This is the audio of the board meeting on 01-22-13 where the board struggles to understand Utah election code.

Edited Out Audio of Board Meeting 01-22-13

Highlights of 01-22-2013 meeting on Utah Election Law As It Pertains To The School Board Race:

The board president wanted me to RESTATE  my Point of Order from the  previous meeting (see video titled: Salt Lake School Board NOT following Election LAW) because she said that she did not follow Robert’s Rules of Order properly.

Board member Laurel Young did not want to discuss the issue because it was not on the agenda. The board president had to point out to her that we could discuss it because it was procedural (Laurel made the same point in the last meeting, not recognizing that my POINT OF ORDER was about the AGENDA).

I went through the HISTORY of the PRECINCT issue and why the board should not have placed the term on the agenda of the previous meeting.

The superintendent and board president passed out a memo: Board President’s Response to my 01-08-2013 Point of Order Letter. (The notes on the memo are my writing.) She said “this is what we found out…..”

Superintendent Withers said they are “still collecting information”.

Board President quotes Amy from the County Clerk’s Office saying that historically they used the term ‘precinct’ and have no intention of changing it.

Board President said she spoke to past board presidents and that they were okay with using the word “precinct”.

Superintendent offers his interpretation of what he is hearing from others.

I made the point that the county clerk is now Saying that their office places the term ‘precinct’ on the ballot because that is the information that they received from the superintendent’s office. Prior to this, they were claiming it was state law, they now know that is not true.

At one point vice president, Heather Bennett asked with a chuckle in her voice, “why is this so important to you?”

She has asked me this question in the past and I have answered it each time. At the previous meeting, she asked me this question and responded by rolling her eyeballs at me when I am explaining to her that placing the word PRECINCT on the ballot caused confusion in my community during the election.

In this instance, I explained that it is important to me because if the state legislature changed the law, we should follow the law. I make the point that we took an oath of office to sustain the Utah constitution……

I also pointed out that as a school district we have some responsibility to teach the proper form of government. I make the point that if the adults do not understand the proper form of government how do we expect our children to understand?

Laurel Young then asked the president if it something we can change? The president said that we could not. I said that is not accurate. I pointed out that in an email from County Council man Wilde he states that the board could indeed have a vote to make the change on the information sent to the county clerk.

The president and vice president then make the statement “well everyone else, does it that way”.

My response is: that is not my standard, just because everyone else is doing it wrong, I’m going to do the same?

The superintendent states that out of all the people he has spoken to, no one at this point has said that we are acting contrary to state law. WOW! This man has a PhD, makes a little more than $200,000.00 and he is okay with breaking the law because no one but me is telling him that is wrong ?????                                      [What is wrong with that picture?]

Board member Doug Nelson wanted to vote as he says, Michael  you have laid out your case and the way anything gets done on the board is to have three other board members agree. So now I have to convince three other board members to follow the law?

Ironically, our board president is more worried about following Robert’s Rules of Order than she is in following state law. Even more ironic is the fact that our board president was just elected as a vice president for the Utah School Board Association and is up on Utah Capitol Hill lobbying legislators. Why lobby for laws if you are not going to respect and honor them once passed?

The mind set during this discussion is troubling. The CURRENT LAW clearly states that the School District is to be divided up into local districts. The law was changed from using the word in 1994 the word PRECINCT was stricken through and replaced with DISTRICT. 

This is the source of confusion for voters in my neighborhood, yet the board president, vice president and the superintendent are insensitive to that. They instead want to perform all these verbal gymnastics and put all this energy into order to maintaining the status quo, which is clearly wrong.

The superintendent and the board president and vice president are presented with problem and instead of solving it they are like a dog that runs in circles chasing his own tail. After a while they exhaust themselves on the matter and the problem still remains.

It is disconcerting to me to witness their inability to grasp this issue, weigh it on its merits, and solve it.

How are we to deliberate on weightier matters? I suppose we should not wonder why the educational outcomes of children on the west side are so low.

Because this board failed to act. And on the recommendation of the county clerk’s office , I did approach our legislature and Representative King did open a bill file on this issue. We will see how far it makes it this session. Some legislators have told me that the current law is clear, why pass another law to say you should follow the law? Good Question………………….

