A northern Michigan mom who has been battling her school board over class curriculum was bound over for trial on a felony eavesdropping charge Tuesday, following a preliminary hearing.
Chief District Judge Maria Barton of 89th District Court in Rogers City said there is probable cause to send Erin Chaskey to trial on allegations she unlawfully recorded a private conversation between the school superintendent and a school board member.
Chaskey, 37, of Onaway, near the top of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, could face up to two years in prison if convicted.
The case arises from a skirmish in the classroom culture wars taking place across Michigan and the nation. Chaskey, a self-described conservative who had been trying to get the board to remove a high school civics teacher she believes is too liberal, told the Free Press she began recording the conversation after overhearing two school officials talking about her.
Chaskey’s 15-year-old son is a sophomore at Onaway High School, though he is not a student in the class of veteran teacher Kymberli Wregglesworth. Among other complaints, Chaskey has objected to books related to systemic racism that Wregglesworth sought to include in her lessons and an alleged remark in which she told a student his “white privilege” was showing.
At Tuesday’s preliminary hearing, Presque Isle County Prosecutor Kenneth Radzibon showed school security video of Chaskey arriving at a school administration office after classes had been let out on Oct. 14. Finding no secretary present, Chaskey waited for a time at the secretary’s desk and then moved to the edge of a hallway to then Onaway Area Community School Superintendent Rod Fullerton’s office, where she appeared to use her iPhone to make a recording.
Both Fullerton, who has since left the district, and Michael Benson, who is vice president of the local school board, testified they believed they were having a private conversation and did not know Chaskey was outside the open office door recording them.
A school building is a public place, but “that doesn’t mean you can go beyond the secretary’s desk,” Barton said in binding Chaskey over for trial. Before appearing to make a recording, “the defendant doesn’t do anything to announce herself.”
Daren Wiseley, Chaskey’s Hillsdale attorney, said it was the school officials’ loud conversation about her that drew Chaskey beyond the secretary’s desk, and the video does not show she entered a private hallway to Fullerton’s office, which was out of the range of the security camera.
“All they had to do was shut the door,” Wiseley said, asking the judge to dismiss the charge.
“You can’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy if you don’t take a substantial step to protect that privacy.”
Chaskey, whose phone was seized under a search warrant and who is free awaiting trial, is to be arraigned Dec. 20 in Presque Isle County Circuit Court.
She is also suing school officials and the sheriff’s office.
David Hecker, the president of the American Federation of Teachers of Michigan, the union that represents her, earlier said Wregglesworth has the support of the school community and school officials “because she’s an impeccable educator who has given two decades of mentorship to her students and service to her community.”
Paul Egan
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“A northern Michigan mom who has been battling her school board over class curriculum was bound over for trial on a felony eavesdropping charge Tuesday, following a preliminary hearing.”
Now this is some real BS right here. What the hell is felony eavesdropping?? Can carry up to a two-year prison sentence???
We have out-of-control violent protesters, looters, shoplifters—you name it—committing serious offenses on a daily basis and getting off the hook a good deal of the time. Let stupidity shine in all its glory. What’s worse anymore—criminals or the idiots writing law??
“Both Fullerton, who has since left the district, and Michael Benson, who is vice president of the local school board, testified they believed they were having a private conversation and did not know Chaskey was outside the open office door recording them.” No—they didn’t want what they were saying to see the light of day and since a Conservative mother had been expressing concerns over school curriculum, they had yet another angle to cry foul about. If they are going to use the argument that they were unaware that they were being recorded, then all of these videos of various incidents that are picked up by the Media would likewise be “inadmissible”.
I hope she has a good attorney who will fight and win for her.
THAT judge who ‘found cause’ to bond her over, NEEDS TO get keelhauled.
There not just “criminals or the idiots writing the law”… they’re communist occupiers put in place by evil demons like that “kindly old man” George Soros. That’s how these scum subvert the issue which is …ALWAYS… worse than the charges being brought to the persons shining the light on the communist socialist agenda destroying the country. The drive by lame stream media will only focus on the fake “felony evavesdropping” charge… also put in place by evil demons like Soros. A counter suit must be brought to the school board for what is on the tape.
The reign of the Socialist Democrat Party State is in effect.
The “Socialist Democrat Party State” political officers, Gestapo, Woke and Cancel Culture are just getting started.
You will obey, be loyal and support the policies of the “Socialist Democrat Party State” or you will be classified as “Enemies of the State”.
The social Democrat Party WILL dictate what YOUR children will be indoctrinated in.
You the citizens and parents will have to right to question the Social Democrat Party school boards decisions of how they brainwash and condition YOUR children.
If We the People DO NOT DESTROY this “Socialist Democrat Party State”,
this “Socialist Democrat Party State” WILL DESTROY OUR COUNTRY!!
“Its dangerous to be right, When those In Authority are Wrong .” Author Unknown
When leftists cut out someone’s tongue, ITS BECAUSE THEY FEAR what that person will say!
If every single parent who values their kids doesn’t vote to remove these liberal satanist from our political system then they in reality are just machines to produce kids for satans use.
Take your kids OUT of Public Schools, and POUND your legislators for School Vouchers (so YOU can spend your child’s education dollars however YOU see fit)!
It ONLY “takes a village” to pass a law (not to raise a child [THAT is a parents’ responsibility])!
AND if they refuse to ALLOW school vouchers, REFUSE TO PAY PROPERTY TAX!
Nikita Khrushchev, Josef Stalin, Vladimir Lenin et al, if alive would be saying: “Our work here is done.”
The Democrat Communist Party of America, with the advice and consent of a number of RINOS, has taken over the United States.
Did Judge barton, even pass the Bar ?
DID any of these libtard AG’s, judges and DA’s, even pass HIGH SCHOOL LAW? Let alone, the Bar?
“Felony Eavesdropping”… Leftists hate it when people stand up for themselves, especially parents.
I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” –Terry McAuliffe, 9/28/2021.
That’s it, right there, in a nutshell.
The Left thinks that YOUR kids are the sole property of the state.
ALL people, are the ‘property of the state’, to these communists…