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Glencroft helps residents in trying times
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INSIDE
This Week
NEWS..............6 Retired Capt. David Rehnke passes away
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Peoria’s Hometown Newspaper
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January 21, 2021
Debate over classroom closures ALLISON ENGSTROM Peoria Times Staff Writer
The Peoria Unified School District board held a special meeting Jan. 13 to discuss the use of COVID-19 metrics being used to determine in-person and virtual learning. The board meeting was informational, with no votes by the board members, but the community weighed in through online comments. At its Dec. 10 meeting, the PUSD Governing Board voted unanimously to keep classrooms open after winter break “regardless of the benchmark data.” The district closed 13 PUSD schools Jan. 11 after a teacher “sick out.” Peoria Unified School District was one
of the few public school districts to keep classrooms open after winter break. In the first week since, COVID-19 cases in the PUSD surrounding community increased by more than 50%, nearing 1,000 per 100,000 population over seven days. (Anything over 100 cases per 100,000 is considered “substantial spread.”) With winter break ending and kids back in school, parents and teachers in the community voiced concerns and support PUSD Superintendent Dr. Jason Reynolds led a board meeting discussing the use of COVID-19 data regard- about the board’s decision to ing potential closure of classrooms. (Image courtesy PUSD)
SEE PUSD PAGE 3
Prosecutor speaks up to save lives NEWS..............8 Lesko votes against impeachment in House
OPINION..................9 BUSINESS ..............10 SPORTS ..................11 FEATURES ..............14 RELIGION...............16 YOUTH ...................18 CLASSIFIEDS ..........20
BY TOM SCANLON Peoria Times Managing Editor
In two decades as a Maricopa County prosecuting attorney, Gina Godbehere has seen some grisly crime scenes. Though her main function is to prove guilt in court, she takes a boots-on-the-ground approach, arriving at murder scenes as police are still identifying witnesses and investigators taking photos of those who were living just minutes before. Godbehere, who was raised in Peoria, investigates dozens of homicides each year and has seen it all — shootings, stabbings,
horrific car wrecks. What she saw five years ago at Independence High School in Glendale buckled her knees: Two 15-year-olds were dead, after a murder-suicide. When she arrived at the campus the morning of Feb. 12, 2016, police officers were putting up crime scene tape and helicopters flying overhead. “What was different was all of the parents in the blocked-off areas. You could just see in their faces the sense of urgency,” Godbehere said. She paused in her description to compose herself.
“I’m a mother of two girls and can’t imagine that happening to my daughters — the school is on lockdown and a lot of anxiety, figuring out what we had and making sure the school was safe,” she said. As the investigation unfolded, it only disturbed the veteran prosecutor more. “In the days after, we heard there was some indication that (the shooter) had got a gun and had some conversations with other people. But nobody took that threat seriously,” Godbehere said. “When you think about that, with almost SEE GODBEHERE PAGE 4