KNOW YOUR PLACE, PEASANTS! Schools in Rochester, Minnesota, monitor parents’ social media posts and have twice contacted critics’ employers.

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.

Shaner also acknowledged, under oath, that he called the police on a parent based on his belief that the woman had submitted a written threat to the district, although he admitted he never spoke with the woman.

The deposition was taken as part of a lawsuit filed in May and amended on Feb. 15 that accused Rochester school officials and staff of widespread monitoring and documenting of social media activity of parents the administration labeled as “protesters” because they demanded the reopening of schools.

Rochester Community Schools parent Elena Dinverno sued in May in U.S. District Court alleging she 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 launching threats against the school district.

Make them pay.