Would you be surprised to learn that our former superintendent was spying on parents via social media?
This happened to parents in our school district without their knowledge or consent. The school district was paying their communications director to spy on parents in private Facebook groups.
(The screenshots below were obtained via a Right to Know request on an unrelated matter.)
Item #1: An email from the former communications director for WCASD sent to Jim Scanlon (former superintendent) to give him a heads-up about chatter in social media groups regarding the censoring of public comments at the January 2021 board meeting. The communications director then proceeds to send screenshots (items 1-7) to the superintendent of a conversation between parents in a private Facebook group.
Item #2: A parent posts to a private Facebook group to ask if anyone else's comments had been censored. A screenshot is taken y the communications director and is emailed to Scanlon in real-time.
Items #3 through #6: Parents respond to the post, with a total of 6 people taking part in the conversation. Screenshots are taken by the communications director and are emailed to Scanlon in real-time.
Item #4
Item #5
Item #6
Item #7: Note the digital signature on the email, showing that Jennifer Neill, the WCASD Manager of Communications, sent the screenshots to Jim Scanlon, the WCASD Superintendent using her iPhone.
This revelation raises some important questions:
Has the district gone a step further and maintained a dossier on outspoken parents?
Has the district continued to spy on parents or was this an isolated incident?
What else has the district done to spy on and/or censor parents?
We, the parents and taxpayers, have a right to know.
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