Parents tell Chandler Unified board alleged student harm was not handled; call for accountability

Chandler ' Two parents used the public-comment portion of the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board's June 25 meeting to say the district did not adequately respond when students reported being harmed, and they urged board members and the superintendent to take immediate action.

Katie McPherson, who said she spent 22 years on a campus and that four of her children attend or attended district schools, told the board: "Listen to our children. Act boldly and swiftly when they report harm by peers or adults." She described reporting an allegation on March 8, 2022 about a man she said had allegedly harmed multiple students at a campus where she had four children; she told the board she received no substantive response and that only a subset of affected students had been interviewed by investigators.

McPherson also said the same individual had been the named suspect in an alleged assault at a West Valley campus in 2020, and she described an incident in November 2024 at Basha High School where, she said, a teacher behaved inappropriately toward students and…