Peoria Unified adds new hotline for students to report questionable behavior

Peoria Unified School District added safety measures for students as the 2026-27 school year begins next week amid an ongoing police investigation.

The district is currently being investigated over a case involving two former teachers who allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct with a student at Centennial High School.

Peoria Unified Governing Board member Becky Proudfit said the district’s HR department was expanded ahead of the start of school.

“On the back of the student IDs we have always had a crisis hotline, and now in addition we are providing an anonymous reporting hotline so if a student has any question about any behavior they’re seeing, that number is printed right on the back of their ID and they are able to reach out anonymously and then our HR department will receive those,” she said.

Proudfit said she also attended district training courses for employees to make sure the required reporting information was up to date.

“In the past week we had our all-admin training for mandatory reporting as well as Title IX investigations. I went ahead and attended those trainings just so I could speak with authorities about exactly what we are training our employees on and what we can hold them accountable for,” she said.

The district said it is currently continuing to cooperate with Peoria Police as the investigation goes on.

Latest in the police investigation

Earlier this month, the district was served with a second search warrant, with police searching the District Administration Center and Cholla Annex.

After the second warrant was served, the district released a statement saying it was “disappointed” by how the search delayed preparations for the coming school year, which starts Aug. 3.

The district said it fulfilled the first warrant and has been providing police with additional requested records.

Police said the court-authorized warrant was for specific materials related to the ongoing criminal investigation.

Peoria Unified teacher sex scandal background

Former Centennial High School teachers Haley Beck and Angela Burlaka are accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student while they were teachers at Centennial High School.

Burlaka surrendered her teaching certification on Jan. 26, the same day the district terminated her. Meanwhile, the district fired Beck on March 26 for violating its sexual harassment policy.

The district has been under fire for how it responded to the allegations against the teachers. The case drew national attention because Beck is the sister of popular content creator Noah Beck, who has more than 30 million TikTok followers.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

Subscribe to the KTAR Eyes on Education newsletter to get our top education stories, exclusive guest interviews and more to your email inbox.

Related

Arizona governor hopeful Andy Biggs says more funding doesn’t mean better schoolsSen. Mark Kelly proposes 2 bills to support young men and grow public serviceLawsuit challenges validity of thousands of ESA reform ballot measure signaturesKimberly Yee outlines education priorities after GOP primary winMaking shopping for back-to-school supplies easier for Phoenix-area parentsKimberly Yee wins GOP primary for Arizona schools chief over Tom Horne