06 October 2016

DELIVERED VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

Ms. Alexa Cunningham, Superintendent
℅ Salt Lake City School District
440 East 100 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111-1891

Re: Horizonte College Advisor

Dear Dr. Cunningham,
Acting under the authority of my elected office, and in my official capacity as a member of the Salt Lake City Board of Education, I submit the following request on behalf of the residents of Salt Lake City, District 2. [1] Pursuant to Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA),[2] I am requesting a copy of all EMAILS that you, Janet Roberts, Larry Madden, Joshua Bell, Michael Williams, Jason Olsen and Heather Bennett have had between each other AND anyone else in reference to Kimball Young AND College Advisor AND Scholarship Advisor AND Horizonte, for the time period of July 1, 2016 to the present. Please recognize that any effort on your part to withhold information under the guise of a “protected document” [3] will be appealed by me and will be the subject of review by the State Records Committee. [4] For example, at our last Board meeting, Board President Bennett and Vice President Sandberg stated that this was a “personnel issue”. That is not a true statement as I have seen nothing that even suggest that this is a “personnel issue”. Moreover, based what you presented to the Board in the illegally held, closed door meeting in September, this is no “personnel issue”.

I am, unfortunately forced to invoke GRAMA, in requesting this information due to your refusal to provide me with accurate and reliable information on what led to you illegally terminating the contract with Kimball Young, who was providing Horizonte Alternative High School with College Advisory Services.

Furthermore, I am now being informed by fellow Board members that you have re-instated Mr. Young as Horizonte’s High School College Advisor. Really? Then why not apprise the Board member that initially asked you about this contract termination? Why not update the Board member, whose District has the highest concentration of students attending Horizonte? Why not keep all Board members equally appraised of this weighty matter?

MR. KIMBALL YOUNG
As one who has oversight responsibilities for this school district, I must confess that I am embarrassed and ashamed to have witnessed the manner in which you and members of your administration treated Mr. Young over the past three months. I had the honor to meet with Mr. Young about three weeks ago and found him to be dedicated to the cause of ensuring that each Horizonte student has a successful post secondary experience. Over the past three weeks, I have had the privilege of meeting with multiple current and former students of Horizonte that are and were the beneficiaries of Mr. Young’s services. At our last Board meeting, you and those in attendance caught a glimpse of the gratitude that Horizonte students have for this man. [5]
As someone who professes that their actions are driven by the mantra: “Kids Come First”,[6] I would have expected you to move heaven and earth in an effort to ensure that a man of Mr. Young’s caliber is in front of our students at every opportunity. Instead, you acted contrary to the purpose and mission of this school district. [7]

Just four short months ago, I reluctantly voted in the affirmative to appoint you Superintendent over this District. [8] A District that you now acknowledge is in organizational turmoil, where no accurate organizational chart exist, there are no job descriptions for the administrators, there are no evaluations on file for administrators etc. Moreover, you have advised the Board that the administrative organization is so convoluted, you will need to hire an outside firm to perform an organizational audit in order for you to make sense of it all. Understanding that those problems exist, you can understand why it is baffling to me, educators, members of the community and other elected officials, that changing the manner in which Horizonte receives College Advisory Services is such an urgent matter for you. I would urge you to get in touch with what it happening in our schools or you can watch the videos where I interview students impacted by Mr. Young’ work:

DISTRICT OFFICE
I hope that you now recognize the value of shared governance [9] and the importance of respecting site based decisions. In this instance, when you deviated from the approved course set by the School Improvement Council (SIC) [10] and approved by the Board, [11] you inadvertently or intentionally exacerbated the already deficient manner in which this District delivers its post secondary transitional services to Horizonte students. [12]

If anything, your involvement should have increased a Horizonte’s student ability to have access a College Advisor, not decrease it. My advice to you, leave the schools alone and instead concentrate on fixing the problems within the dysfunctional district bureaucracy. It was anticipated that the arrival of a new Superintendent would help us build trust amongst each other and the community. [13] Your management style has deepened the level of mistrust among the employees, Board members, community and students.

The social demoralization within the District office is such that communicating the simplest information accurately is difficult even when no one is deliberately sabotaging the flow of information. A number of the decisions that I have seen come out of the District office are so irrational that there is no predictable relationship between what they decided and the ends that they had in sight. More specifically, administrators in the District office cannot even act in their own self-interest, even when they agree on what that is. I believe the District office has reached the ‘normalization of incompetence’ point.

