OAN Deven Berryhill
UPDATED 5:30 PM PT – Friday, March 3, 2023
On February 23rd, Arizona elementary school board member Tamillia Valenzuela blasted Arizona Christian University for teaching its students traditional Judeo-Christian values.
During a district council meeting, Valenzuela argued before the Washington Elementary School District that the council should deny a request from ACU to renew the 11-year-long teacher hiring contract. She said that the renewal could have negative effects on “herself and the other two board members who are a part of the LGBTQ community.”
Valenzuela said on camera that she felt that she and the other “queer kids” in her district would be in personal danger if they used ACU graduates.
“[This contract with ACU] does not make me feel that I could not be safe in this school district,” said the councilwoman.
Sources have confirmed that the Washington Elementary School District in Arizona has been in a partnership with ACU that hosted student-teachers and practicums from the school for the last 11 years, without incident.
Valenzuela went on to quote from ACU website’s saying, “[ACU] holds to the view that marriage is between a biological man and a woman.”
She elaborated that the council should “think hard and do a deep dive in who we’re about to partner with.”
The five-member governing board included President Nikkie Gomez-Whaley, Vice President Jenni Abbott-Bayardi, Kyle Clayton, Tamillia Valenzuela, and Lindsey Peterson of the Washington Elementary School District in Arizona.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the board unanimously approved to “stop the partnership because of the perceived threats the students’ biblical value system poses to LGBT students.”
By: OAN
