There are two schools of thought on the schools. Dozens of interviews, letters, emails, and phone calls regarding Page school district woes share a central theme: PUSD needs to improve communications between administration, teachers, and parents. How to resolve the problem is where the differences begin.

Most teachers and parents the Chronicle interviewed would like to see the administration changed because of complacency, lack of accessibility, and disrespect to staff. Some believe the problems can be worked out internally rather than rolling the dice on new administrators.

Jeremiah Stewart

The Chronicle spoke to Jeremiah Stewart. He's a counselor and teacher when needed at Page Middle School. Among other duties, Stewart is on the school leadership team with the administration. He said, "We pretty much do whatever they tell us to do. Sometimes we have to substitute teach."

Stewart said, "When students were in the building, we could do pretty much our normal job. When they were not in the building, we try to do as much remote work as possible, contacting parents checking out grades, emailing students, calling students too, with varying degrees of success." He said, "As a counselor, I'm in classrooms, I observe kids in classrooms a lot. I don't observe the teacher."

Stewart said he often talks with all the teachers. He said, "I have meetings with admin. I can report from the point of view of teachers and staff that the admin doesn't always see."

Stewart followed the school board meetings when they were live-streamed. That stopped July 13. He said, "I have three kids seven and under. It makes it very hard to go in person. I was not the most pleased when they said they're no longer streaming, because they streamed before COVID happened, and suddenly they're not?"

All teachers and staff who spoke with The Chronicle expressed disappointment and anger with administration and school board, with one exception. Stewart defends the administration. He said, "I will keep on defending admin because if no one is defending them--it's a lot more complex than any one-sided argument will go. If no one is defending them at all -- there are things that they don't know.

"First of all, a lot of teachers bring up that people are never discussing their needs, are never bringing them up, or never thinking about teachers, they're thinking about their own backs, or paychecks or just doing whatever they want to do. Teachers needs are discussed all the time in meetings. They aren't ignored."

Stewart said, "Last year was a mess. There is not always a way around it that's going to make people happy in general. One big example is last year, when they brought students back, we had the protocol where we're doing temperature checks and everything at the doors. Because of that, we needed more staff on campus a bit earlier than usual. They asked people to be there at 7:30. I know the board talked about this because it was a complaint at the board by making people work before their contract time, which is 7:45.

If the teachers weren't involved, it's [paraprofessionals] and people like me who have no contract time. So, making it so it actually works and functions, we needed to make sure teachers are there."

"I know teachers were not happy with that one. It was a violation of their agreement with the district. But the reality was we had to have more bodies there. We couldn't just have whatever para-pros we have and whatever other staff we can pull [who] don't have those restrictions --otherwise they get burned out, and last year, so many people got burned out anyway. Education is a profession that will burn you out if you aren't careful."

This Chronicle asked Stewart, "Do you think the communication between admin and staff is sufficient? Could it be improved?"

Stewart answered, "I could definitely say communication can be better.

"They have people they can delegate to send communications to others. There have been communication issues throughout the district in general, which I think could definitely be worked on.

"Last year, honestly, from the very top, from Wallen and Hoffman and people that send messages from the district level, I actually thought communication was better than it's been. But since before was basically nothing, I don't know if that's good communication or just there is some."

The Chronicle asked Stewart, "Do you have the flexibility to read the situation and use your own judgment, and how much of that is you and how much is spelled out for you?

Stewart replied, "I have pretty good amount of flexibility. A lot of it depends on your admin. With Covington, the counselors had quite a bit of flexibility to get the job done, as long as we made sure that we knew what we were doing. Some like to micromanage, and some counselors really do well with that; they have very strict structure; some, like myself, I do not. If I had someone making sure what I was doing every hour of every day, it would not work."

The Chronicle: Do you feel you have a level of trust that gives you the flexibility to do your job the way you think is best?"

Stewart: Yes.

The Chronicle: Do you think some principles are more trusting than others?

Stewart: Yes.

The Chronicle: Do you think it's the same for teachers, as far as flexibility and trust, or do you think it's more rigid because of standardized testing and BT (Beyond Textbooks)?

Stewart: It depends on the teacher. First of all, when it comes to scores, everyone in the building's pay is based on that score. I have no faith in the AzMERIT (Arizona's Measurement of Educational Readiness to Inform Teaching) scores, but we all have one of our be-here incentive bonus things based on that score.

Stewart said, "There's always going to be different levels of trust -- and there's always going to be conflicts with admin and based on who is the admin."

Events and conditions beyond PUSD's control complicate solutions further. Adding to the stress is COVID-19, affordable housing shortages, loss of funding attributed to inadequate state funding, lower enrollment, and the closing of Navajo Generating Station.

