A school board in Arizona worked with the Chandler Police Department to compile information on concerned parent groups speaking out against mask mandates and Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the school system. They also coordinated to arrest unmasked parents who attend school board meetings.
According to emails obtained by the blog “Not in our Schools” and first reported by The Daily Caller, the Chandler Unified School District’s Director of School Safety communicated with local police sergeant Greg Howarth in April and May when parents started protesting mask mandates in schools.
On May 4, Tanya Smith, the district’s Director of School Safety, contacted Howarth to inform him that an upcoming board meeting included a discussion on the mask mandates. Smith told the sergeant that she was monitoring social media to determine which parent groups planned to attend the meeting, and requested that police “please let us know” if they “hear anything specific.”
Howarth later responded that he could access the concerned parent groups’ websites and assured Smith that he would “be monitoring all of them” and keeping the district informed.
In another email regarding a school board meeting, Smith said “CPD intel is relaying details on methods the group will be using tonight.”
“They do plan to disrupt,” the email stated. “We also discussed that Ms. Mozden may want to be prepared to cut the mic for anybody that follows through with removing their mask.”
By May 27, the Chandler Police Department was “coordinating and running” an operation in conjunction with the school district, an email showed.
“Here are some sites for you to pass along to the Intel Unit and [Lieutenant Jason Sieczkowski], so whomever [sic] is coordinating and running this [operation] can continue to monitor and prepare for this one,” Howarth wrote.
In his email, Howarth highlighted three groups, including the pro-CRT group “Parents for Equity in Education.” The other two groups listed – which oppose CRT and masking – were labeled as “the disruptors.”
The emails also show that the police strategy included arresting parents who did not comply with the mask mandate.
“If someone doesn’t comply and you want them removed from the property let us know,” Howarth said. “If they fail to leave let us know that you want them trespassed and we can do that.”
Jennifer Alvey, a local parent in the district, told the Daily Caller that the emails indicate an attempt to intimidate parents into abandoning their First Amendment rights.
“At worst, these emails would seem to indicate that CPD suggested to CUSD officials that they be anticipating and selectively looking for any opportunity to silence, trespass, [or] remove the anti-mask meeting participants, using CPD as the willing muscle to help CUSD remove we parents for non-legally-enforceable issues,” Alvey said. “[This] is pretty egregious for we community members to contemplate.”