Here is the agenda:

Agenda

Here is the first page of the letter: Point of Order Letter 01/08/2013

In the January 22, 2013 meeting the board President handed out this bullet point memo, the notes in the margin are mine: Board President’s Response to my 01-08-2013 Point of Order Letter

A few days later I created this twelve page document that responds to the erroneous conclusions of the board president: My response to the board President’s memo

FULL TEXT OF 01/08/2013 POINT OF ORDER LETTER:

8 January 2013

HAND DELIVERED

Kristi Swett, President

Salt Lake City Board of Education

440 East 100 South

Salt Lake City, Utah 84111

Re: Point of Order

Dear President Swett,

I am ‘raising a question of order’ because I believe that the Salt Lake City Board of Education Agenda dated January 8, 2013 is out of compliance with current state Law. I ask that you consider my “Point of Order” and rule that the wording of the agenda be changed appropriately.

Item #2 on the agenda states: “Judge Andrew Valdez, Third District Juvenile Court will administer the Oath of Office to, Tiffany Sandberg, Precinct 1; Michael Clara, Precinct 2; Heather Bennett, Precinct 5; and Kristi Swett, Precinct 7. (Term of office January 2013 – December 2016)”

I was elected to represent DISTRICT 2 (see attached map) not just Precinct 2.

Voting Precinct 2 is one of 11 voting precincts in my ‘school board district’.

UTAH ELECTION CODE:

20A-5-303.   Establishing, dividing, abolishing, and changing voting precincts — Common polling places — Combined voting precincts.

(1)     (a) After receiving recommendations from the county clerk, the county legislative body may establish, divide, abolish, and change voting precincts.

(2)      (a) The county legislative body shall alter or divide voting precincts so that each voting precinct contains not more than 1,250 active voters.

20A-14-201.   Boards of education — School board districts — Creation — Reapportionment.

     (1) (a) The county legislative body, for local school districts whose boundaries encompass more than a single municipality, and the municipal legislative body, for school districts contained completely within a municipality, shall divide the local school district into local school board districts as required under Subsection 20A-14-202(1)(a).

As you are aware, this discrepancy caused much confusion among voters during this past election cycle.

• I brought this issue to the attention of board vice president Bennett and Dr. Wither’s at the October 2, 2012 Board of Education meeting.

• It was discussed with Dr. Wither’s at a November 12, 2012 meeting at his office.

• It was discussed yet again in a December 7, 2012 meeting in Dr. Wither’s office with you, Vice president Heather Bennett, Business Administrator Janet Roberts, and Dr. Withers.

• It was also the subject of an email I sent to you and the board vice president on December 8, 2012 and a letter I sent the two of you on December 10, 2012.

• In an email sent to me from vice president, Bennett under your name, dated December 31, 2012, this issue is acknowledged in your statement to me: “You have clearly communicated your dissatisfaction with [Salt Lake County Clerk] Sherrie Swensen”.

Therefore, I am a bit surprised, perplexed, and disappointed that the school district insists on perpetuating misinformation and confusion on the election of its Board of Education.

I personally believe that as a board we have a civic mission to our schools and community at large.

I believe there is an obligation of schools to educate young Americans about their rights and responsibilities as citizens and to reaffirm the Founders’ commitment to making education in democracy a central part of the mission of public education—equal to workplace preparation.

How can we fulfill that mission if as a Board and a District we do not comport ourselves to State election laws in reference to the office of the Board of Education members?

In conclusion, I request that along with your ruling on this parliamentary motion; this letter be considered as part of the record and therefore included in the minutes of this meeting.

Shalom,

J. Michael Clára

Board Member, District 2

cc: Open Letter

Enclosures: Salt Lake School District 2 Map & SLC Voting Precinct Map 2

In 1953 The area was referred to as a Precinct if you represented a county school board: 1953 County School Board

In 1953 The definition for a Precinct and District are the reverse of how we define them in 2013: 1953 Definition of Precinct & District

In 1994 HB 84 Changed the word Precinct to District: HB 84 (1994)

In 2013 The definition for a Precinct is: Utah Code 20A-5-303

Current Law states that Local School Board Members represent DISTRICTS not PRECINCTS: Utah Code 20A-14-201

For some odd reason, school districts in Utah did not change with the law. My concern is with the Salt Lake City School District. It’s one thing not to change. But then it is pointed out that it is causing confusion among voters. Let’s follow the law and stop the confusion. The reply from the Board Vice President Heather Bennett is “all the other districts use Precinct”. That mind-set is frightening because it explains why the educational outcome of students will never change. We keep doing the same things over again -WHY? Because that is the way everyone else is doing it. But if everyone else is wrong, why don’t we change? NOPE, we do it this way because that is how everyone else is doing it. (See Board Meeting Discussions on 01/08/2013 & 01/22/2013)

Hispano jura ante la Junta

Educativa de Utah

Don Miguel, como dice su dirección electrónica o Michael como lo llaman mas comúnmente ya es bien conocido por la comunidad hispana del área oeste de la ciudad que ha visto su apellido en letreros y pancartas pidiendo su voto.

