Pushback: Arizona parents sue over school board’s attempt to silence and intimidate them
What the Scottsdale school board apparently thinks of your kids.
Today’s pushback story is another follow-up of an earlier blacklist story that I posted in November 2021. At that time several parents with students in the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) had discovered that the then school board president Jann-Michael Greenburg had, with the aid of his parents, compiled a secret Google drive containing personal information of 47 parents, including social security numbers, financial information, pictures of themselves and their children.
The discovery occurred because Greenburg had begun using this information to intimidate the parents — who had been protesting the school board’s mask mandates and the introduction of the racist critical race theory into the curriculum.
Three of those parents are now suing Greenburg, his parents Mark Alan and Dagmar Greenburg, and the Scottsdale school district.
The parents – Amanda Wray, Kimberly Stafford, and Edmond Richard – allege in the Marciopa County Superior Court complaint that the Greenburgs and the district conspired “to silence and punish dissenting voices and frighten away other potential speakers who might dare express an opposing point of view.”
Greenburg and his father reportedly kept a dossier on 47 parents who dared to speak out against his policies at school board meetings — a dossier complete with Social Security numbers, background checks, a divorce paper, mortgage documents, trade certifications, and screenshots of Facebook posts. The lawsuit claims that the defendants “misused District resources and what should have been private, protected parent communications to the District to retaliate against Plaintiffs for their protected speech.”
You can read the actual complaint here [pdf]. It is especially condemning of Greenburg’s father Mark, who led the effort to gather the private information, smear the parents, and intimidate them. This quote is particularly typical of his tactics:
Mark Greenburg literally wished death on those who criticized SUSD and Jann-Michael Greenburg. On July 7, 2021, Mark Greenburg recorded a video of a discussion on the SUSD-CAN Facebook page [put together by the dissenting parents] where he, among other things, stated out loud after coming across a comment by Edmond Richard criticizing SUSD policies, “I really want Edmond to die. I’ll be so happy. I’ll have a [expletive] party.”
There’s lots more in the complaint. Take a few minutes to read it. It will make you sick that these type of people were involved in setting policies for the teaching of little children.
The lawsuit demands restitution to the parents by the school district and the Greenburgs for violating the parents’ first amendment rights. It also demands a monetary judgement against the Greenburgs specifically for defamation and invasion of privacy, both of which caused financial damage to the parents.
Sadly, though Jann-Michael Greenburg resigned as school board president in November after the dossier was discovered, he is still a school board member. His term expires this year, but amazingly he is running again in November. In that election two seats are open, and there are already six others who have expressed interest. Expect some new faces next year.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of founder of the Mars Society.
All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. The ebook can also be purchased direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from me (hardback $24.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $5.00). Just email me at zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
What the Scottsdale school board apparently thinks of your kids.
Today’s pushback story is another follow-up of an earlier blacklist story that I posted in November 2021. At that time several parents with students in the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) had discovered that the then school board president Jann-Michael Greenburg had, with the aid of his parents, compiled a secret Google drive containing personal information of 47 parents, including social security numbers, financial information, pictures of themselves and their children.
The discovery occurred because Greenburg had begun using this information to intimidate the parents — who had been protesting the school board’s mask mandates and the introduction of the racist critical race theory into the curriculum.
Three of those parents are now suing Greenburg, his parents Mark Alan and Dagmar Greenburg, and the Scottsdale school district.
The parents – Amanda Wray, Kimberly Stafford, and Edmond Richard – allege in the Marciopa County Superior Court complaint that the Greenburgs and the district conspired “to silence and punish dissenting voices and frighten away other potential speakers who might dare express an opposing point of view.”
Greenburg and his father reportedly kept a dossier on 47 parents who dared to speak out against his policies at school board meetings — a dossier complete with Social Security numbers, background checks, a divorce paper, mortgage documents, trade certifications, and screenshots of Facebook posts. The lawsuit claims that the defendants “misused District resources and what should have been private, protected parent communications to the District to retaliate against Plaintiffs for their protected speech.”
