SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.–  In April, Mike Bengert headed to a Phase II committee meeting, but when he made it to the door, he wasn’t allowed inside.

“I was blocked at the door because I wasn't on the committee,” Bengert said. “They said, ‘No, you can't, you can't attend the meeting.’”

The Phase II committee discussed which two to three schools Scottsdale Unified School District would close at the end of the 2026-27 school year. SUSD closed Pima Elementary School and Echo Canyon Elementary School at the end of the 2025-26 school year as part of the Phase I closures. 

Board Member Amy Carney in the Dec. 9 school board meeting, said the Phase I committee was a superintendent committee and the board did not know who was included and what work contributed to their recommendations.

“I'm asking for a board advisory committee that the public is also asking for so that everyone can be involved,” Carney said in the meeting.

Bengert said he filed an open meeting laws complaint with the Arizona Attorney General's Office in April. It was sent to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in July, but Bengert did not hear back until Sept. 16. 

The Arizona Ombudsman Citizens Aide website defines open meeting law as “meetings of public bodies be conducted openly and that notices and agendas be provided for such meetings which contain such information as is reasonably necessary to inform the public of the matters to be discussed or decided.”

In a letter to SUSD the MCAO said: “Although it was created by the superintendent, and the Governing Board did not appoint the committee members, the Phase II Team is still the brainchild of the Governing Board, dating back to 2025, and will be making recommendations for the Governing Board to vote on, rather than recommendations for the superintendent to implement.”

MCAO said that SUSD was in violation of OML’s for the Phase II committee, but by the time MCAO had responded, SUSD had concluded its Phase II meetings.

“It is therefore too late to take corrective action,” MCAO said in the letter. 

Kate Russo, president of the Laguna Prep parent-teacher organization, said she is frustrated with the school board.

“Members of the governing board are insistent that they are only going to follow the recommendations of this committee,” Russo said. “Then it comes out that the committee was formed, in violation of open meeting laws. It should devalue what was decided on, and it shouldn't limit our options.”

Laguna Prep is one of the schools on every closure option the Phase II committee presented. 

Russo said that 57% of Laguna parents will not remain in SUSD if Laguna closes. 

“The numbers were anywhere from upwards of $1.5 million of lost revenue if that happens,” Bengert said. 

Both Russo and Bengert allege SUSD Superintendent Scott Menzel interfered with the Phase II committee process.

“The models and the data that were given to the committee all came from the superintendent,” Russo said. “It really wasn't any different. He got the result that he wanted by giving them the hand-picked data that he wanted to give them.” 

In a Dec. 9 school board meeting Menzel said a school board committee is a “perfectly acceptable alternative but it slows the process down,” and a superintendent committee is “more nimble.”

In the most recent school board meeting on Oct.6, SUSD did acknowledge the open meeting law complaint as recommended by the MCAO office. The board voted on the findings of the Phase II committee and in a 3-2 vote they closed Laguna Prep and Cooper Ridge K-8 School.