Primero fue en condición de candidato al Salt Lake City Council y después como aspirante a miembro del Salt Lake City School Board.

En su primer intento no tuvo suerte y perdió ante Kile LaMalfa, pero en el segundo aseguró su elección para esta junta que regula las políticas educativas de la ciudad.

La semana pasada, Michael Clara prestó juramento como miembro de esta corporación ante el juez Andrew Valdez, como uno de los dos nuevos miembros por el Distrito 2.

Esta circunscripción comprende las comunidades de Glendale y Poplar Grove al Oeste del Jordan River y parte de los vecindarios de Wespointe y Jordan Meadows.

Michael ha estado comprometido en los temas de estas comunidades desde hace muchos años, y es miembro activo del Partido Republicano.

A su juramentación acudieron numerosas personas, amigos y simpatizantes quienes le ayudaron en su campaña o simplemente apoyaron su nombre.

Entre los presentes estuvo la senadora Luz Robles quien al igual que otros líderes políticos y comunitarios, tales como Lee Gardner lo respaldaron desde el inicio de su campaña.

“Mientras trabajaba con Michael en varios asuntos de la comunidad noté su inteligencia, respeto por las ideas ajenas y su voluntad de luchar tenazmente por las políticas que protejan los vecindarios y las escuelas del lado oeste de la ciudad”, había señalado Robles.

Tras el juramento hecho por los dos nuevos miembros y 6, los restantes iniciaron la sesión correspondiente con la elección de los cargos directivos.

Clara planteó el tema del nombre dado a los distintos distritos electorales, que se ha prestado para confusiones.

Expresó que no entendía, porque se hablaba del precinto 2 cuando en realidad el representaba era al Distrito 2.

Quien presidía la mesa señaló, que en este caso debe tomarse la palabra precinto como equivalente a distrito.

Sin embargo, previamente Clara había tenido que notificar a los habitantes del Distrito 2 que no estaban impedidos de votar por su nombre.

La aclaración se hizo necesaria, porque durante una de sus visitas puerta a puerta realizadas a lo largo de su campaña se encontró con algunas personas que le manifestaron que no podían votar por él, a causa de no encontrarse en el precinto 2.

Ellos estaban registrados para votar en el precinto 50 y habían visto los ejemplos de las balotas en las que aparecía su nombre como candidato por el Precinto 2, por lo que creyeron que no podían darle su voto.

Esto obligó que Clara se dirigiera a sus electores, para precisar que en este caso el término precinto es equivalente al de distrito.

Clara será la voz de los latinos del lado oeste de la ciudad, cuando se diseñen las políticas educativas de la ciudad.

Desde antes, su gestión como líder comunitario había sido muy positiva en casos concretos como los de la Parkview Elementary y la Franklin Elementary school.

Asimismo, su activismo ha beneficiado a los vecindarios como en el caso de la lucha contra la reactivación planeada por Union Pacific de la carrilera, para el tren que atravesaría la calle 900 sur.

Clara también ha luchado por el buen nombre de la comunidad hispana de Utah, y de todo el país en casos como el del héroe, Adam Galvez.

Cpl. Galvez fue un soldado del lado oeste de la ciudad que perdió su vida en la guerra contra el terrorismo en Iraq, y que ahora le da su nombre a la calle 300 sur alOoeste de la I-15.

Fue como miembro de la junta de directores del concejo comunitario de Poplar Grove que logró vencer la oposición del alcalde y el concejo de la ciudad, para lograr este merecido reconocimiento a un héroe latino.

Las personas de esta zona de la ciudad que tengan alguna inquietud con respecto a las políticas escolares pueden dirigirse a él a su direccion electrónicadonMiguelSLC@gmail.com, o al número de teléfono 801 205 0389