Queen Creek High School staffer complains of toxic district culture
A Queen Creek High School staff member expressed her concerns about the district during its April 8 board meeting's call to the public.
Calling herself a 'whistleblower,' Jeanette Schade spoke of the toxic culture. Staff is discouraged from asking questions, and when they do, they are subject to retaliation.
'The district has a disease,' Schade said. 'And what do we do with diseases? We find the root cause and heal them, but this one is perpetuated by those at the top. It is called the culture of fear.'
Many of these comments arise from disputes between the district and the community regarding its management of recent incidents related to social media posts. Former Queen Creek Unified School District Governing Board member James Knox resigned from his position in early January. Knox faced criticism for sharing explicit and potentially offensive content on his social media accounts. He blamed his resignation on a lack of community support and issues board leadership.
'I am unwilling to continue in this fight as it appears I no longer have community support,' Knox said.
Irene Mahoney-Paige, the district's director of marketing and public relations, said QCUSD has since adopted a new social media policy for its governing board.
'We want to be clear: QCUSD does not condone the content of the social media statements,' she said via email.
'The district remains committed to providing a safe and secure learning environment for all students. Our hiring practices are conducted without discrimination and do not include routine review of personal social media accounts.'
Parents and community members have voiced similar complaints about Queen Creek High School principal Scott Lovely, who has been criticized for social media posts before he was hired.
'Since then, I have been targeted by Mr. Scott Lovely, a man with a documented history of racist views through his social media posts,' Schade said. 'Was seemingly tasked with silencing me through false accusations and threats after inquiring about my political views.'
Most of Schade's criticism was aimed at the Queen Creek School District and its handling of the situation.
In a Queen Creek Tribune letter to the editor, community said they were disappointed with the QCUSD board's response.
It pointed out that Lovely allegedly made posts that were allegedly 'clearly biased and racist views of white Republican people.'
'A community member, Mr. Quarter, brought up some disparaging and disgusting social media posts Scott Lovely made, the new principal at QCHS, and it received no media attention,' said community members in a letter to the editor. 'Why would one only focus on one person and pressure him to resign and not another for the same sin?'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
26 minutes ago
Man convicted of killing 2 people outside bar to be executed in July
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A man convicted of fatally shooting a man and woman outside a Jacksonville bar as part of an attempted revenge killing has been scheduled for execution in Florida under a death warrant signed Friday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, the eighth this year. Michael Bernard Bell, 54, is set to die by lethal injection July 15 at Florida State Prison near the city of Starke. Bell was convicted in 1995 and sentenced to death for the murders of Jimmy West and Tamecka Smith. In December 1993, Bell spotted what he thought was the car of the man who fatally shot his brother earlier that year, according to court records. Bell was apparently unaware that the man had sold the car to West. Bell called on two friends and armed himself with an AK-47 rifle, authorities said. They found the car parked outside a liquor lounge and waited. When West, Smith and another woman eventually exited the club, Bell approached the car and opened fire, officials said. West died at the scene, and Smith died on the way to the hospital. The other woman escaped injury. Witnesses said Bell also fired at a crowd of onlookers before fleeing the area. He was eventually arrested the next year. Bell was later convicted of three additional murders. He fatally shot a woman and her toddler son in 1989, and he killed his mother's boyfriend about four months before the attack on West and Smith, officials said. Six other executions have taken place in Florida this year, with a seventh scheduled for June 24, all by lethal injection.
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Reactions to Padilla incident fall mostly along party lines
A day after federal agents forcibly restrained and handcuffed U.S. Sen Alex Padilla at a Los Angeles news conference, leaders of the country's two political parties responded in what has become a predictable fashion — with diametrically opposed takes on the incident. Padilla's fellow Democrats called for an investigation and perhaps even the resignation of the senator's nemesis, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, for what they described as the unprecedented manhandling of a U.S. senator who was merely attempting to ask a question of a fellow public official. Noem and fellow Republicans continued to depict Padilla as a grandstander, whose unexpected appearance at Noem's news conference seemed to her security detail to represent a threat, as she tried to speak to reporters at the Federal Building in Westwood. Republicans continued Friday to chastise Padilla, using words like 'launch,' 'lunge' and 'bum rush' to describe Padilla's behavior as he began to try to pose a question to Noem at Thursday's news conference. The Trump administration official was just a few minutes into her meeting with reporters when Padilla moved assertively from the side of the room, pushing past a Times photographer as he moved to more directly address Noem. He did not lunge at Noem and was still paces away from her when her security detail grabbed the senator. Read more: Arellano: Sen. Alex Padilla's crime? Being Mexican in MAGA America Padilla and his staff described how the veteran lawmaker went through security and was escorted by an FBI employee to the room where the press conference was held, saying it was absurd to suggest he presented a threat. Padilla spoke out after the secretary asserted that her homeland security agents had come to L.A. to "liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that the governor and the mayor have placed on this country.' The former South Dakota governor would have some reason to recognize Padilla, since he questioned her during her Senate confirmation hearing. A spokesperson at the Homeland Security Department did not respond to a question of whether Noem recognized Padilla when he arrived at her press conference. As has become the norm in the nation's political discourse, Republicans and Democrats spoke about the confrontation Friday as if they had observed two entirely separate incidents. