ICYMI: Dr. Ryan LaDouceur's speech at Peoria USD was fire!
There were "technical difficulties" during the open executive session. Go figure.
Although I’m tracking major issues in other school districts, I can’t seem to look away from the train wreck that is Peoria Unified School District (PUSD).
On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, interim superintendent candidate Dr. Ryan LaDouceur requested his HR executive session be open to the public. Oddly enough, throughout this entire portion of the meeting, there were “technical difficulties.” Call me a conspiracy theorist, but the loud speaker problems only happened when board members Heather Rooks and Janelle Bowles were talking. When the executive session ended, there were few, if any, IT mishaps.
Did anyone else catch that?
The speech Peoria IT (almost) suppressed:
The highlight of the executive session was LaDouceur’s speech. One could not help but notice that he was staring at “board president” Jeff Tobey almost the entire time. Due to those “tech issues,” several audience members had to record the moment. Here’s one angle:
LaDouceur repeatedly stated that he was “threatened” and that three people told him “if you resign quietly, everything will be okay.” LaDouceur also said he did not officially contact the board before an email blast went out to the community announcing his withdrawal from the superintendent onboarding process. So strange…
At various points during the meeting, Rooks and Bowles asked why LaDouceur’s contract was being discussed at this time. Tobey, the smart-aleck, said they were having the discussion because two board members requested it on the agenda. Now that! is genius-level gaslighting and circular explaining. We all want to know why Tobey and his sidekick, board member Rebecca Proudfit, flip-flopped their support after voting in favor of LaDouceur six weeks ago. Of course, due to those technical issues, the two board members’ names weren’t available upon request….I think we can all guess who they are.
When Rooks asked the board attorney if LaDouceur had personally written the internal withdrawal email that went to the governing board, the attorney said she “had no idea” who wrote the email but she assumed it was LaDouceur. That should have been the end of it, right? Except that while the attorney was still speaking, she recalled having advised LaDouceur on the exact language used in his email to the board. The attorney reiterated that she wasn’t representing him in any capacity.
I’m still scratching my head at all this. Who are the three people threatening LaDouceur? Who sent that email to the board, if not him? Is Peoria’s administration building a portal into the twilight zone? If this is how open executive sessions are conducted, imagine what we’re missing in the closed sessions! Perhaps we’ll know more details soon as it appears LaDouceur retained a lawyer.
PUSD governing board under new leadership:
You already know I don’t mince words. My thoughts on board member Jeff Tobey were thoroughly covered in a previous article:
Here is my latest email to Tobey:
When Tobey delivered his prepared statement on why he no longer supported LaDouceur, he claimed that all the cabinet members threatened to quit if LaDouceur was promoted as superintendent. (I know I’m not the only one who couldn’t care less if that actually happened.) Tobey also claimed to know at least one PUSD administrator who didn’t want LaDouceur working at their school. Now, imagine my confusion as you listen to this administrator’s public comment:
Tobey painted LaDouceur as a problem child because he didn’t want PUSD to directly contact previous supervisors. There could be several reasons why LaDouceur made this request, including not wanting his current district to ruin professional relationships. In such cases, background checks that include contacting references and human resources should be sufficient, right? I can’t imagine the district doing more than that when Beck and Burlaka were hired.
Anyway, if Tobey is still taking your calls and responding to your emails, tell him to get it together. If he’s supposed to be a better leader than Rooks—at least that’s what he and the Republican LD captains think—then we need this so-called “breath of fresh air” to blow through the district right away. Tobey’s curated social media statements are not registering on our No BS meters.
Everybody sue somebody!
Did you catch that there are not one but TWO multimillion dollar lawsuits filed against Peoria USD!? Would you guess that mandated reporting violations and cover ups are at the center of both cases?
Lawsuit no. 1 reported by Arizona’s Family on May 28, 2026:
A new civil lawsuit has been filed against [PUSD] and former teacher Ricky Ordway, who was convicted of child sex crimes in 2023.
The lawsuit was filed this month and claims 15-20 young girls were molested and sexually assaulted by Ordway during the 2018-19 school year. The family of one victim says district leaders knew about Ordway’s predatory behavior and allowed it to continue despite numerous complaints.
Lawsuit no. 2 reported by 12News on June 9:
A former Centennial High School student and his family have filed a $20 million Notice of Claim against [PUSD], alleging district leaders failed to protect him from years of sexual abuse by school employees.
The claim, filed in January, names current and former district officials, including former Superintendent Dr. KC Somers, members of the Peoria Unified Governing Board, former Centennial High School Principal Scott Hollabaugh, and former teachers Haley Beck and Angela Burlaka.
Words cannot express how elated I am to see Dr. Somers is named in this lawsuit. Before coming to PUSD, Somers served as superintendent in Lewis-Palmer School District where alleged sex crimes were covered up. Read the details in my AZ Free News op-ed. Somers forfeited an opportunity to clean up issues in Lewis-Palmer before relocating to Phoenix. Not surprisingly, he started searching for employment back in Colorado around the time the Beck-Burlaka police report was released last fall. Somers will not be missed.
The latest lawsuit is perfectly timed since—under “board president” Tobey’s direction and leadership—attorney-client privilege likely won’t be waived to aid Peoria PD’s continued Beck-Burlaka investigation. Who knows, by the time I publish this, the district might have an attack of conscience and release all requested documentation to the authorities. I doubt it, but write in and let me know. We will have to wait and see if something gets leaked during the discovery process.
Isn’t that a shame? We the people have to wait for crumbs of truth to fall from our public servants’ messy tables! “Transparency.” “Integrity.” “Accountability.” I think these are just campaign buzz words to get votes. Maybe politicians believe we deserve to be lied to. This would explain why many of them want to shake hands and lean into private conversations that offset their public comments and voting records. But we shouldn’t have to “bond” with our leaders in order for them to do what they said they would do if we elected them!
Although a certain degree of dysfunction is expected from elected officials, I’m sure parents would appreciate not having this level of manipulation, cover up and outright lies on a school board. Does everyone within Peoria USD boundaries need to file a lawsuit to learn how students are being kept safe from pedophiles?
You know the story of David and Goliath, right?
Well, PUSD is Goliath in our modern day battle of good versus evil.
They don’t tell you this in Sunday school, but if you read further, you learn after David hit Goliath between the eyes with that stone, he took up the enemy’s sword and cut Goliath’s head off. Now, don’t go crying “violence” over what I just said—understand I’m using an ancient passage of Scripture as an allegory. Lawsuits, talking to reporters, and posting on social media are the stones and swords we have to take this giant down. If you care about parental rights, student safety, and the First Amendment, you should be activated.
If you’re a Peoria parent, student, educator, or community member, and you believe your rights have been violated by the district, consider seeking legal counsel. Don’t be hasty or frivolous. Never “threaten to sue” anyone. Make sure you have legal standing. Whenever possible, exhaust all other means of mediation and negotiation before filing your complaint. All things considered, millions of tax dollars are going to who knows where and we are seriously lacking accountability from PUSD leadership.
Stay tuned. There’s sure to be more shenanigans coming out of Peoria Unified!