Superintendent Robert Shaner
Was Rochester Community Schools simply being vigilant and looking out for the best interest of the district or did it step way over the line?
That question arises in a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Detroit, Detroit News reporter Jennifer Chambers writes:
The superintendent of Rochester Community Schools monitored the social media of parents who criticized the district and he and a deputy reported posts to at least two employers and one police department, the superintendent acknowledged in a deposition.
One of those parents was fired shortly after the district contacted her employer about a posting.
Superintendent Robert Shaner testified during a Feb. 3 deposition that he called one parent's employer, the Detroit Police Department, because he was "scared" by a social media post that called for protests outside private homes in March 2021. It was not clear to whose homes the post referred.
The suit filed last May says parent Elena Dinverno lost her job at Blake's Hard Cider in December 2020 after Board of Education President Kristin Bull called her employer to falsely claim Dinverno was participating in a group threatening the district.