BACKGROUND
On September 15, 2015 – I sent you an email, asking why was the contract with Mr. Young terminated? You replied with the following explanation:

 SEE WORD FORMAT FOR GRAPHIC

BOARD MEETINGS
On September 20, 2016 –The Board held its regularly scheduled meeting. A closed door session was convened under the guise of a “personnel issue”. In prior email exchanges, you stated you would answer my questions about the cancellation of College Advisory services to Horizonte at the Board closed door meeting. Once the closed door meeting was under way, you and your attorney repeated what you stated in your September 15^th email. As already indicated the meeting was illegal as no personnel were discussed. [14]

I am so disappointed to see that you are comfortable with a lack of participation and engagement on the part of the public. I would like to see residents participate in inclusive and responsive policy making. I am still trying to determine if you lied to me in your initial email on September 15^th or if you and your administration are just so disconnected from the lives of teachers and students, uniformed about what is really going on in the school system. Rest assured that it is my intent to challenge your abuse of Utah Open and Public Meeting Act whenever it occurs. [15]

To allow you to dispense with transparency, is to allow this institution to perpetuate this persistent lack of urgency about improving itself. I cannot permit you or anyone else to be so committed to the status quo that we cannot then rid ourselves of this culture of complacency.

On October 4, 2016 – The Board held its regularly scheduled meeting where the dysfunctional District office was once again on full display. Although I asked for the issue of Horizonte’s College Advisor to be placed on the agenda, it was not.[16] I am not at all impressed with your ability to consistently produce the framework that encourages the degradation of civic discourse and erodes the capacity for collective critical thinking in the Board room; at that same time it is apparent that you and Business Administrator Roberts have lost your capacity for even common decency as demonstrated when you had my microphone turned off while I was speaking to the Horizonte students during the Board recess. [17] What was the purpose of cutting off my microphone? The Board president called for a recess, the majority of the Board left the room.  Conversely, I chose to stay in the Board room and explain to the students how the components of local government functions. Why did that offend you to the point that you ordered the Business Administrator to cut off my microphone? That was just petty and I hope that in the two years that you are in Salt Lake City, you can develop better leadership skills.

The day following the Board meeting, I was at a community meeting. One of the pressing questions: “Why did the Superintendent tell them to cut off your microphone when you were speaking to the students?” I explained that from my perspective, it is a sign that you are very insecure in your new role as the Superintendent of the Salt Lake City School District. I also told them that it is a symptom of the District’s institutional failure which creates a social environment that encourages yet more failure, one downward spiral generating another. I went on to explain that the demoralized social environment within the District creates an irrational organizational context where cultural, social, and material supports for teaching and student development are minimal. As you have so clearly demonstrated, even something that is currently working well is not safe. I then made the analogy that something good like a College Advisor at Horizonte, in a school district that operates in a severely damaged social infrastructure is tantamount to bringing a lighted candle into a wind tunnel. I pointed out that the questions that the Horizonte students and I were asking you, occurred in an atmosphere of ideological rigidity and smug contempt for elected officials. I also pointed out that the organizational characteristics that we ordinarily expect to contribute to efficiency are taken to such extremes as to do just the opposite, resulting in a school district that is dominated by over-centralization that only knows how to victimized anyone who comes in contact with it. Such was the experience of the Horizonte students. They came to the Board meeting expecting that their concerns were going to be accepted and addressed. They instead were exposed to a politicized system of command and control that rewards incompetence over what is best for students.

CONCLUSION
We have now come full circle and I am told that Mr. Young is back at Horizonte. I am nevertheless, deeply troubled by your response to me on September 15^th, that we now know to be false. I am troubled that you countermanded an official act of the Board. I am concerned that you gave the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) the assurance that you would use $25,000.00 of Adult Education Funding for a College Advisor. What is the status of that funding? I am troubled by your persistent actions designed to clouding transparency in an effort to avoid accountability. I can assure you that your behavior on this issue falls way below the standards of the community that I was elected to represent.

