Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity member Jill Dunican was interviewed on The Conservative Circus w/ James T. Harris podcast on Thursday, where she spoke about the organization’s American Pride Library initiative to donate “wholesome” and “patriotic” books to 29 schools in Arizona’s Scottsdale Unified School District.
Scottsdale Unites For Educational Integrity is a group of parents, teachers, administrators, and community members within the Scottsdale Unified School District who advocate for parental rights in education, curriculum transparency, and academic achievement. Jill Dunican is part of the organization’s parent-led launch of The American Pride Library project, which seeks to counter left-leaning ideologies by offering pro-American and age-appropriate books to its district libraries.
In the interview, Harris asked Jill Dunican if any “queer titles” would be included in the donation. Dunican responded, “No, the only ‘pride’ being promoted in the American Pride Library is pride in the United States of America.” She explained that the books would “provide students with information about the American government, [the] economy, America’s heroes, the U.S. banking system, entrepreneurship, and the history of our great country.”
Harris spoke of how difficult it was in today’s educational culture to talk about the types of books found in the American Pride Library. “I agree,” Dunican said, “we need to get great content, positive content, and honest content in front of our kids.”
Dunican went on to describe some of the books that Scottsdale Unites For Educational Integrity parents discovered in district libraries and expressed her concern, stating that “we have uncovered many books in Scottsdale Unified about topics we don’t want our kids to read, [books] about gender selection, sexuality, white supremacy, even incest, bestiality, polyamory – it’s there,” and how “our organization is working to expose those books so that parents can be informed and make decisions that are right for their kids.”
When explaining what prompted the launch of the American Pride Library project, Dunican said the organization wanted “to fill library shelves with books that we want our kids to read” and that “in order to change hearts and minds, we must make sure that kids have really honest content about the United States of America.”
Asked about the chances of Scottsdale Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Scott Menzel accepting the book donations, Dunican pointed out that “the final decision will be up to the governing board” and that the donation has been submitted to “Dr. Menzel, and he is required by board policy to present our offer to the board for a vote at a public meeting, and we’re told that will occur during the April 9th meeting.”
Dunican was optimistic and said she was “not worried,” and discussed how there has been “so much positive support for this project, not only from parents, grandparents, and community members but also from some outstanding local leaders such as State Representative Joseph Chaplik, [and] Kim Miller, who is the founder of Arizona Women of Action” and that she couldn’t foresee “any reason why all five board members should not vote yes to accept these pro-American books and make them available to our Scottsdale students.”
While Harris commented that the project was “fantastic,” he told Dunican that she might get pushback because of the “wholesome” and “patriotic material.”
Undeterred, Dunican spoke of hopes to expand the program into other school districts and offer more books as the organization raises funds. “We really hope that this program will inspire parents in other communities in other districts to launch their own American Pride Library,” she said.
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Debra McClure is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Debra on X / Twitter.
