Arizona School Boards Accused of Stalking Activist Parents thumbnail

Arizona School Boards Accused of Stalking Activist Parents

By Cole Lauterbach

Editors’ Note: As we see the spread of “tiny tyrants” and the abuse of liberty by local officials, it is worth exploring where this attitude originated. Besides coming from the universities that have become bastions of intolerance, the attitude of the Federal Government cannot be dismissed. The constant rhetoric coming from the Biden administration and from the Justice Department is that Americans who feel elections have not been fair, that Covid restrictions overreach without making logical sense, and those that oppose socialism are “white nationalists”, “domestic terrorists”, and “science deniers”, has been unrelenting. Once you dehumanize your political opponents, all sorts of awful things logically flow from that attitude. This constant fear-mongering from the Left that demonizes anyone who opposes them, is unlikely to stop. It has always been a part of Leftism. But it can be contained, and those that use such tactics can be removed from office.

Arizona school district officials are accused of taking some controversial steps to keep tabs, even intimidate, parents unhappy with COVID-19 mandates.

Scottsdale Unified School District, one of the state’s largest, sent a letter Wednesday to parents, assuring them private student data is not accessible by its school board members.

“We want to assure you in no uncertain terms that personal student information and educational records are private and protected in district-maintained, secure information systems to which neither Board members nor the public have access,” the letter read. “Any student information the Board may receive is in relation to discipline cases under its consideration, and that information is provided to the Board by the district’s legal counsel.”

The memo stems from an uproar over SUSD Board Chair Jann-Michael Greenburg’s father being implicated in compiling an extensive online database containing information on his son’s political enemies, namely parents who had been showing up at board meetings and protesting the district’s COVID-19 measures.

The story was originally reported in the Scottsdale Independent.

The database, which has been removed from the public eye, contained pictures of parents, some of their children, copies of parents’ professional certifications, mortgage information, and other private data.

State officials from the Scottsdale community have since joined parents in petitioning for Greenburg’s removal from the board, though it’s unclear he was involved with curating the information.

“As a Scottsdale parent and member of the community, I am calling for the resignation of Jann-Michael Greenburg,” said state Rep. Joseph Chaplik, R-Scottsdale. “The evidence of his cyberstalking and spreading of an enemies list should be the last straw for his fellow board members, and I expect them to join me in this call.”

State Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, a Scottsdale Republican who is running for Arizona Secretary of State, said she signed onto a letter from SUSD parents demanding Greenburg step down.

“We stand together in requesting the immediate termination of Jann-Michael Greenburg as SUSD Governing Board President, and we further demand his resignation as an SUSD Governing Board Member,” the letter read.

In the letter to parents, SUSD said there was nothing the district could do to remove an elected board member.

SUSD isn’t the only district with board members accused of taking controversial steps to keep tabs on protesting parents.

Emails obtained by activist Peggy McClain show members of Chandler Unified School District’s board and district officials working with a school resource officer and sergeant with the Chandler Police Department to monitor social media posts from parents involved in groups that have protested district meetings. The emails were sent in May, according to copies McClain posted online.

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This article was published on November 12, 2021, and is reproduced with permission from The Center Square.