Nevertheless, I am hopeful that the production of emails that I am requesting, will give us some insight into your motives and what it was you were hoping to accomplish by getting rid of Horizonte’s College Advisor. Accordingly, GRAMA encourages agencies to fulfill a records request without charge.[18] Based on Utah Code §63g -2-203 (4a), I am requesting a waiver of copy costs because releasing the records primarily benefits the public rather than a person:

In enacting this chapter, the Legislature finds and declares that the state, its agencies and political subdivisions, exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business. It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly [19]

Moreover, my “legal rights are directly implicated by the information in the record” [20] as I am an elected member of the Board of Education. [21] To that end, the late Speaker of the House, Becky Lockhart shepherded a bill that clarified the role of Board members, which is now in Utah Code:

 Notwithstanding a local school board’s status as a body corporate, an elected member of a local school board serves and represents the residents of the local school board member’s district, and that service and       representation may not be restricted or impaired by the local school board member’s membership on, or obligations to, the local school board. [22]

Consequently, any attempt on your part to deny this request will be viewed as an act of “restricting and impairing” my ability to represent the residents who elected me to represent their interests. I recognize that you will respond to my request within 5 business days, as permitted by GRAMA. [23]

Shalom,

Michael Clara

J. Michael Clára
Board Member, District 2

cc:
Senator Wayne Niederhauser, President
Representative Greg Hughes, Speaker of the House of Representatives
Senator Luz Escamilla, Minority Assistant Whip
Utah State Auditor John Dougall
Select Members of Utah Legislative Education Committees
Councilman James Rodgers, Chair
Ms. Ricky McCandless, Salt Lake City Mayor’s Designee
Dr. Ric Harnsberger, Horizonte Scholarship Fund
Dr. Janet Harnsberger –Horizonte Scholarship Fund
Mr. James Andersen –Horizonte Scholarship Fund
Mr. Kimball Young – Horizonte Scholarship Fund
Mr. Jordan Nak – Horizonte Student Body President
Mr. Zay Alverez – Community Activist
Horizonte School Improvement Council
Equity Leadership Team –Salt Lake City School District

2 October 2016

DELIVERED VIA USPS PRIORITY MAIL

Office for Civil Rights, Region VIII
U.S. Department of Education Office
Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Building
1244 Speer Boulevard, Suite 310
Denver, CO 80204-3582

Re: RESOURCE INEQUITY
Complaint Against: Utah State Board of Education & Salt Lake City School District

 
Dear Region VIII,

Acting under the authority of my elected office, and in my official capacity as a member of the Salt Lake City Board of Education, I submit this complaint on behalf of the residents of Salt Lake City, District 2.[1]
I have reason to believe that the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and the Salt Lake City School District (District) are in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which states:

No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. [2]

This complaint will demonstrate that Superintendent Cunningham [3] and Board President Heather Bennett [4] are denying students, based on race, color and national origin, equal access and opportunity to educational programs and activities of the District. Furthermore, once placed on notice, they failed to take corrective action. More specifically, they are denying students of Horizonte Alternative High School, equal access and opportunity to the postsecondary transitional programs of the District. Horizonte High School has the highest concertation of ethnic minority students when compared to the other High Schools in the District. Consequently, Superintendent Cunningham recently implemented a practice that has a DISPARATE IMPACT on the students of Horizonte High School. This complaint will also demonstrate that similarly situated students at less diverse High Schools are treated differently which constitutes DISCRIMINATION of treatment.

BACKGROUND
During the month of September 2016, I was made aware that Business Administrator Janet Roberts terminated a contract for College Advisory Services that provided Horizonte Alternative High School with a full-time College Advisor. I sent an email to Superintendent Cunningham asking for an explanation and the following email exchange ensued:

30 September 2016

DELIVERED VIA USPS PRIORITY MAIL
The Honorable Sean Reyes
Utah Attorney General
Utah State Capitol Complex
350 North State Street, Suite 230
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114

           Re: Superintendent Cunningham’s & Board President Heather Bennett’s
                                         Violation of Utah Open & Public Meetings Act

Dear Mr. Reyes,

Acting under the authority of my elected office, and in my official capacity as a member of the Salt Lake City Board of Education, I submit this complaint on behalf of the residents of Salt Lake City, District 2. [1] I have reason to believe that the Salt Lake City Board of Education on the advice of Superintendent Cunningham violated certain provisions of Utah Open & Public Meetings Act. [2] Furthermore, The ACT states that your office has the authority to enforce its provisions. [3]

On September 20, 2016 – The Board of Education held a regularly scheduled meeting that was properly noted and convened at 6:00 p.m. at the Salt Lake City School District, Board of Education office located at 440 East 100 South in Salt Lake City, Utah. [4] The presiding officer declared that the Board was convened to hold a closed door meeting, there was a patron that was asked to leave prior to the doors being closed. The Superintendent’s attorney, Kristina Kindl stated the purpose of the closed door meeting:

“discussion of the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual…” [5]
At the commencement of the meeting, Superintendent Cunningham had her attorney explain to the Board why Business Administrator, Janet Roberts terminated a contract for Graduate Advisory Services at Horizonte Alternative High School. [6]  The reason given was no different from what the Superintendent had advised me via email earlier in the week:

