Did Peoria Unified leaders know about latest grooming allegations against Haley Beck?

The president of the Peoria Unified School District Governing Board said he had been unaware of the allegations of grooming by a former teacher described in a notice of claim filed by a former student last week.

“I believe that the report is good that we got it because this was something that I wasn’t even aware of. I don’t believe anybody that got that notice of claim was aware of these allegations,” Jeff Tobey told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Thursday.

Tobey spoke as part of a joint interview with Heather Rooks, a member of the board who was its president before Tobey. She said the information in the new claim should not have been a surprise.

“To say that there was no evidence of it, there was nothing brought to anybody, I find that very hard to believe when we have documentation proving otherwise,” Rooks said.

What are the latest grooming allegations against a former Peoria Unified teacher

ABC15 reported Tuesday that a notice of claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, was filed Sept. 22 and describes how then-Centennial High School teacher Haley Beck allegedly provided a student with marijuana, alcohol and gifts and hosted him at her home in spring 2025.

The former student who filed the new claim is seeking $7 million from the district for failing to protect him from grooming and exploitation.

Another former Centennial student is seeking $20 million in a notice of claim filed in June that accuses Peoria Unified of failing to protect him from sexual abuse.

Beck and another former teacher, Angela Burlaka, are under criminal investigation over reports they had a sexual relationship with a male student when they were teachers at Centennial. Both teachers were fired earlier this year.

The case drew national attention because Beck is the sister of content creator Noah Beck, who has more than 30 million TikTok followers.

Peoria Unified officials have been under fire for how they responded to the allegations against the teachers and for possibly failing to follow the state’s mandatory reporting laws.

Peoria Unified President said mandatory reporting was completed after new claim

Tobey said Thursday that everybody who received the new claim notified police of its allegations in accordance with the state’s mandatory reporting laws.

“There’s a reason why we had to do … new mandatory reporting on this notice of claim, and that’s because people were not aware,” he said.

Rooks, however, said Beck’s alleged grooming activities as described in the new claim are similar to information previously reported to administrators.

“I don’t believe it’s really new information and that nobody knew about it,” she said. Rooks cited an email a graduating student sent to Centennial High School administrators in February 2025 that described concerns about what the sender’s sister experienced while in Beck’s classroom.

“The students were witnessing Haley Beck giving a gift to one specific student, the first victim. The texting, the Snapchat was mentioned also in the email, and then there was being seen together in the car,” Rooks said.

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