William Field H.S. Teacher Harassed Over Books

Extremists in the Higley Unified School District are trying to get a William Field High School English teacher fired.... because she assigned books they didn't want their students to read. 

The books in question are part of an unrequired reading list in educator  Brittany O’Neill's Honors Multilingual Literature course, a class that isn't required to graduate. Rather than simply having their student read another book or transfer to a different class, a parent in the district has chosen instead to:

• Call O'Neill a groomer
• Tell other parents O'Neill is distributing child pornography
• Call the police on O'Neill
• Threaten a lawsuit against O'Neill

Again, a non-required book. In an elective class. For seniors. In high school. 

Is anyone actually surprised that educators are leaving Arizona schools in droves?

AZ's Judicial Elections

With November 5 now less than two months away, all eyes turn to... judicial retention elections?

In a normal election cycle (as if that actually exists anymore, haha) judicial elections would be routine. But this year, judicial elections are front and center, thanks to a couple factors.

First, AZ Supreme Court justices Clint Bollick and Kathryn King voted to uphold the draconian 1864 abortion ban, taking away half the population's bodily autonomy and relegating them to second-class citizens. This understandably pissed a lot of people off, sparking a concerted grassroots effort to vote these two judges out.  

Then there's Proposition 137, developed by anti-choice Republicans in response because of course. Prop 137 would retroactively end most judicial retention elections and effectively give justices lifetime appointments with very little accountability, which many feel would undermine judicial integrity.

We'll discuss judicial elections at noon today with judge and attorney. Victor Aronow. Please join us!

This Week in Weird (and Worse)

Perennial GOP candidate Mark Finchem was back in the news this week (oh goody). This time, Finchem made the questionable choice of being a guest on a talk show with a host who pushes hateful conspiracy theories, such as that the Jewish peoples were responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

Unfortunately, Finchem wasn't the only AZGOP member in the news for anti-Semitic behavior. Flagstaff Sen. Wendy Rogers made the choice to post Nazi song lyrics on her social media last week... lyrics that have been banned in Germany since WWII due to their use by Hitler as a rallying cry. 

And in more news out of Flagstaff, we wanted to draw your attention once again to the importance of comprehensive sex education. Because CSE isn't provided in Arizona, thanks to religious extremists in elected office, students have to seek factual information elsewhere, leaving them uninformed, vulnerable, and at risk.

We'll say it again, louder, for those in the back: DO BETTER, ARIZONA ELECTED OFFICIALS. 😡

School Board News