Also a Rockwood parent, Jennifer Biermann, a.k.a "Jennifer Marie," was the talk on social media sites and morning radio Tuesday when she was outed after using a pseudonym to smear then candidate, now, newly elected, Rockwood school board member, Izzy Imig.
The smear, characterized by many as cruel and false, implicated Imig in her own sister's torture by Al Qaeda in Iraq. You can read more about that in our previous post.
Today's outing of Biermann shines a light on what some Rockwood parents have known for a while--local and national news headlines that accused Rockwood parents of death threats a year ago, have never been substantiated.
BIERMANN REPORTED PARENTS
Biermann's emails to the district led to the belief that Rockwood parents were violent racists and that they were making threats against at least two Black Rockwood administrators, over controversial lesson content.
What followed was months of negative news coverage about Rockwood and the district's decision to post the FBI tip line on the district's website, for reporting "threats" against school board members or other Rockwood employees.
(The tip line was posted around the time that parents in school districts around the country were referred to as "domestic terrorists" by our federal government. That assertion was later recanted.)
Dr. Terry Harris, known for his claims that there were death threats against him, referenced one of Biermann's emails as his reason for believing it.
He said so, when he was interviewed by
Time magazine last summer.
TIME MAGAZINE REPORTED ON THE "THREATS."
He didn't name Biermann, but, he named the subject line of the email she sent: "Protect your people: Dr. Terry Harris."
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Excerpt from Time Magazine article.
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BIERMANN EMAIL
This is the email Dr. Harris referenced; sent in March of 2021:
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| Obtained through Rockwood records request. |
As this was at least the second time Biermann had emailed administrators about "threats," Rockwood and Harris took it seriously.
INFAMOUS SCREENSHOT
With Biermann's claims that there were threats, the district was led to view her screenshots through that same lens. Especially, the one seen below. It is the only screenshot that the Time article quotes from.
Note:
It's not from a Rockwood parent.
It's from a Rockwood employee.
The writer is stating an opinion that Dr. Harris, Rockwood's Executive Director of Student Services, should be fired. There is no death threat or physical threat.
Yet, it was depicted as "proof" of racist, violent threats from Rockwood parents.
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| Obtained through Rockwood records request. |
Also note:
The person named in the above email (we blacked it out) is the person who received this message. He doesn't appear to know who Harris is until the Rockwood employee explains. He shared this warning about Dr. Harris on Facebook.
This is not the only released "proof."
PROFANE VOICEMAIL
A voicemail was released to KMOX, also as "proof" that Rockwood parents are violent racists. You can listen to it
here. (The first 45 seconds to a minute are ads.)
In the call, you never hear any threats. It seems clear the caller is also not a Rockwood parent. He doesn't know the name of the district. He refers to it as RockWELL; not RockWOOD.
You hear the caller say he is calling because he heard about Rockwood's infamous email on The Daily Wire.
The email instructed teachers how to hide controversial lesson content from parents.
The belief of death threats and threats of physical violence has persisted for months.
Here are screenshots of some of the initial headlines.
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| Excerpt from above article. |
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| Another headline. |
NO ONE SEEMS TO KNOW: NO PROOF
What has received very little attention to date, though, is that no proof of such threats has ever been released.
We, with a small group of Rockwood parents, did records requests to try and get such proof, of threats, from Rockwood and law enforcement. It was a dead end.
We got nothing from St. Louis County or the FBI. (When no charges are filed, incident reports, if they exist, are not public information.) Only the "logs" of the responses are available.
We did find that 4 incidents had been reported to Eureka police, but, all 4 were closed with no charges and listed as "unfounded."
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Obtained from Eureka police.
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Each Eureka report is categorized as a "miscellaneous incident." They are dated March through June. Two have addresses for Eureka High School. One has the address for Rockwood's Administration Center, one says "cyberspace," and was dated in June. Again, it was closed as "unfounded."
Records show the cyberspace incident was reported by Natalie Fallert, who was fired the next month, in a 4-3 decision by the district's Board of Education. Fallert, you may recall, sent
the email that told teachers how to hide controversial lesson content.
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| Obtained from Eureka police. |
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Email to us from Eureka police.
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Obtained from Eureka police.
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At an October, 2021 school board meeting, a Rockwood parent pleaded with Rockwood administrators to show proof of death threats, or any threats, if they have it, citing the lack of proof found in records requests. No proof has yet been given.
The video of that speech has thousands of views. You can see it
here.
Note:
In the screenshots Rockwood provided, some showed unkind comments about district employees. But, none referenced harming anyone or plans for any destruction.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Biermann, who made accusations against parents for questioning "equity" and diversity lesson content, is accused, herself, of racist attacks and false claims against school board member, Izzy Imig.
Imig is a U.S. citizen, who is an immigrant from Iraq.
Biermann is currently serving on a DEI committee at Babler Elementary.
We reached out to both Biermann and the principal at Babler Elementary for a response. We have not yet received any replies.
Edited to add:
The committee is officially called "Diverse Together." Babler's principal said it is not a DEI committee.
But, committee members provided screenshots of the committee's agenda that show tasks include DEI training.
If you have any comments or questions, you can reach us at whatisgoingoninrockwood@gmail.com.
