Fountain Hills alum casts lawsuit, Sheriff’s Office handling records is questioned

Written by Abbey Willman - Staff Writer

Former Fountain Hills High School student Martess Green and her attorney and father, Harlan Green, filed a claim seeking $20,000 each from Fountain Hills Unified School District, the Maricopa Country Sheriff’s Office, and Maricopa County. The claim said, “The juveniles were subject to ridicule, punishment, loss of status, and stature with their high school programs.” What has prompted this “loss of status,” and created the possibility of such a serious lawsuit? When Martess was a senior at Fountain Hills, Sheriff’s deputies broke up a party at her house, with considerable amounts of alcohol present. Since she received a consumption citation, Martess was suspended from her Student Government activities; an action supported by clauses in the FHHS student handbook.

Even though the notice of claim does point out the “loss of status” as a reason for the lawsuit, the case is really made by Harlan Green’s claim that information was illegally shared between officials concerning his daughter’s citation. Pat McNett-Green, Martess’s mother and member of the school board, also disagrees with the way the Sheriff’s office shares information and believes that the process they’re supposed to follow is being “manipulated.”

McNett-Green makes valid points about this, including that “record sharing, however well intentioned, is misguided.” She is absolutely right, but suing all three parties is over-the-top. Getting both the Maricopa County Sherriff’s Office and Maricopa County involved is essentially targeting the same exact group; only one is actually necessary, and that is the Sheriff’s Office.

The actual law breaking of the school district is a little trickier since they simply received the information, as they routinely do, according to Sheriff’s Captain John Kleinheinz. So are schools being lawful when they discipline kids for their off-campus activities, or have they been routinely breaking the law all this time?

McNett-Green says, “Records being handed over is not part of the Sheriff’s Office. They’re not public records.” Deputy Chief, Jack McIntyre, seems to think that the lawsuit is about something else entirely, claiming that the real issue is teenagers getting caught drinking at a party and paying the price for their decisions. Martess did make a mistake, but she has rights, just like everybody else, with her records. However, Martess should not be upset that she lost her “status,” especially with Student Government. She understood her responsibilities and she failed at carrying them out, so that should be a part of the lawsuit.  I believe that Martess and her father need to get past their need for revenge on everyone that victimized her, and focus on the detail that really makes their case, which is not her loss of stature but how her records were handled. This means dropping their charges against the school district and Maricopa County, and investigating the way the Sheriff’s Office handles private records, since that’s the only law that’s possibly been broken. I sincerely hope that this case will bring attention to the prospect that perhaps the sharing of information between education and law enforcement is not as lawful as it appears to be.