A police investigation has been launched into allegations that a school board president kept a secret online dossier with the personal inf...
A police investigation has been launched into allegations that a school board president kept a secret online dossier with the personal information of parents who oppose Critical Race theory and mask mandates.
The Scottsdale Police Department said in a statement Saturday that it was 'aware of the allegations against Scottsdale Unified School District President Jann-Michael Greenburg.'
'We are conducting an investigation into the matter and will report our findings once it is complete,' the department said.
The shocking dossier, which included details such as Social Security numbers, financial information and divorce records of parents, came to light after Greenburg accidentally shared a link to the file with a mom.
School district officials had announced Friday that the district will hire an outside forensic investigator to see if any school resources were utilized in the creation of the Google Drive folders on certain parents.
Scottsdale Unified School District President Jann-Michael Greenburg (left) now faces a police investigation into allegations he had access to a secret dossier on parents. Scottsdale Police Chief Jeff Walther is seen right
Scottsdale's school board (above) is also hiring an outside investigator to probe whether district resources were used in creating the dossier
Greenburg, a 27-year-old business executive and attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Saturday.
It was not immediately clear what charges could potentially be brought in the case, although Arizona has laws restricting the use and dissemination of personal identifying information such as Social Security numbers.
In a statement, Superintendent Scott Menzel said the private dossier was allegedly created by the father of Greenburg 'and shared by the latter.'
Menzel stressed that the district was not involved with the dossier, and he said no information from student records were in the folders.
He said that board members would only have access to student information if they are overseeing discipline cases.
Tensions between parents and school leadership have run high across the country in recent months, with heated debates over curriculums, school reopenings and mask and vaccine mandates.
In Scottsdale, the secret dossier tied to Greenburg, which was reviewed at length by DailyMail.com, appeared to be an attempt to collect damaging information on parents who opposed CRT, mask mandates and remote learning policies.
Some of this information was then crafted into meme-like images, with rambling text disclosing purportedly embarrassing personal or financial information.
Amy Carney, who is calling for Greenburg's resignation, speaks on behalf of parents during a protest last May against critical race theory being taught at Scottsdale schools
Scottsdale moms Amy Carney (left) and Michelle Dillard (right) spoke out on Friday, after the school board president's secret dossier on them and other mothers was revealed
The district blames Greenburg's father Mark, who shares a home and computer with his son, for creating the bizarre dossier, and the school board president has denied involvement, vowing an investigation by 'forensic IT staff'.
Scottsdale Unified is one of the largest suburban school districts in metro Phoenix. It serves most of Scottsdale as well as parts of Phoenix, Paradise Valley and Tempe.
Like many school boards nationwide, Scottsdale's has clashed with some parents over coronavirus-related policies.
One parent targeted in the dossier, Amy Carney, appeared in an interview with Fox News on Friday alongside fellow mom Michelle Dillard to voice outrage over the scandal.
'This latest scandal in Scottsdale just shows -- is proof -- who the label domestic terrorist really belongs to. It's not the parents,' said Carney, who is running for a position on the school board next year.
'Parents are so disappointed by the district trying to deflect what was going on,' Carney said of the district letter responding to the scandal. 'That was just for damage control, but I mean we really need the district to step up and send out an apology and let us know they are investigating this.'
'We are calling for the resignation of this president because parents felt threatened, they felt endangered and this is not something the district can just brush to the side,' Carney added.
The drive contains a disorganized collection of hundreds of screenshots of Facebook posts, memes mocking parents, and an investigative background report on certain parents
Another parent, Amanda Wray, told AZFamily.com a fellow parent noticed a link to the Google Drive in a computer screenshot attached to an email from Greenburg.
She says they found folders on nearly 50 parents. Each had background information like divorce decrees, Social Security numbers and property records.
Hundreds of parents and other community members have signed a petition calling for Greenburg to resign his elected seat on the board.
The existence of the Scottsdale dossier first came to light when Jann-Michael Greenburg apparently sent a screenshot of a Facebook conversation to area resident Kim Stafford, accusing her of anti-Jewish sentiment.
Stafford dismissed the accusation in a reply, saying that Greenburg had read the conversation out of order and misinterpreted her post accusing someone else of anti-Islamic sentiment.
However, the mom noticed that at the top of the screenshot, a Google Drive address was visible, and when she entered the address into her browser, found that the cloud drive was publicly accessible.
The drive has since been set to private, but a copy of its contents has been reviewed by DailyMail.com.
The link to the Google Drive was accidentally made public when Greenburg shared this screenshot with a parent, who discovered that the drive was public
The sprawling drive contains folders with names including 'SUSD Wackos,' 'Press Conference Psychos' and 'Anti Mask Lunatics.'
It contains a disorganized collection of hundreds of screenshots of Facebook posts and conversations in Facebook groups dedicated to the Scottsdale school system, with the apparent theme of tracking the political sentiments of various parents.
Some of the files include memes mocking certain parents, PTA leaders and local elected officials.
Disturbingly, the drive also contains a background report that appears to have been generated by a private investigator, which includes personal details such as financial and criminal records of parents.
Among the files are bodycam videos that appear to have been filmed by Mark Greenburg, the school board president's father, as he rides his motorcycle.
In one video, Mark Greenburg is heard confiding with friendly parents in the parking lot of a school, apparently before a school board meeting.
'Somewhere around here, we have a private investigator, who's writing down all their plates,' he can be heard saying.
'That you've hired?' asks one of the allied moms.
'Yeah, I did. Yeah. I had our law firm do it so that it's protected. So that we can get the information,' Mark Greenburg is heard saying.
Mark Greenburg was listed as the owner of the original Google Drive, and Jann-Michael Greenburg had editing access, according to Independent Newsmedia.
In a phone interview with the outlet, Jann-Michael Greenburg furiously denied that he was behind the sprawling dossier.
'I categorically deny having anything to do with any of this. If you are going to claim in a story right now, that I had anything to do with this, I would argue that crosses the line,' Jann-Michael said, while his father was also on the call.
'We are going to have forensic IT staff look into this and figure out what that is. You can file with law enforcement.'
Asked if his father had access to the Google Drive, he replied: 'I am not my father's keeper.'
'I think that has been made clear previously,' he added, apparently referring to his father's creation of a parody website targeting a former SUSD board member.
'I have been sent screenshots on what is done on [a parent's Facebook group]. I have been sent videos, and, yes, from parents, including my own father,' he said.
'Yes, people send me emails and text messages, but I don't store them and I don't know who stores them if that is what you are asking.'
Jann-Michael Greenburg has filed to run for re-election in November 2022.
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