A candidate for the Prescott Unified School District Governing Board, Brooks Compton, is calling on legal authorities to investigate a potential case of misuse of public monies. Compton’s call comes after hearing from fearful employees of the District.
At issue is the contents of an email from Assistant Superintendent Clark Tenney and the apparently “coercive manner” in which District Administration encouraged COVID vaccinations for its employees, as well as what may be illegal rewards for those who get the shot.
The email informs employees that while unvaccinated employees who are home getting well will need to use personal time to do so, those who are vaccinated will not only not have to use personal time, but will be clocked in on “school business” by their supervisor, indicating that they will receive their regular pay and benefits. Compton believes using taxpayer money to knowingly pay employees for work they are not doing is a violation of the law.
“Ever since I became a candidate for school board and made it clear that I had had enough of business as usual, I have been sought out by teachers and people in the Prescott Unified School District so they could share with me stories of things that were being done wrong. It is a shame that none of these people felt that they could rely on any of our current administrators or board members up until now, but I am grateful they trust me enough to share their concerns. One such issue is the attached email from Assistant Superintendent Clark Tenney,” said Compton in a press release.
“I think it is important for the public to see this e-mail because it is a particularly strong example of how the district currently ignores or abuses the law, often in a coercive manner,” explained Compton. “There are two parts to the e-mail. The first is where he points out that every employee must swear that they have reviewed the employee handbook in its entirety, after which he points out that the entire printed manual is too large for most to get through. He recommends a shorter document that is nearly 40 pages long, even though it does not satisfy the legal requirement, and then offers an even shorter summary as an alternative because even a 40- page document is too long for employees to be expected to read. It makes no sense to require employees to do that which you know they cannot and will not do. But instead of changing the policy and the legal requirement, Mr. Tenney, as Director of Human Resources for the school district, coaches employees on how to disregard the law with a wink and a nod.”
“The second part of the e-mail is far more serious, not just because it illustrates the degree to which Mr. Tenney and the school district attempted to coerce employees into getting COVID vaccinations against their wishes, but because it spells out a policy that is fraudulent and likely violates the law,” continued Compton. “According to Clark Tenney, employees who are sick with COVID will be sent home to recover, but how they are treated differs radically based on their vaccination status. If you are unvaccinated, you must use your earned leave, or vacation time, while you recover. The district’s policy is essentially that if you are unvaccinated and get COVID, it is your own damn fault, and you can pay for it yourself. However, if you are vaccinated and get COVID, not only will you not have to use your sick time while you recover, but your supervisor will mark you as being on “school business” so that you can collect your salary in full. It is of course illegal to use taxpayer dollars to pay someone for work they are not doing, yet under Mr. Tenney’s leadership, it is district policy as part of his efforts to force employees into being fully vaccinated. This scheme only applies to COVID and not to any of the other myriad diseases you can be vaccinated against.”
“Little wonder so many employees and teachers are reaching out, sometimes fearfully, to let me know that things in our school district are not being done right. This mismanagement is known to the board and to the administration, and it is both sanctioned and encouraged. Taxpayers, parents, teachers, and those in the administration who disagree, are paying the price for this malfeasance. I am encouraging the appropriate law enforcement agencies to look into this misuse of taxpayer money to ensure that no laws were broken and that taxpayers are protected. And I promise to fully investigate and correct these things if elected to the school board this November,” concluded Compton.
Observers of the race believe that Compton, who first gained prominence when he exposed the use of Critical Race Theory (CRT) material in the district, has a real chance of winning a seat on the board, but caution that the “education establishment” in the district was working overtime to try to stop him.
