Peoria Unified: This Is Why K-12 Communities Don’t Trust School Board Members
Anyone who can look you in the face and lie without batting an eye is a morally reckless person.
I watched the KTAR interview featuring Peoria USD board members Jeff Tobey and Becky Proudfit. What should have only taken 13 minutes took me nearly two hours to digest with all the pausing. I struggle listening to people shamelessly weave false narratives. There’s no way I can stay silent
When host Mike Broomhead asked if mandated reporting laws were followed in the case of former Centennial High School teachers Haley Beck and Angela Burlaka, Tobey claimed he was “evidence driven, process driven” and that Peoria PD “said there was no misstep when it came to mandatory reporting.”
Common sense tells me that Peoria PD’s initial investigation was primarily focused on finding evidence that would lead to the arrest and prosecution of suspected child abusers. Mandatory reporting isn’t exactly a high priority for PUSD employees since these kinds of failures have occurred before without consequences. Is it not possible for investigators to miss something, especially if sufficient evidence was withheld?
Thankfully, PUSD board member Heather Rooks sounded the alarm after she read the police report, reviewed state statutes and discovered more laws were broken.
When Broomhead said:
The board president [Rooks] was removed for not following protocol…I thought it was a bad look for the district that you went after somebody that was saying ‘I just want to protect kids,’ and it looked in the end like she was right that there needed to be a further investigation.
Proudfit declared:
I don’t think that’s a fair assessment. And I think there were a number of things that led to that change in the board presidency…The former prosecutor who would have done the in-house investigation encouraged us to wait until after the police had wrapped up their investigation for fear that we would meddle up [sic] the investigation.
Once Rooks learned that a mandated reporting probe wouldn’t interfere with open investigations, she went to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in her capacity as a parent and taxpayer. Rooks was within her First Amendment right to speak. It’s also her duty as a civil servant to pursue truth, even while her left-leaning colleagues vote against it.
When Broomhead stated:
It’s been reported that, Mr. Tobey, you are the one that requested that your attorney try to limit the search warrants. So, is this full cooperation if you were trying to limit the search warrants? Did you try to limit the search warrants?
Tobey replied:
So, the misinformation on that part was I proofread something that was drafted by legal. So, our superintendent is the de facto executive of the district and is responsible for making those decisions. As the board president, I am the legal liaison with the board and the attorney. It’s my role to kind of have that interface with the attorney and the superintendent. So it wasn’t my direction at all. It was the direction of the district.
So, you took part in a coup to remove Rooks from the board presidency only to abdicate your authority and defer to your subordinates in a time of crisis? Some leader you are…
On July 6, 2026, 12News reported, “The police department had previously served a search warrant earlier this year to PUSD in order to obtain documents related to the investigation into the Centennial High controversy. Attorneys representing PUSD filed a motion in Maricopa County court to restrict their access to certain records.”
Quoting PUSD Chief Communications Officer Danielle Airey, the article said, “‘Because the Governing Board has not voted to waive attorney-client privilege, legal counsel has an obligation to preserve those protections and comply with federal student privacy laws unless directed otherwise by the board or ordered by the court.’”
In other words, Tobey could have called for a vote to waive attorney-client privilege at any time. That’s what Rooks would have done if she were still board president. Tobey—who works for [Correction] Phoenix PD —should know a criminal search warrant supersedes FERPA, Title IX and all administrative rules.
As I’ve explained in previous posts, Tobey didn’t have the popularity to get elected (gee, I can’t think why 🤔). He relied heavily on Rooks’ support and the grassroots campaign led by West Valley Parents Uniting (WVPU). In a twist of irony, Tobey and Rooks were two of WVPU’s founding board members. They served in the organization together until they both resigned to run for public office.
A few years later, on a quest for power, it would be Tobey who teamed up with leftists and accused Rooks of political grandstanding as she aspired to higher office. Rooks also supposedly broke protocol by speaking to the media as an active board member.
But wait, there’s more.
On July 21, 2026, this same Tobey character appeared in an ABC15 interview to address Peoria PD’s days-long raid at the district office. Tobey said he was speaking up now because “it’s important to reach more individuals in the community…and I want to be able to share what I can.” While explaining his vote to appoint Darien Schoolcraft as Centennial’s new principal, Tobey verbally identified himself as an active board member. This fits the definition of a hypocrite:
A person who tells other people how to behave or claims to hold certain moral, religious, or political beliefs, but then does the exact opposite in their own actions.
To everyone attacking and plotting against Rooks—including the RINOs on LD28’s executive leadership team who publicly supported her demotion—you seem to have lost the real narrative. Let me refresh your memory.
This entire situation, which has gone national and inspired action from the U.S. Department of Education, started with district employees who allegedly victimized their students. Following accusations and concerns from students and community members, former Centennial principal Scott Hollabaugh (and other employees) failed to notify law enforcement.
This is not a matter of perspective or interpretation. For all the “evidence driven, process driven” hypocrites watching this saga unfold, the reality of it all can be ascertained from the investigation report. What difference does it make whether you “like” Rooks or think she’s out for political gain—she’s trying to protect children! Rooks isn’t the issue. Cover-up culture is the issue.
Proudfit—who also serves as LD28’s 4th Vice Chair—voted with Tobey and Melissa Ewing to ineffectively silence a voice calling attention to the alleged sexual exploitation of PUSD students. When Broomhead pointed out the possibility that school leadership ignored students' complaints about Beck and Burlaka, Proudfit deflected and said:
“This is the part of the story as a mother that makes me see red…We don’t have [a] record of any of those students coming to actual authorities, but instead they went to TikTok and it became a social media centered conversation…As a school district we don’t have control over what your child does on social media. And that’s where I think it’s really important to remember that the number one mandated reporter is parents. They also fall under that [law]. The system only works when everyone is cooperating.”
Is this not what “social emotional” gurus call victim blaming? Again, the lie about there being no record of students approaching administrators is debunked by the police report and is most likely contained in those documents Peoria PD had to pry out of the district’s hands. Hm…it seems there was a lack of cooperation somewhere that caused the system to fail. 🧐
School board members are not elected to parent the district. They sit as a body of government to hold official proceedings, not family therapy sessions. Everyone knows students use social media to express themselves, what we don’t know is how they’re responsible for employee misconduct. And why would a public official think it’s appropriate to lecture parents about their kids’ online activities when PUSD is being vetted for alleged child sex crimes that started and/or occurred on campus?
Unless I missed it, by the end of the KTAR interview, Tobey or Proudfit never condemned the alleged perpetrators’ actions. There was no warning for district employees to conduct themselves with professionalism and self-control. No apology was offered to any alleged victims or their families. I swear they were both reciting passages from a restorative justice handbook, or something. It was truly bizarre. Now do you see why it took two hours to watch?
It’s worth noting that Tobey and Proudfit have privately acquired a PR team. I guess this means we can expect their media charade to continue. No worries, keeping the record straight is what I do and I’m not going anywhere. I see 2028 on the horizon.
School board candidates often campaign on “truth,” “transparency,” and “accountability.” Tobey specifically ran on “student safety.” These are the promises K-12 parents want to hear—need to hear—before entrusting someone with their kids. I’m sorry to say those in the highest leadership positions have betrayed the public’s trust. All promises were broken the day Rooks was removed from the board presidency.
I don’t know about you, but I can clearly see who’s in this for political gain. We are where we are today because we have people in power who choose to protect institutions over children.
I think he works for Phoenix PD, not Peoria.