Masks are gone, but SUSD lawsuit remains

Tom Scanlon, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.)
Updated ·3 min read

Apr. 10—Remember "The Great Mask Controversy"?

In Scottsdale Unified, as was the case in many districts across the country, there was heated controversy during the pandemic.

Classrooms around the state were locked for much of 2020, with Scottsdale and many other public and private schools offering remote learning.

When students were welcomed back to SUSD classrooms, they were required to wear masks.

The governing board's mask mandate triggered explosive debates, with some congratulating it for protecting students and teachers and others crying out against the board's "anti-American" actions.

Petitions to recall board members Patty Beckman, Jann-Michael Greenburg, Julie Cieniawski and Libby Hart-Wells — who voted for the mask mandate — were filed just before the 2021-22 school year.

Parent Patricia Pellett was one of the leaders of the recall, which failed to get the necessary signatures.

But another issue raised on the website recallscottsdale.org still lives.

According to the website, "On Aug. 20, 2021, a complaint was filed with the AZ Attorney General's office alleging multiple violations of Arizona's Open Meeting Law by the SUSD Governing board.

'The complaint also includes allegations that many decisions, including those involving curriculum selection, are being made by the board without proper required notice/input from parents."

Seventeen months later, an executive session agenda item from the April 4 SUSD board meeting shows the issue lingers. After its public meeting, the board met in private "to obtain legal advice from the attorney for the public body and to provide direction to the attorney regarding Case No. CV022-007839."

That would be a case titled "State of Arizona v. Jann-Michael Greenburg, et al."

The Arizona Attorney General followed up on an open meeting law complaint from parent Christopher Evans by prosecuting Greenburg, the former board president, and the district.

According to the background of last week's court ruling, the state alleges Greenburg and the district violated open meeting laws at its Aug. 24, 2021, meeting.

"More specifically," Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dewain Fox wrote, "the state contends that Greenburg and the board violated the (meeting law) 'by knowingly structuring an agenda and meeting so as to prohibit public comment about a proposed mask mandate and other subjects within the jurisdiction of the [board], knowingly applying unauthorized content-based restrictions on public comment made during a board meeting, and knowingly cutting off or otherwise interrupting speakers during a call to the public."

Attorneys for Greenburg and the district filed a motion to dismiss the case, "arguing that the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted as a matter of law."

Fox rejected the dismissal, leading to last week's board executive session on how to proceed.

After the board met privately with attorneys, the public portion of the meeting resumed, with a motion "to direct counsel to resolve litigation" in the open meetings law complaint.

"I would hope a board would never treat parents with such disgrace," Carine Werner said. Prior to being elected to the board, Werner said she "was one of those parents that was not able to speak" at the 2021 meeting.

She abstained from voting on the motion, as did Amy Carney.

Board members Cieniawski, Hart-Wells and Zach Lindsay voted for the motion to "resolve litigation," without offering specifics.