PEORIA, AZ — A new lawsuit filed on behalf of a victim this month accuses the Peoria Unified School District of three things: negligence, violation of mandatory child abuse reporting, and a civil rights violation. The case stems from a 2019 case, not connected to any ongoing investigations with the former Centennial High educators.
The 2019 case listed the district as well as former Sun Valley Elementary teacher Ricky Ordway. He was arrested in 2019 and then convicted in 2023 for child sex crimes. Ordway was sentenced to several counts of aggravated assault on a minor and attempt to commit molestation of a child.
The lawsuit comes as the district has been under scrutiny with an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations involving two former Centennial High educators, Angela Burlaka and Haley Beck. This week, Peoria Police served a search warrant at the school district’s office pertaining to those cases.
Since Centennial High has been in the spotlight, some board members have pushed for a third-party investigation into mandatory reporting requirements of school officials.
In a 200-page police report regarding the investigation with Beck and Burlaka, the now-former Centennial High principal brought up complaints to police regarding concerns he’s heard about Beck. This happened as police were executing a search warrant at the school for Burlaka.
Peoria Police Department had said they did not initially find any violations of mandatory reporting laws, though the investigation is still ongoing.
As for the Ordway lawsuit, an attorney told ABC15 the timing of it was due to legal proceedings.
"The timing of this lawsuit was driven by the legal process itself. The underlying criminal case had to be fully resolved before we could move forward with civil litigation. Had we proceeded earlier, the defendant teacher could have invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, shielding critical testimony and evidence from the civil record. We want to ensure our client has the strongest possible case. We look forward to holding the school district accountable and are not in a position to comment further at this time,” said Joel Fugate, an attorney with the Phillips Law Group.
A Peoria Unified School District spokesperson said they had not been served with the lawsuit yet.
Full statement from the district:
In May of 2019, Sun Valley Elementary principal reported Ricky Ordway to Peoria Police Department. We worked collaboratively with Peoria Police to support their investigation and Ordway was subsequently arrested and charged. We submitted the matter to the Arizona Department of Education’s Investigative Unit and they closed their investigation into whether the matter was properly reported.
All Peoria Unified employees are subject to a background check and must obtain an IVP Fingerprint Clearance Card. Once hired, all employees receive annual training on mandatory reporting.
The safety of students remains the district’s number one priority. As for the lawsuit you’re referencing, we have received it from the media, but we have not yet been served.
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