RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) – A man running for the Rio Rancho School Board is defending an email he sent to parents across the district. Candidate Patrick Brenner says he legally obtained the school district’s Constant Contact email list of thousands of parents through an Inspection of Public Records request.
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Brenner then sent out an email asking parents to take a survey about how the school district is performing. Rio Rancho Public Schools then sent an email out saying there had been concerns that the email appears to be sent from the school district endorsing a specific candidate.
The district says the email survey was from Brenner and they do not endorse candidates. KRQE News 13 asked Brenner about sending campaign emails to the list of parents who only offered their emails to get information from the district.
“Unfortunately, it’s in the case where parents opted to into this list voluntarily through a form that was available on Rio Rancho Public schools and that is how I came to request it. So, when parents are volunteering that information, it becomes public record,” Brenner said.
Brenner says he also made it clear in his email that it was coming from him and not the district.