Bill from school

USA: Mother to pay 32 million dollars

Critical parents accuse the US school authorities of taking targeted action against them. To prove this, one mother wanted to view data and has now received a hefty bill.

Were lists or files secretly kept on "troublesome" parents? This is precisely the question Elena Diverno from Rochester in the US state of Michigan wanted to investigate. And not without reason: the mother had denounced the weak coronavirus learning measures at the school in 2020.

190,000 dollars in damages
The school district's response was swift: it contacted the woman's employer, whereupon Diverno was dismissed. She sued, whereupon a court awarded her 190,000 dollars in damages. It also came to light that the school district was apparently collecting data on parents in a targeted manner.

"Right to inspect files"
Elizabeth Clair, another critic, then insisted on her legal "right to inspect files". She demanded that the authority's email and WhatsApp traffic from the second half of 2020 be searched for incriminating words.

What she received instead was a hefty bill from school district coordinator Matthew McDaniel for 33 million dollars (the equivalent of 32 million euros). That's how much it would cost to have his staff search the 21,514,288 emails - and nothing would happen without a 16.5 million dollar down payment, according to McDaniel.

Class action planned
Elizabeth Clair is now seeking a class action lawsuit: "We are being openly attacked, which shows that the school district has something to hide!"