US Congressman Raúl Grijalva issued a statement today on Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal and his letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan calling for an investigation:
In light of revelations that Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal authored racist and offensive blogs, Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) reiterated his outstanding concerns about Huppenthal’s tenure as the state’s top education official.
Four months prior to Huppenthal’s acknowledgment of blog posts calling people who receive public assistance “lazy pigs”, comparing the work of the founder of Planned Parenthood to that of the Nazis, and advocating for the eradication of Spanish-language media, he raised suspicion of violating student privacy laws under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). At that time, private student/parent information had been made available to a third party, allowing them to place robocalls promoting private schools.
Congressman Grijalva, who sent a letter formally requesting U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan investigate Huppenthal over the allegations, released the following statement:
“There is a clear pattern of alarming behavior and terrible judgment characterizing Mr. Huppenthal’s tenure as Superintendent,” said Rep. Grijalva. “His actions are unbecoming of any elected official, but particularly egregious for the official charged with educating our kids.”
The Department of Education is currently reviewing the allegations Grijalva raised in February, and a groundswell of local voices has called for Huppenthal’s ouster.
“Children must not be exposed to the hateful and misguided sentiments expressed in Mr. Huppenthal’s blog posts,” Grijalva continued. “And we cannot allow the potential violation of student privacy by our top education official to be ignored. I look forward to the outcome of the Department of Education’s investigation, and stand with those calling for his resignation.”
Congressman Grijalva’s letter to Sec. Duncan can be read here.
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2014.
As a public servant Huppenthal is stupid to voice opinions in a public forum. BUT who unveiled his name as the writer of those posts. How was it done and why. I would check into the guy who is running against him as a possible source of one of the lackeys who writes for this paper.
FRANK F. You get an F in current events. Do some more reading. The dummy fell into a blogosphere that was too sophisticated for his tiny brain. And he did so while spending too much time spewing vitriol and ignorance from his taxpayer funded computer. The news has been posted. You don’t read enough, frank-ly.
An investigation by Arne Duncan is like no investigation at all.
People on welfare/food stamps/Section 8 housing/ etc. etc are for the most part lazy people. The problem is that our Government both State and Federal has created an underclass of people dependent on the whims of Government, leading to sloth and laziness. Once citizens get on these programs, there is little incentive to get off, why should they with all these freebies around? Huppenthal is not far off in his analysis.
On the issue of Planned Parenthood…comparing this to the Holocaust is a bit of a stretch in that the young people who wish to have an abortion do so on their own free will. In the Holocaust, abortions were forced on the population to rid it of “undesirables” Planned Parenthood also does good things for its cliental, other than operating as an abortion mill.
Was Grijalva wearing his lab coat when he wrote this?
Funny, red bear. Is this you, Huppy? As for the lazy pigs thing, his analogy is exceptionally in reference to the poor and disabled who mostly are Brown, Black, Natives born here as Americans. Thucydides from Chandler, what about the White people…those of us who are disabled,seniors on a fixed income, single parents, families with pa good extended family of friends and relatives; the list is long. And as for the government, Ted Cruz, which has created this mess, it was American for Profit Only, businesses & corporations’ shipping their jobs overseas, and not paying livable wages to their workers. Let us not forget the mind-boggling trillions of $$$ in failed wars the last 11 years. And, carols danger, I don’t get the lab coat thing.