Scottsdale School Board Chair Under Investigation For Parent Dossier thumbnail

Scottsdale School Board Chair Under Investigation For Parent Dossier

By Cole Lauterbach

Calls for Jann-Michael Greenburg to resign are growing as the district and local police department look into allegations the school board chair was involved with an online dossier on district parents.

Officials with the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) announced Friday they would find an independent investigator to look into whether Greenburg or his father, Michael, utilized school resources in compiling an online repository of parents who have protested the district’s COVID-19 mitigation rules.

Superintendent Scott Menzel said in a letter the cloud storage files containing background information on protesting parents allegedly were created and maintained by Greenburg’s father. The younger Greenburg allegedly shared the information, the letter said. Greenburg has not admitted to any involvement in the dossier.

The Scottsdale Police Department said Friday it had opened up an investigation into the allegations against Greenburg.

“The Scottsdale Police Department is aware of the allegations against Scottsdale Unified School District President Jann-Michael Greenburg,” the department said in a release. “We are conducting an investigation into the matter and will report our findings once it is complete.”

The investigations come as a growing chorus of parents and public officials in the community call on Greenburg to resign his elected position as the school board head.

“The parents and community members targeted in the Drive appear to be anyone who has spoken out against our district publicly or online,” said Amy Carney, a Scottsdale parent and member of the Arizona Coalition of School Board Members, in a Monday release. “It is unacceptable for our elected officials to be creating files on people for exercising their constitutional right to free speech.”

The coalition has gathered hundreds of signatures on a petition demanding Greenburg resign. SUSD previously said it could not terminate an elected official.

The school board has scheduled an emergency meeting for 6 p.m. Monday and has included “Adoption of Consideration for Resignation of Jann-Michael Greenburg” as one of its action items.

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This article was published on November 15, 2021, and is reproduced with permission from The Center Square.