District delays vote on hiring outside investigator in Centennial High School misconduct case

The Peoria Unified School District has delayed a vote on hiring an outside investigator to look into allegations that someone may have known about inappropriate sexual misconduct at Centennial High School.

This comes after two teachers there were accused of sexual conduct with the same teenage boy.

Members of the public and the district’s governing board talked about the issue at length Thursday night. The proposal to hire a third party investigator was brought forth by two board members who cited concerns that mandatory reporting requirements may not have been met.

Several members of the community showed up to defend Centennial’s principal, who they say police have already cleared of any blame.

“Teachers do not support bad behavior by other teachers," Peoria teacher Marcy Robb said. "We don’t support doing bad things to kids, but I am absolutely appalled that people come up here and say that we do because we’re not supporting another fiscally irresponsible use of our funds when it's already been found that he hasn’t done anything wrong.”

But board member Becky Proudfit said that’s not what the proposal was about.

“Is this a witch hunt? That is not the question," Proudfit said. "The question is, 'do we feel confident in the processes and allowing those processes to play out and that that will achieve the greatest opportunity of success for the safety of our students?'”

The two teachers involved are no longer employed by the district.

The board voted 3-2 to table the decision until it hears more from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which is reviewing the case.