Peoria Unified board splits over rewrite of 'No DEI' policy

PEORIA, Ariz. — The Peoria Unified School District governing board is split over a proposed rewrite of its controversial anti-diversity, equity and inclusion policy, with a heated Aug. 27 meeting exposing a fracture among members who originally backed the measure.

Board President Jeff Tobey proposed the revisions at the Aug. 27 public meeting. The policy, originally titled "Prohibition of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion," would be renamed the "Equal Opportunity and Merit-Based Decision-Making Policy." The rewrite removes the word DEI and its definition entirely.

The board discussed the changes but did not take a vote, and no next step was announced.

The proposal came after the district faced community backlash for removing three books from its middle school curriculum: "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, and "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass. A district spokesperson told The Arizona Republic the books violated district policies on curriculum adoption, controversial topics, and DEI. At an Aug. 13 meeting, the district said the books were removed based on content it deemed age-inappropriate, not because of the anti-DEI policy. Some of the books remained available at the high school level.

Tobey argued the current policy is too broad and is not backed by state law. His proposal cites an Arizona law that prohibits certain instruction based on race, ethnicity, or sex, including teaching that one race, ethnic group, or sex is "inherently morally or intellectually superior to another."

Under the proposed revision, the district "shall not provide any benefit or impose any burden on individuals on the basis of race, sex, or ethnicity." Decisions affecting students and employees, such as grading and hiring, "shall be based on individual merit, demonstrated ability, academic performance, character, and other legitimate, non-discriminatory criteria," the proposal states.

The revised policy also specifies that it does not prohibit "the accurate, grade-appropriate teaching of history, literature, civics, or science, including primary sources and literary works that address race, ethnicity, sex, slavery, segregation, the Civil Rights Movement, or related historical events."

Board members clashed publicly over the change. Heather Rooks, a former board president who spearheaded the original anti-DEI policy, criticized Tobey for dropping the DEI language. The board passed the original policy 4-1 in late 2025.

"If that's the stance that you took during candidate Jeff Tobey, why is that not the same stance today as President Jeff Tobey?" Rooks asked, referencing a 2024 campaign questionnaire in which Tobey referred to DEI as "Discrimination, Exclusion and non-Inclusivity."

Tobey said his stance has not changed and that the rewrite is meant to bring clarity to a term with no standard definition. "There is no consensus on what DEI is defined as. And we're talking about policy, not a political campaign," he said.

Board member Becky Proudfit sided with Tobey, saying the original policy was creating confusion and that "students should not be compelled to adopt political beliefs." Rooks pushed back, pointing to Proudfit's prior association with the conservative 1776 Project PAC, which lists abolishing DEI as a priority. Proudfit said she did not seek that endorsement and accused Rooks of bringing politics onto the board.

Board member Janelle Bowles also sided with Rooks and argued the policy did not need to change. "I don't know why we're revisiting this. And I do think it's a lame attempt to try to change something when we never needed to backpedal and do that," Bowles said.

Melissa Ewing, the lone board member who voted against the original anti-DEI policy, raised concerns that the new language differs from the district's other equal opportunity policies. She suggested narrowing the policy and adding a clarification that it does not prohibit the district from collecting data on different ethnic groups, such as absentee and proficiency rates reported to the federal government.

Interim Superintendent Tahlya Visintainer said the district would conduct an overview to determine how the policy would affect data collection.