“…a new position was added to each high school to assist students with scholarships and the college application process…we cannot support the new position and an outside contractor.” [7]

www.1stgencollege.com/about-klyoung

19 September 2016

DELIVERED VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
Mr. Kimball Young, College Advisor
℅ Horizonte Alternative High School
1234 Main Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

Re: Horizonte Graduate Advisor Services

Dear Mr. Kimball,

I feel compelled to write to you and apologize for the manner in which the District’s Business Administrator, Janet Roberts has treated you and inappropriately severed your contractual relationship with the Salt Lake City School District. Upon hearing that your contract with the District was haphazardly terminated, I directed several inquires to the Superintendent and Business Administrator. Throughout those exchanges I was able to determine the following:

In September 2014 – It appears that the decision was made at the local school level to hire someone on a full-time basis to help students with the transition into Higher Educational opportunities. The District issued an RFP for Graduate Advisor Services and you were chosen by District personnel to provide those services.[1] Subsequently, the District entered into a contractual agreement with you, to provide Graduate Advisor Services for the students at Horizonte Alternative High School. [2] It is my understanding that prior to this, you had volunteered your time in this capacity, as your schedule would allow. [3] Entering into this contract with the District, secured your services on a full-time basis. The Salt Lake City Board of Education authorized payment of your contract on the following dates:

1. September 16, 2014 [4]
2. May 1, 2015 [5]
3. August 2, 2016 [6]

As the result of a GRAMA request that I submitted last week, the District provided me with a copy of your contract and a purchase order status report that reflects that authorization of payment by District officials (including Ms. Roberts) occurred on 07/29/16. [7]

As you can see, on August 2, 2016, the Board of Education authorized the payment of your contract for the 2016-17 school year in the amount of $48,000.00. [8] The last communication I received from Superintendent Cunningham is that she will not answer anymore of my questions on this issue and will instead inform the entire Board at Tuesday night’s Board meeting as to the reason or reasons why the District’s Business Administrator has countermanded an official act of the Board of Education. [9]

At this point, I am perplexed by yet another instances of an unauthorized action by Ms. Roberts. [10] According to Utah Statutes, as the District’s Business Administrator, she is subordinate to the Board of Education and does not have the authority to override an official vote of the Board. [11]

In closing, on behalf of the community that elected me to represent them, please accept my gratitude for the work you have done for the students at Horizonte Alternative High School over the past decade. We all look forward to a speedy resolution to this misunderstanding and a continued association with you. [12]

Shalom,

J. Michael Clára
Board Member, District 2
Enclosures

cc: Dr. Cunningham, Superintendent
Horizonte School Improvement Council (SIC)
Horizonte School Community Council (SCC)

Letter in PDF

Attachments to Letter

Janet Roberts- Business Administrator

Earlier this week, I was made aware that Business Administrator Janet Roberts is overstepping her statutory bounds and in the process is disrespecting Horizonte Alternative High School’s site based decisions and challenging the authority of the Board of Education. I am calling upon newly hired Superintendent Cunningham to put Roberts in check and to immediately rectify this foolishness!

BACKGROUND
“In 1994, then-Horizonte Principal James Andersen and his wife, Shannon, along with Ric and Janet Harnsberger, physicians and University of Utah professors, established the Horizonte Scholarship Fund…For nearly 20 years, the Horizonte Scholarship Fund has provided as many as 60 scholarships each year, with individual awards ranging from $500 to $2,000, for a total of up to $57,000.”  [1]

In 2011, the following report was given to the Board of Education:

“The Horizonte Scholarship fund will award $80,000 in scholarships this year. Horizonte thanks Kimball Young for his hard work in securing twenty-four $1,500 scholarships for Horizonte graduates from the Eccles Foundation. SLCC received two grants to support Horizonte graduates with transition to college. Fifty seniors and 75 juniors will receive intensive counseling in an effort to prepare first generation college students for success.” [2]

SITE BASED DECISION
In 2014 – Horizonte’s School Improvement Council and School Community Council decided to hire a full-time person to facilitate a student’s transition from Horizonte to continuing education due to the following: [3]

 “Every year, Horizonte Instruction and Training Center, an alternative high school in Salt Lake City awards college scholarships to dozens of graduates. And every year, many of those scholarships go unused. A new partnership between Horizonte and Salt Lake Community College helps grads stay the course and enroll in college, despite the obstacles.”  [4]

Another article at that times stated:

