Scottsdale Parents Call for Removal of Superintendent Who Called White People ‘Problematic’

Parents rallied at a Scottsdale Unified School District Board meeting to call for the removal of Superintendent Scott Menzel, who said that white people have a “problematic” racial identity. 

“There’s a misperception that educational equity is really only for ethnically and racially diverse districts. But White people have racial identity as well, and in fact problematic racial identity that we typically avoid,” Menzel stated in an interview unearthed by Fox News. 

He also went on to endorse White Fragility, a book by Critical Race theorist Robin DiAngelo that claims white people are the beneficiaries of systemic racism.

“So thinking about how hard can we push on the system without a collapse that disrupts the progress of the entire work and sets us back 20 years, that’s a question we don’t talk about often enough in my mind,” he said. “But also calling out the question of privilege. White people, Robin DiAngelo’s book “White Fragility” calls it straight up.”

Menzel, who was a superintendent for a Michigan school district when he gave the interview, also argued that “white people . . . shouldn’t feel comfortable, we should feel really, really uncomfortable, because we perpetuate a system by ignoring the realities in front of us, and living in a mythological reality.” 

Now, some parents in the Scottsdale Unified School District are calling for Menzel’s removal over the anti-white statements. Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity (SUEI), a group of parents advocating for increased transparency in the district, rallied ahead of a school board meeting to call for Menzel’s removal. 

Jill Dunican, a parent of the district and member of SUEI told the Daily Caller, “At every turn, SUSD under Menzel’s leadership has worked to suppress information via several methods including denial of public records requests, verbal attacks of parents who question curriculum and updated policies that make it nearly impossible for parents to volunteer or access their child’s classrooms.”

Dunican went on to explain, “Menzel’s recently resurfaced comments by Fox News that ‘meritocracy is a lie’ and that white people have a ‘problematic racial identity’ have been a tipping point in the call for his removal.”

tonight at the SUSD board meeting and ask the school board to terminate Menzel. A counter-protest in defense of Menzel is also planned. Parents will wear "I stand with Superintendent Menzel" pins. See a full preview and link to the 2019 interview here: https://t.co/purH6fxgmw pic.twitter.com/6uiWwzLObE

— JOE DANA (@JoeDanaReports) February 21, 2023

Meanwhile, parent Shea Najafi has defended Menzel and organized a rally to support him, calling the backlash against him an example of “unnecessary culture wars.” 

Three different Arizona State Representatives, Reps. Joseph Chaplik, Alexander Kodolin, and John Kavanagh, have also called for his immediate removal. “Parents in our districts were shocked that it wasn’t followed with an immediate apology from Menzel or a response from the governing board,” the lawmakers said in a letter. 

Spencer Lindquist is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerLndqst and reach out at slindquist@breitbart.com.