Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has requested an immediate federal investigation into potentially unlawful misconduct by Scottsdale Unified School District Board member Jann-Michael Greenburg, who is accused of keeping an online dossier on parents opposed to controversial board policies.
“I urge the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to immediately open an investigation into this matter,” wrote Brnovich, in a Nov. 17 letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray.
“Parents have a First Amendment right to assemble, and speak, in order to question the decisions public officials are making—especially when it involves the well-bring of their children,” wrote Brnovich, a Republican.
Neither the FBI, nor DOJ, were available for immediate comment.
On Nov. 15, the school board voted to replace Greenburg, 27, a Scottsdale attorney, as president. Patty Beckman was chosen to take over the position.
Greenburg said he will remain on the board until “all the facts” are known.
The Scottsdale Police Department is currently investigating the matter.
In the meantime, the school board is conducting an independent forensic investigation to determine whether Greenburg used district resources to create the dossier.
Brnovich wrote, “It has been revealed that Jann-Michael Greenburg had in his possession a dossier stored on a Google Drive that contained parents’ and students’ information.”
That included social security numbers, emails and correspondence with school officials, automobile license plate numbers, photos and videos of parents and minor students, background checks, divorce proceedings, social media accounts, and parent addresses, he added.
“The full extent of the dossier/Google Drive contents, including other confidential or personal information, is not publicly known,” he added.
The so-called Greenburg Dossier was allegedly kept by Mark Greenburg, Jann-Michael’s father, and inadvertently shared by the latter. Mark Greenburg is not mentioned in Brnovich’s letter, however.
Brnovich added, “There is no place in America, under fundamental concepts of liberty, wherein parents should be surveilled, threatened, and intimidated for asserting their constitutional rights and raising concerns about their children’s education.”
By Allan Stein
