Photo composite by The Daily Beast/Arizona Department of Education
An outspoken Arizona superintendent’s anti-woke crusade appears to be falling apart, with his snitch hotline overrun by crank calls and his claims of inappropriate classroom teachings refuted by teachers and education officials who say it’s total BS.
On Thursday, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne held a press conference to outline the progress of an “Empower Hotline” that the state Department of Education launched in March, local outlet 12 News NBC Phoenix reported. The hotline was established so parents and teachers could flag “inappropriate content being taught that detracts from teaching academic standards” including content about race, gender ideology or inappropriate sexual content,” a March press release said.
But Horne conceded Thursday that the hotline had instead been inundated with nearly 30,000 prank phone calls and emails, and there was just one part-time DoE staffer tasked with going through them all. He wouldn’t go into detail about how many calls received on the hotline were of legitimate concern, 12 News reported.