• First, the public comment
• Next, the subcommittee's presentation
• Then, the vote

Giving you no opportunity to speak on the topic. Here's why: The subcommittee is going to present something that blows your arguments to date out of the water by making them completely irrelevant. You've been arguing against a curriculum. They are going to vote on a "framework" instead. What's the difference? It's like the Arizona education standards vs. the curriculum each district implements. FLASH will dictate what is to be taught... the Board will approve proposals for how it's taught later... but by then the real battle (what to teach) is already lost.

The subcommittee will recommend that the Board adopt the FLASH framework, and then approve curriculum and lesson plans later (Arizona statutes mandate that, unlike other curricula, the Board must approve sex ed curriculum line item by line item). The board president is seeking to approve FLASH (the Planned Parenthood option) and mandate that "we do not talk about elective abortion." The latter point is a nod to SB1009. You see, FLASH promotes "abortion on demand" and relies heavily on Planned Parenthood source content. By adopting the framework, the district commits to a curriculum that is biased toward elective abortion and flawed in other ways.

This is going to go down regardless of how many people show up (although a show of numbers is still important). The battle can be won tonight. Right now, there are two unwavering votes for FLASH (Taylor and Schapira) and two unwavering votes against it (Sanchez and Lowe). 

Helm is undecided. Her email address is mhelm@tuhsd.k12.az.us - and/or mhelm@tempeunion.org

Intel on Helm indicates that

1. she does truly care about the district,
2. she is worried about how the district is perceived, and
3. she has a bit of an ego.

Please take a moment to send her a message TONIGHT or TOMORROW MORNING. Be POLITE.

Please point out that regardless of the facts about the subcommittee, the perception of how this has been handled is devastating to our district's reputation.

• We don't need any more controversy. This topic is overshadowing good press about our students and our district's programs.
• Adopting FLASH as a framework means this will come up as a point of contention every time the Board votes on a lesson plan, dragging the controversy on and on.
• The perception now is that the Board is making an end run around the public to implement a highly controversial program for the benefit of Planned Parenthood. It doesn't help that perception at all that Schapira has received campaign contributions from PP and Taylor's daughter is on the subcommittee.
• Parents are talking about moving their kids via open enrollment. How will the drop in per-pupil funding affect us?
• Property values are directly tied to school quality. Bad news about our schools makes our real estate market tougher. How will that affect our property tax base?
• An integral part of FLASH is material that's illegal in Arizona. Why spend our time and resources modifying an illegal program and retraining teachers, when we already have a top-performing program they're familiar with in multiple schools? Add a few modules to that program and be done with it.

There are some ideas for talking points if you attend and speak.
The meeting is 7pm tomorrow (Wednesday May 7) at Compadre High School, 500 W Guadalupe Rd. That's the northwest corner of Guadalupe and Kyrene. Strongly suggest eating before you go; it could be a very long meeting.

If you do plan to go and want to speak and would like to have the talking points, please send email to us at team-azfreedomalliance2@hushmail.com and you will receive them via email.  Put an email in your own words and if you go and speak, put the talking points in your own words.