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) said Noem 'should step down,' adding: 'This is ridiculous. And she continues to lie about this incident. This is wrong.' Lujan urged his Republican colleagues to support Democrats in asking for 'a full investigation.' 'This is bad. This is precedent-setting,' Lujan told MSNBC. 'And I certainly hope that the leadership of the Senate, my Republican leaders, my friends, that they just look within. Pray on it. That's what I told a couple of them last night. Pray on this and do the right thing.' Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus went to Speaker Mike Johnson's office to protest Padilla's treatment. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) spoke out on X and on the floor of the Senate. He said the episode fit into 'a pattern of behavior by the Trump administration. There is simply no justification for this abuse of authority …. There can be no justification of seeing a senator forced to their knees.' Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) went on X to repeat the call for an investigation and to say that 'Republican leadership is complicit in enabling the growing authoritarianism in this country.' Most Republicans remained silent, or accused Padilla of being a provocateur. 'I think the senator's actions, my view is, it was wildly inappropriate,' said Johnson, the House speaker. 'You don't charge a sitting Cabinet secretary.' Johnson added that it was Padilla, who should face some sanction. 'At a minimum … [it] rises to the level of a censure. … I think there needs to be a message sent by the body as a whole that that is not what we are going to do, that's not how we're going to act.' Rep. Tom McClintock, (R-Elk Grove) zinged Padilla on X, with some 'helpful tips.' '1. Don't disrupt other people's press conferences. Hold your own instead. 2. Don't bum-rush a podium with no visible identification. ... 3. Don't resist or assault the Secret Service. It won't end well.' Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Big Bear Lake) also sought to reinforce the notion that agents protecting Noem sensed a real threat, having no way of knowing that Padilla was who he said he was. The congressman said on Fox Business that Padilla had obtained "the outcome that they wanted. Now they have a talking point.' Read more: L.A. braces for multiple 'No Kings' demonstrations across the city Saturday None of the officials in the room, several of whom know Padilla, intervened to prevent the action by the agents, who eventually pushed the senator, face down, onto the ground, before handcuffing him. Noem did not back off her earlier statement that Padilla had 'burst' into the room. "Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,' Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant Homeland Security secretary, said in a statement Friday. McLaughlin also said that Padilla 'was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers' repeated commands,' though video made public by Friday did not show such warnings, in advance of Padilla's first statement. The senator's staff members said he privately had received messages of concern from several Republican colleagues, including Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) Speaking publicly only one Republican lawmaker sounded a note of distress about the episode. 'I've seen that one clip. It's horrible,' said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). 'It is shocking at every level. It's not the America I know.' Padilla told Tommy Vietor of the "Pod Save America" podcast that Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown is an attempt to distract from many other failures — continued instability with the economy, a lack of peace in Ukraine and Gaza and a federal budget plan that is proving unpopular with many Americans. 'He always finds a distraction," Padilla said, "and, when all else fails, he goes back to demonizing and scapegoating immigrants. … He creates a crisis to get us all talking about something else." Padilla said repeatedly that Americans should be concerned about how everyday citizens will be treated, if forces working for the Trump administration are allowed to "tackle" a U.S. senator asking questions in a public building. On Friday afternoon, he sent a mass email urging his constituents to sign up for the protests planned for Saturday, to counter the military parade Trump is holding in Washington. "PLEASE show up and speak out against what is happening," Padilla wrote. "We cannot allow the Trump administration to intimidate us into silence." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Hamilton Spectator
38 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
A Florida man convicted of killing 2 people outside a bar is to be executed in July
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of fatally shooting a man and woman outside a Jacksonville bar as part of an attempted revenge killing has been scheduled for execution in Florida under a death warrant signed Friday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, the eighth this year. Michael Bernard Bell, 54, is set to die by lethal injection July 15 at Florida State Prison near the city of Starke. Bell was convicted in 1995 and sentenced to death for the murders of Jimmy West and Tamecka Smith. In December 1993, Bell spotted what he thought was the car of the man who fatally shot his brother earlier that year, according to court records. Bell was apparently unaware that the man had sold the car to West. Bell called on two friends and armed himself with an AK-47 rifle, authorities said. They found the car parked outside a liquor lounge and waited. When West, Smith and another woman eventually exited the club, Bell approached the car and opened fire, officials said. West died at the scene, and Smith died on the way to the hospital. The other woman escaped injury. Witnesses said Bell also fired at a crowd of onlookers before fleeing the area. He was eventually arrested the next year. Bell was later convicted of three additional murders. He fatally shot a woman and her toddler son in 1989, and he killed his mother's boyfriend about four months before the attack on West and Smith, officials said. Six other executions have taken place in Florida this year, with a seventh scheduled for June 24, all by lethal injection. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