You can read the actual complaint here [pdf]. It is especially condemning of Greenburg’s father Mark, who led the effort to gather the private information, smear the parents, and intimidate them. This quote is particularly typical of his tactics:
Mark Greenburg literally wished death on those who criticized SUSD and Jann-Michael Greenburg. On July 7, 2021, Mark Greenburg recorded a video of a discussion on the SUSD-CAN Facebook page [put together by the dissenting parents] where he, among other things, stated out loud after coming across a comment by Edmond Richard criticizing SUSD policies, “I really want Edmond to die. I’ll be so happy. I’ll have a [expletive] party.”
There’s lots more in the complaint. Take a few minutes to read it. It will make you sick that these type of people were involved in setting policies for the teaching of little children.
The lawsuit demands restitution to the parents by the school district and the Greenburgs for violating the parents’ first amendment rights. It also demands a monetary judgement against the Greenburgs specifically for defamation and invasion of privacy, both of which caused financial damage to the parents.
Sadly, though Jann-Michael Greenburg resigned as school board president in November after the dossier was discovered, he is still a school board member. His term expires this year, but amazingly he is running again in November. In that election two seats are open, and there are already six others who have expressed interest. Expect some new faces next year.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of founder of the Mars Society.
All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. The ebook can also be purchased direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from me (hardback $24.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $5.00). Just email me at zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
Seeing more ‘pushback’ news here is a good sign I hope.
I’d not be surprised that school board members were once home owners association tyrants first.
Scottsdale USD has a long history of violating procurement regulations, accepting bribes, and dubious contract awards. And they were blatant in the way they acted. As a result, for several years after Scottsdale was required to have an outside Attorney attend all school board meetings (public and private). This story is sad on many fronts, but not surprising. That issue happened again, after the issue I have mentioned settled down. I worked with Districts throughout AZ and Scottsdale was a pay to play District, so I never had a business relationship with them. However, my company caught wind of Scottsdale’s actions once the news broke, that they sent corporate attorneys to interview me about how I handled relations with AZ schools. I guess it was to become assured that they would not become entangled in something like that. But that was the Scottsdale USD that I knew back in the day. BTW, I never ran into that at other AZ Districts.
As far as I can tell, Jann-Michael Greenburg is a single, childless, male attorney. I have yet to see a compelling reason why he’d want to be involved in a local school board.
If it’s not a lawsuit alleging conspiracy to deny civil rights under color of authority, then it isn’t enough.
This is sickening – thanks for the link. I linked to this post on my own blog – https://www.libertystorch.info/2022/05/12/just-one-example/
I’m not defending Jann-Michael, but that same argument could very well apply to school taxes. I’m a single, childless male with no children. Why am I paying taxes for schools?
If I pay taxes to support them, I see no reason I cannot be involved in determining how that money is spent.
If “attorney” is the operative word, you might get my support for banning them from school boards. Click my name for an example.
Joe-
That almost sounds like a left-minded thinker. As in- “Do you donate to the Komen Foundation? DO YOU even KNOW anyone with cancer?” Like it requires qualifiying to be DO something. SMH.
@Joe
Why does Jann-Michael Greenburg want to be involved in a local school board?
For the same reason this guy does:
https://victoryfund.org/news/karl-frisch-defeats-anti-lgbtq-opponent-in-virginia-becomes-only-openly-lgbtq-member-of-fairfax-county-school-board/
Keep this in mind when you vote.
Linda S Fox: Thank you for the kind words, as well as the small donation. Much appreciated.
Also, thank you for the plug at your website of Behind the Black. Also much appreciated.
We are in strong agreement in many things.
” I’m a single, childless male with no children. Why am I paying taxes for schools?”
Because you want to indoctrinate and perpetuate your values (through public education).
That’s the theory. When American Culture was a thing, there was value in ‘paying forward’, even if you had no direct connection to the institution. Now, we have a dysfunctional Multi-Cultural Society, where institutions are in direct opposition to a unified Culture. There is no value, here.
There is a school bond proposal on the current ballot, and I will not be voting for it.