PUSD relies heavily on federal impact funds, which they must apply for every year. Impact funds are based primarily on the number of students attending school from the Navajo Nation. PUSD Superintendent Larry Wallen told the Chronicle about 1,000 students fall into this category. Federal Impact Aid contributes about $6300 per student living on tax-free federal lands to the budget. Arizona State contributes about $4,400 per student (minus 5% for online learning from home). Arizona ranks 49th in school funding compared to other states, so federal aid is critical for PUSD.

Wendi Page

Wendi Page served on the Indian Education Committee (IEC) from 1999 to 2012. Her granddaughter begins school in Page this year. The committee represents each community the school district serves, including LeChee (Lichii'i), Coppermine (Beesh Haageed), Bodaway/Gap (Tsinaabaas Habitiin), Kaibeto (K'ai'Bii'To), Ts'ah Bii Kin (Inscription House), and the City of Page. She's concerned and wants to get involved with the Indian Education Committee again. Page refers to the committee as the ‘council.’ She said they represent the children and parents at the chapter level in the school district. They overlook the Impact Aid, the Johnson-O'Malley funds, and are instrumental and getting parents to sign for them.

She said, "I used to fight for it, because a lot of the parents at my chapter [asked], 'why are we signing this impact Aid again? The school district is not doing this for us.' So as a parent and a liaison between the school, you have to advocate strongly for the staff and the students and say, 'We need this money. Your child is going to school there. You need to sign off on it.'"

Page said, "I think that if the [council] member is not strong enough and very vocal, it would come down to where [parents] say, 'you know what, we're not signing off on this impact aid for our students from the school.' That's how the school would lose out on impact aid."

Page spoke highly of former PUSD superintendent Jim Walker. She said, "Oh my gosh that guy, I can praise that guy from left to right all the way up and down all the way around. He was an excellent superintendent." She added, "There was another superintendent that worked there. He was ok. He was reasonable to talk to; you could knock on his door, and he'll let you in. Then the next thing I noticed was Wallen was there, and I'm like, oh my God, Page is in trouble now."

Page said Wallen falsely accused a woman she worked with of misusing Indian Education Council funds. She said, "What's he talking about? He's the one that does this, not her, but eventually, she resigned because she wouldn't put up with it."

Page said she worked with the woman for many years and praised her continued efforts to get more money for the children at the school district and that she sat on many committees to help how she could. Page said, "There's no way you can mismanage that money because there's a paper trail. Her family said it's not worth being dragged through that. She's a wonderful lady, and they did that.

"[Wallen] wouldn't even let her sit in on the meeting. He forbid her from going there; he doesn't have that right to do that. So, we did our part (defended her), and she [said], 'you know what, Wendy, I'm just going to resign. I'm not going to deal with this. It's too much.' It was not good that he put that kind of record on her."

Page said the council, by law, is supposed to sit in on the interview panels for all PUSD hires, but she said that didn't happen with Wallen. They attributed the exception to COVID-19. Page said, "We're still having meetings via the internet. So, there was no excuse. They just never invited the Indian Education Council. He put that young lady on administrative leave. It sounds like he put himself in that position so he could run the Indian Education Council. And no, he can't do that. For him to be a member of the Indian Education Council there has to be an agreement within the council because each of the council members represent the five chapters on the reservation. And I guess he said, no, I don't have to, I'm the superintendent and I will do this."

IEC oversight is defined in Code of Federal Regulation Title 25 documents: https://www.bia.gov/sites/bia.gov/files/assets/bia/ots/pdf/idc-018737.pdf

Page echoes what community members have told the Chronicle; the hiring of superintendent Wallen did not follow legal protocol. The public and stakeholders had no input. She said The Indian Education Committee should have had a vote on Wallen's hiring.

Former City of Page Mayor Levi Tappan filed a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General April 20, 2021. It was on the PUSD School Board agenda for July 13, 2021. Tappan provided the Chronicle with a copy of the filing. He stated, "I do not believe that the school board is following open meeting laws. The public is not allowed in the meeting. There is no public comment period during meetings. Comments must be emailed the day before meetings and are not being read to the board."

The complaint was not available to the public on the board's website, and the July 13 meeting video was not accessible Thursday or Friday. The link returned an error message as if the video were deleted or there was a server malfunction. All other links worked properly.

Brittny Gonzales

Brittny Gonzales was born and raised in Page. She has four children in school, and she's worried.

Gonzales said, "We want to move. We have our house up for sale. And one of the main reasons is the school district. It's the schooling." The family plans on moving to Florida because the schools are better. She said, "They have an incentive where if you keep a 3.0 GPA or higher, the State of Florida pays for in-state college tuition."

