Legislative District 28 (LD28) Republican Party issued a statement of support for two of its precinct committeemen — Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) governing board members Rebecca Proudfit and Jeff Tobey — for removing their fellow Republican and board member Heather Rooks from the board presidency. Proudfit also serves as the 4th Vice Chair of LD 28 Republican Party Executive Board.
Rooks was removed for asking the Maricopa County Attorney to investigate reports that district personnel declined to report sexual abuse allegations for months. Those alleged failures, if confirmed as true, would mean that some of the sexual abuse said to have been committed by at least two Centennial High School teachers, Haley Beck and Angela Burlaka, could have been prevented.
Last month, the majority of the board voted against an investigation into mandatory reporting failures. Proudfit and Tobey have cited concerns that such an undertaking to secure district transparency would undermine ongoing investigations into Beck and Burlaka.
Rooks requested the investigation based on reports that the principal and assistant principal of Centennial High School received multiple warnings about one of the accused predator teachers, Beck, long prior to police involvement from an outside tip. One warning allegedly came in the form of an email received by those leaders six months prior to police involvement; that email reportedly came from a graduated student passing along witnessed indicators of grooming and sexual abuse.
“Certain red flags of the email were texting of the student and Snapchatting, she mentioned that they were seen together in her car, and she mentioned that she was giving him specific gifts and only him, and that all the other kids in the class were afraid to say something in fear of being labeled as a snitch,” said Rooks in an interview this month with “The Conservative Circus.”
Another warning allegedly came from the principal of another high school. That principal reportedly advised Centennial High School leadership that Beck was the source of rumors of “getting too close” to the victim. It was only when police arrived at Centennial High School to carry out a search warrant on the other accused predator teacher, Burlaka, that the principal allegedly first told police about staff, student, and community complaints against Beck.
Per public comment at the special meeting earlier this week, district personnel pressured the victim to sign a nondisclosure agreement to prevent him from discussing the sexual abuse.
In an email shared with The Arizona Daily Independent, LD28 Chairwoman Peggy Jacobs told precinct committeemen that the two board members they’d put into office, Proudfit and Tobey, had acted rightly in punishing their fellow Republican board member for not maintaining secrecy on how the various complaints against teacher predators went unheeded. Tobey replaced Rooks as board president, who had just been reelected to the position in January.
The LD28 Executive Committee statement stated that an investigatory request by the district into any mandated reporting failures would amount to “political interference or public speculation.” The executive committee agreed with the majority governing board’s decision to not get involved by opening an investigation into one of their own schools.
The statement defended Tobey and Proudfit voting to remove a fellow Republican from board presidency as protecting the integrity of the other active investigations — unlike Rooks, who the committee implied had perpetuated speculation and acted rashly amid ongoing investigations.
“We have seen the accusations suggesting that Mrs. Proudfit and Mr. Tobey acted improperly or attempted to shield wrongdoing,” stated the committee. “Based on information available to us, they worked to support law enforcement while also protecting the integrity of the investigative process. Their decisions were based on legal guidance and the facts available to them, not political pressure or online outrage.”
Earlier this week the Arizona Daily Independent reported that around the time Peoria Police Department (PPD) delivered their report to the district in December detailing rumors of district personnel failing their mandatory reporting duties, PUSD’s superintendent, Kenneth Christopher Somers, filed a job application for another district out of state. Somers filed his resignation in February and will depart the district in June.
PPD have set up a tip line for information about Beck, Burlaka, or any other allegations of sexual abuse at Centennial High School. The number for the tip line is (623) 773-8132.
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