“An alternative high school has partnered with Salt Lake Community College to offer a multiple-week “bridge” class aimed at helping students with the transition to higher education…”The goal is to help them navigate the process and orient them to the rigors of college and give them a little taste of the environment,” said Kimball Young, a member of the Horizonte Scholarship Fund board of directors…The Horizonte Scholarship Fund awarded roughly $70,000 in aid to 47 students this year, with a focus on those from low-income families, he said. But Young said the bridge program is about more than just helping students with the costs of college. He said the program is intended to familiarize students with higher education as they approach the end of their high school education. “It’s not just a problem of affordability,” Young said. “It’s a problem of navigation, comfort, familiarity and ownership, so to speak, feeling like you’re part of something that is going to be rewarding for you when you graduate.” [5]

BOARD AUTHORITY
To that end, the District published a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Graduate Advisor Service and in September of 2014, published the following letter of intent:

“This letter is notification that it is the intent of the Salt Lake City School District to select Kimball Young as the single responsive and responsible respondent. As a result, the District will enter into a contract with Kimball Young to provide Graduate Advisor Services at Horizonte High School.”

The District then entered into a contractual agreement with Kimball Young to act as Horizonte’s Graduate Advisor Services. [6]

The Board of Education approved the funding for this contract on September 16, 2014, for the 2014-15 school year. [7]

Prior to being hired full-time, Mr. Young was working in a limited capacity as a volunteer with the Horizonte Scholarship program. Mr. Young tells his own story:

“I was introduced to Horizonte a decade ago.  The Salt Lake City Rotary Club annually awards college scholarships to graduating seniors of all four city high schools.  As a Rotarian, I volunteered for the Horizonte selection.  Over the years I’ve interviewed I have been deeply impressed by these amazing, determined, resilient, mostly minority, young men and women, some new parents, who realize that college education or post high school training is the exit from intergenerational poverty and the door to their American Dream…

Cancer and work related set-backs altered my life.  As I recovered my health and discovered some new pursuits, I continued on my own, to raise scholarship funds for these worthy but needy Horizonte graduates. …Secondly, education will break their chain of poverty.  They are first generation college students. Without education these students dream of, they are poverty bound.  No greater cause or campaign could I coordinate, build, and help perpetuate.   My life’s skills are uniquely situated to successfully assist.  My cumulative know-how and professional experience can help.   I invite your consideration and participation.” [8]

The following year, the Board authorized the $48,000.00 payment for the second year of the contract between Horizonte and Kimball Young for Graduate Advisor Services for the 2015-16 school year. [9]

Later that year, the Board of Education received the following report:

“Ms. Holmdahl said many of the students who graduate from Horizonte and move on to college are often the first in their families to do so. Horizonte offers a College Bridge class in partnership with Salt Lake Community College, to help prepare students for college, take advantage of scholarships, register for classes, and develop goals. Kimball Young, College/Career Transition Specialist.  [10]

Last month, the Board authorized the payment of $48,000.00 for the contract services between Horizonte and Kimball Young for Graduate Advisor Services for the 2016-17 School year. [11]

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR
Earlier this week I was advised that Business Administrator Janet Roberts severed the contract between Kimball Young and Horizonte High School. The reason given is that the District is going to replace Kimball Young with a Community Scholarship Advisor. [12] The job posting states that this is a part-time job with no benefits. Apparently, The Business Administrator did this without notifying the Superintendent or the Board of Education. [13]

The Business Administrator is to “be custodian of all district funds, be responsible and accountable for all money received and disbursed, and keep accurate records of all revenues received and their sources;” and to “countersign with the president of the board all warrants and claims against the district as well as other legal documents approved by the board…” [14]

The Business Administrator is not the Human Resources Director and neither is she an educator. Ms. Roberts is appointed by the Board of Education and does not have the authority to override a site based decision. Ms. Roberts is a subordinate of the Board and must obediently carryout the official acts of the Board who are elected to represent the interests of the community.

CONCLUSION
I have called upon Superintendent Cunningham to rectify this situation and instruct the Business Administrator to perform her statutory duties and resume payments to Kimball Young for his contractual services.[15]

Anyone who has worked with Mr. Young or benefited from his services will readily testify that a part-time (or full-time for that matter) person will not even come close to matching the skill set that Mr. Young brings to this position.

We all need to ensure that we continue the vision of former Principal James Anderson:

“James has made Horizonte a touchstone and an icon for our community, and he knows that the success of Horizonte is because of the support the Salt Lake School Board, administration and community have given in putting students first. James leaves knowing his legacy will live on: a place where learning and individuals are cherished.” [16]