school bus children
© REUTERS/Hannah Beier
A school board president in Arizona, accused of maintaining a secret online dossier containing personal information about parents, has been voted out by board members after refusing to resign.

On Monday, the Scottsdale Unified School district (SUSD) governing board voted 4-1 in favor of booting Jann-Michael Greenburg out as school board president. Greenburg himself was the only member objecting to his removal.

"It is important to me that each member of our SUSD community is heard. This input helps us build and maintain a learning environment where our students can thrive," Greenburg said, adding that people should not rush to make a judgement and claiming that the board did not have all the facts yet.

"There appears to be bad actors involved and I am confident our law enforcement professionals will quickly resolve these issues," he told local media.

On Saturday, the Scottsdale Police Department announced that an investigation had been launched amid allegations that Greenburg and his father, Mark Greenburg, curated an online database on parents.

The database, which was erroneously shared by Greenburg during a heated row with a parent, allegedly contains labelling, with parents being categorized as "SUSD Wackos" and "Anti Mask Lunatics" among others. The allegations had led to calls for Greenburg's resignation, including from those on the board.

It is understood that Greenburg's father, who he shares a house and a computer with, may have been responsible for the creation and maintenance of the database. The school board president had denied any involvement and vowed to have a "forensic" investigation by IT staff.

In August, Greenburg sent a screenshot of a conversation to parent Kim Stafford, accusing her of anti-Jewish sentiment. Stafford noticed a link to a Google doc in the screenshot and on searching the address, found the unprotected file.