State schools chief Diane Douglas speaks out about arm grabbing incident

MESA, Ariz. — Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas is speaking out for the first time about a confrontation she had last month in which she ended up calling the police.

It was during an August 24th meeting of the State Board of Education when Douglas got involved in a heated exchange with Board President Greg Miller over her view that Board staff can only read documents that are in the education department’s computer system while they are at department headquarters.

In the audio, Miller can be heard telling Douglas, “You don’t have the floor,” then Douglas said, “Take your hands off of me!” There is then a sound of a microphone being bumped.

(Listen to Douglas and Miller argue at the meeting:)

Douglas claimed that Miller grabbed her. She spoke about the event for the first time on Monday while speaking with reporters at the East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa.

“I was sitting in the meeting,” she said. “I asked to be recognized. I said Mr. President, and he grabbed my hand several times. Clearly, he struck the microphone. That should never happen in a public meeting.”

Miller calls Douglas’ version “Hogwash.” He said he hit her arm by accident while trying to take the microphone away from her.

Douglas called police after the incident.

“I called and filed the report. I believe that everyone is entitled to serve their community safely and securely,” she said.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety said in an e-mail to KTAR that the report about the incident “is not complete,” but it did not explain why.

Meanwhile, Douglas said that she’ll continue to work with Miller.

“We still have a duty to work together, to try to come to a consensus as best we possibly can for the students that we serve,” she said.

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