Como eu interromperia vários e-mails OU nome de usuário?

connect_db();
$check = mysql_query("SELECT 'User' validation
                        FROM school_users 
                       WHERE username = '$username' 
                       UNION ALL
                      SELECT 'Email' 
                        FROM school_users 
                       WHERE email = '$email'") or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_assoc($check);

if($row)
{
    if ($row["validation"] == 'User') {
            respond("error", "Sorry, the username ".$_POST['username']." is already in use. Please choose a different username.");}}
    else if ($row["validation"] == 'Email') {
        respond("error", "Sorry, the email ".$_POST['email']." is already in use. Please choose a different email.");}}
}

//Validate UserName
connect_db();
$check = mysql_query("SELECT username FROM school_users WHERE username = '$username'") or die(mysql_error());
$check2 = mysql_num_rows($check);

if ($check2 != 0) {
    respond("error", "Sorry, the username ".$_POST['username']." is already in use. Please choose a different username.");}

//Validate Email
connect_db();
$checkEmail = mysql_query("SELECT email FROM school_users WHERE email = '$email'") or die(mysql_error());
$checkEmail2 = mysql_num_rows($check);

if ($checkEmail2 != 0) {
    respond("error", "Sorry, the email ".$_POST['email']." is already in use. Please choose a different email.");}