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Comments policy change/ P. 3
Bucket list item/ P. 22
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
Critics slam MPS’ transgender guidelines BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
COMMUNITY ...........12 Family creates flag football league..
Sunday, August 28, 2022
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | TheMesaTribune.com
M
esa Public Schools issued new guidelines for accommodating transgender and gender-non-comforming students in schools July 14, triggering critics who say the district’s diversity and inclusion initiatives are going too far. Some critics spoke out at the Aug. 23 MPS Governing Board meeting, where they offered strongly worded critiques of some of
the protocols, which allow students to use bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with. Governing board candidate Ed Steele and other local activists have campaigned against “woke ideology” in schools and have been circulating the guidelines online along with harsh critiques. The Twitter account of the Republican Party of Arizona even weighed in, sharing a post from Steele that said, “Mesa Public Schools is committed to hiding the ‘gender’ status of
students from parents if student requests.” The school district says it is following federal guidelines and protecting students. In a statement to the Tribune, MPS Communications and Engagement Director Joseph Valdez said, “The guidelines are intended to help schools ensure a safe learning environment free from discrimination and harassment, and to support the educational and social needs of transgender and gender non
see TRANSGENDER page 4
Bold project brings jazz club to E. Mesa
BUSINESS ...................... 16 How city is helping small businesses in Mesa.
SPORTS ....................... 20
Mesa football teams heading to the Golden State. COMMUNITY .............................. 12 BUSINESS ................................... 16 OPINION ..................................... 18 SPORTS ...................................... 20 GET OUT ...................................... 22 CLASSIFIED ............................... 24 ZONE 2
BY MARK MORAN Tribune Staff Writer
T
raditional acoustic jazz and blues was born in the cotton fields of the South as ways for slaves to communicate but Pete “Big Pete” Pearson says, “It doesn’t matter what color you are. Everybody can have the blues, man. “It’s really been my life,” said 88-year-old blues man Pearson, who has played multiple instruments over the years and now sings. He played his first show at the Triple J bar in Austin, Texas, around the time he was 9 and over the years has played with pretty much every blues legend you can think of – most notably, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Ray Charles. “It’s a part of history for one thing. It’s not just blues. It’s about people’s lives and a way of living and the way they have carried them
see JAZZ page 8
Bill Travis, an 88-year old former commercial airline pilot and Mesa resident, is putting up his own money to start a jazz and blues theater at a Mesa church in October. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)
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