Gonzales's son is autistic and said, "The special education department is lacking horribly. We had a special ed director, Lisa Wallace. She just resigned because she's been overworked and no help. She was amazing."

Wallace worked closely with Gonzales, keeping her informed of what was going on.

Gonzales said, "I don't know what's going on this year. He's supposed to have an aid with him permanently because he's in a regular classroom. I don't know if he even has his aides this year. I heard he did, through the grapevine through another teacher, but I have not directly heard from anybody in that department. So, I don't know what's going on. And that's kind of sad. Every year I have to email somebody. Nobody can do their job and reach out, or send a letter, an email -- nothing. So, you think that they would do a better job of reaching out.

"Gonzales said her child "has gone months without an aid which means that the teacher has to be an aide, and a teacher, and teach the whole entire classroom with interruptions. It's a disaster."

An aid is needed throughout the day to help the child, keep them on track, and to minimize classroom disruptions. Gonzales said, without an aid, the "teacher is stopping the classroom learning just to help him get on track."

Gonzales also spoke highly of Ryan Palizzi. Her daughter had the same teacher from Desert View through Middle School. She said, "So that was really nice. It was Mr. Palizzi, who put his resignation in, which is a shame because he was an amazing teacher."

During the Chronicle's group interview with parents, it was pointed out that Palizzi and others were still listed as active teachers, though they'd resigned. The online records available to the public are not up to date.

Levi Tappan

Former Page Mayor Levi Tappan attributes the school's problems to the school board. Tappan has three children in school. He told the Chronicle, "I've contacted the school. I've emailed the school board several times and got no response from them. At this point, there is not much to do if they're not going to listen to the parents. There's nothing we can do until election time."

Tappan said, "I've always said that we'll stay as long as we have good teachers. In the Elementary School, especially, our kids have always had good teachers. I haven't [received] anything on who our teachers are this year.

"When I was a student here, there were long-tenured teachers here. Even when I came back after being gone for 10 years, there were still teachers teaching that were teaching when I was a kid. People's lives change, teachers move and go, but there were always core teachers that stayed, the ones that bought houses and made Page home."

Tappan said, "I just can't believe the lack of communication from the school board to my personal emails. It will show during election time."

On the administration prioritizing students over teachers, Tappan said, "Administration takes care of employees, and the employees take care of the customers. That's how any job is. You can say he cares about kids all day long, but their actions are what count."

Tappan's words echo the words of school administration expert Dr. Brad Johnson, "Teachers are told that students come first, and for teachers this is true. However, for administrators, the teacher comes first. The teacher is the most valuable resource of an administrator."

Johnson also said on teacher retention, "If you want to keep the best teachers, treat them like they are the best. Few teachers leave an environment where they feel valued, supported, appreciated, and treated like professionals."

Brant Williams

Science teacher Brant Williams has a lot to say about his dissatisfaction with Page Unified School District, so much that he created a 35-minute YouTube video about it. It's titled "Statement on Page Unified School District." Williams is one of the many who resigned from PUSD this year. The exact number of resignations isn't clear. Over 50 are on record, but online public information is not up to date.

The Chronicle spoke with Williams several times this year. He is the first teacher to come forward publicly and on record.

Williams said, "The main issue with the school district right now is that the teachers are trying to do as good a job as they can. However, the different levels of administration in the school board are making it more difficult for the teachers to carry out their jobs to the best of their ability.

"In this school district, Page Unified, teachers obeying administration to the letter is what's important to administration. It's not teaching. It's not the students. It's following orders, doing exactly as you're told, being treated like you're stupid, like you're incompetent; that's what's important to the administration here. Now, I don't say that just blindly, but based upon my experience and the experience of many, many, many other teachers who could tell you stories just like the one I'm telling you right now. Other teachers have been bullied to the point that they either quit or they get fired."

Williams said kindergarten through fifth grade have not had a math curriculum since 2014. Teachers have to come up with that on their own. This confirmed reports from other teachers who could not go on record.

Rochelle Decker Ladner and Jessica Wilson

Rochelle Decker Ladner and Jessica Wilson are the organizers behind Stand up for PUSD Staff and Students. They've organized protests, met with teachers, and reached out to the community to raise awareness. They were the first to bring the mass resignations to the Chronicle's attention. The group has had its ups and downs because most teachers are afraid to speak out, though many have spoken to the Chronicle off the record and are certainly sharing their experiences with friends and family. In a small community like Page, this may be as effective as having the story on the front page of the weekly paper.

The Chronicle met once with about 20 teachers and staff members to discuss their issues with the school. Some expressed interest in going on record to help make the public aware of what's going on. They went silent shortly after the meeting.

Ladner and Wilson aren't giving up. Both plan to run for school board seats. President Robert Candelaria's and Delores McKerry's terms are up next year.