Jann-Michael Greenburg, the 28-year-old president of the Scottsdale (Arizona) Unified School District (SUSD), is under pressure to resign and may already have done so by the time visitors are reading this.
Greenburg claims he had nothing to do with the Google Drive that appeared on his laptop computer containing personal and confidential information on an estimated 47 people, including parents in his district opposed to the district’s policies on masking and CRT.
On Tuesday, Greenburg denied having anything to do with the information stored on his computer: “I categorically deny having anything to do with any of this,” he told Arizona’s Independent Newsmedia (IN).
Since then, much information has surfaced that indicts Greenburg. Listening in on that conversation with IN was Greenburg’s father, Mark. Forensics on the drive have shown the owner to be Mark Greenburg. Mark and Jann-Michael live together and both have access to the computer.
The URL to the Google Drive was inadvertently sent by Jann-Michael to a parent who apparently said some critical things about George Soros with which Jann-Michael disagreed. The parent downloaded the information from the drive and was surprised to see its contents: photographs of some children in the district; personal information on their parents, including portions of their Social Security numbers, home addresses, records of mortgage payments, a divorce decree, and some bankruptcy filings.
The drive also contained folders with headings such as “Press Conference Psychos,” “Anti-Mask Lunatics,” and “SUSD Wackos.”
When parent Amanda Wray discovered information about herself and her family on the drive, she went ballistic:
When I first saw the contents of the Google Drive and I saw my 8- and 10-year-olds’ photos, that was terrifying. I’m like, what’s he doing?
He has pictures of my vacation home, property records. I’m not a political opponent. I’m an involved parent and that is threatening to me and it makes me wonder why and what he was planning to do with those photos.
Wray is working with other parents in an effort to recall Greenburg over the district’s COVID policies. Said Wray, “We’re not anti-mask, we’re not anti-vaccines. [Our opponents, presumably including Greenburg] have painted us this way because it fits their inflammatory narrative. We’ll all for parent choice and really, transparency.”
She added:
Jann sent the screenshot [containing the URL to the Google Drive]. He has access to this drive, so I’m really interested to understand how he’s going to say he doesn’t know about it because he had the drive open on his computer.
You’ve got the school district saying, “Sorry. He’s elected. He’s allowed to abuse the community? He’s allowed to use student information and dox parents? Sorry?”
The school district sent out an e-mail to parents on Wednesday, claiming that it knew about the Google Drive situation but “such activities are not within the purview of the [SUSD’s] control.”
The letter further declared “in no uncertain terms that personal student information and educational records are private and protected … to which neither Board members nor the public have access.”
This is pure whitewash and deflection. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was whether the president of the district had access to private information on his opponents.
The letter ended, “SUSD is committed to conducting its mission of educating your students with the highest level of integrity and transparency, and will not be deterred from that focus.”
Right.
Amy Carney is a candidate for the board in upcoming elections and is calling for Greenburg’s immediate resignation:
I am calling for the immediate resignation of our board president Jann-Michael Greenburg.
We cannot allow anyone in a leadership position to secretly compile personal documents and information on moms and dads who have dared speak out publicly or on social media about their grievances with the district.
We request President Greenburg’s resignation from the Governing Board effective immediately for this and other recent embarrassments to our district.
If he resigns, which is highly likely as the pressure to do so continues to build, he may still face legal consequences. According to Alexander Kolodin of the Davillier Law Group, “These allegations are deeply troubling, especially as concerns the photography of a minor child without parental consent and the taking down of license plate numbers of parents who Mr. Greenburg supposedly perceived as political opponents.”
The story is gaining national attention. The New American will stay close to it and keep its readers informed.
