Your First Amendment is not welcome in Peoria Unified School District
Student victims of sexual misconduct were silenced on May 5, 2026...
On Tuesday, May 5, 2026, PUSD Board President Heather Rooks was ousted from her leadership position. Her offense? She dared to speak to media and asked the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office to investigate Centennial High School principal Scott Hollabaugh’s potential failure to report sexual misconduct.
PREDATORS ON THE PAYROLL
The controversy in PUSD was turned up after the March 26 school board meeting where the board voted 5-0 to dismiss Centennial teacher Haley Beck pursuant to A.R.S. 15-539. In December 2025, a Peoria Police investigation report showed Beck was credibly accused of grooming and having sex with a student. As of publication, the county attorney has not assessed criminal charges against Beck.
Another Centennial teacher, Angela Burlaka, was accused of sending lewd images and videos to students. Burlaka surrendered her teaching certificate and is no longer employed at PUSD. The police report also revealed that Hollabaugh - who was quoted stating that he “had spoken to Beck” about student complaints - possessed some prior knowledge of the teachers’ misconduct. In this case, Hollabaugh failed to act as a mandated reporter pursuant to A.R.S. 13-3620. However, the public may never know the extent of his knowledge of the sexual misconduct since board members Jeff Tobey, Becky Proudfit, and Melissa Ewing voted against a third-party investigation during the April 23 board meeting.
Is it really possible that so many students, parents, and community members knew about Beck’s alleged “open secret” relationship with a student, but all the adults in charge were too dumb to pick up on it?
Note: In 2024, when Peoria High School basketball coach Patrick Battillo (Mr. ORNG) was arrested and charged with child sex crimes, then-principal Landa Tartaglio reported the incident to law enforcement. Nevertheless, she was placed on administrative leave, investigated, and eventually removed from her position. Inquiring minds would love to know why Hollabaugh gets to keep his job but Landa was whisked away. Could it be that Hollabaugh was held to different standards because he’s a man?
BAIT AND SWITCH
Jeff Tobey posed as a conservative during the 2024 school board races when he campaigned alongside Janelle Bowles. He also used Rooks’ support, promotion, and volunteerism to boost his popularity. Several members of the parent group West Valley Parents Uniting also launched a “Vote the J’s” campaign to help Tobey get over the finish line. Based on voting records, Tobey would have easily lost the race without Rooks, Bowles, and all those Peoria parents.
Soon after the election, it became more obvious that Tobey was a morally ambiguous beta male (the type with a strong aversion to alpha females like Rooks and myself). In March 2025, Tobey voted with Proudfit and Ewing to approve administrative out-of-state travel for DEI workshops. When I questioned his vote, he simply stated that “a few sessions may touch on DEI/SEL, but that doesn’t negate the whole conference.” Hmm. I wonder if someone baked Tobey a cake with a “touch” of dog poop, would he eat it?
Another example of moral ambiguity occurred in August 2025 when Tobey voted with Proudfit and Ewing to hire a flaming rainbow counselor who dressed like a nun in clown make up while handing out condoms at an HIV event. When I pressed Tobey on this decision, he compared discriminating against LGBTQ people to discriminating against Jews. My defense of Jewish people can be read here. Thankfully, the employee resigned almost immediately after accepting the “counselor” position.
PROTECTING PEDOS & VOTING FOR “NICE GUYS”
Parents online are now declaring Tobey, Proudfit, and Ewing to be part of a cover up of grooming and sexual misconduct in PUSD. How is this narrative more favorable than a mother requesting an independent investigation to determine if a mandated reporter broke the law? The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office gave Rooks the green light since they were not pursuing that particular issue. The PUSD board attorney confirmed this more than once. Rooks was also a witness to an incident that affected students. So, what’s the problem?
Based on public comments during the May 5 power grab session, we learned the problem with Rooks is that she can’t be controlled by the superintendent and teachers’ unions like Tobey, Proudfit, and Ewing. Rooks, they say, makes the district “look bad” when she exposes shenanigans on social media. She supposedly sparked district lawsuits for quoting Scripture during her board comments. Um-kay. You may not like Rooks. I, too, have had my moments. You may not like the way she goes about things. Maybe you think she’s not “nice” or she’s too Christian, too MAGA, too stubborn. That’s fine. But if you think she deserved to be publicly sat down for exercising her freedom of speech and trying to protect children, then you’re mentally retarded.
WE. DO. NOT. NEED. “NICE.” PEOPLE. IN. POWER.
WE NEED TRUTH TELLERS WHO WILL SOUND THE ALARM WHEN STUDENTS ARE VIOLATED AND LAWS ARE BROKEN.
Ultimately, Proudfit and Ewing would have never pulled this stunt unless they were 100% sure they had Tobey’s vote. I cannot definitively say they’re all participating in a pedophile cover up, but this was obviously a conspiracy, a coup d'état to install Tobey as board president. This revenge move was likely set in motion when Rooks and Bowles voted to replace Tobey with Proudfit for the Clerk position earlier this year. The move made no sense to those of us who could already see that Tobey and Proudfit are (morally and politically) the same fake person. In the end, Tobey not only voted to oust Rooks, he also voted against his running mate, Bowles, for Clerk after claiming to “love” her.
Alas, public outcries will eventually subside. Board meetings will die down. The agenda will be full of fluff. Calls to the public will be moved back to the end of the session. Union leaders will be happy. Sexual predators will feel safe to continue violating students. “Nothing to see here” will once again become the theme of every meeting. Sandoval 2.0, here we go.
Without further ado, your PUSD liberal dream team:
