TEXT OF LETTER TO BOARD PRESIDENT:

31 January 2015

Delivered Via USPS & District Interoffice Mail
Ms. Heather Bennett, Board President
℅ Salt Lake City Board of Education
440 East 100 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111

Re:SMEAR CAMPAIGN [1] in the name of the SALT LAKE CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION

 Dear President Bennett,

As you are now aware, I had several teachers forward me a letter [2] you wrote to the current Salt Lake Teacher Association (SLTA) President which was distributed to SLTA members on Friday (01/30/15).

In our phone conversation of Friday (01/30/15) afternoon you verbally apologized for writing and sending the letter to the SLTA president, yet you refused to send a written apology and retract statements about me, that you now acknowledge were false.

In the absence of a written retraction from you, I feel compelled to make some attempts to correct the misinformation you are peddling, as your Board letter received a wide distribution.

I must confess, in light of our conversation of last Wednesday night and subsequent email
exchanges [3] about “a hope for a better future”, I am disheartened that you continue to launch written, public attacks against me, this is the second one this week.

IN THE NAME OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION                                  Moreover, I am troubled by the fact that these types of letters,[4] are sent out under the auspices of the Board; giving recipients the false impression that their contents are a reflection of the will of the Board.

The reality being, that the Board had no knowledge that letters attacking one of their own, was being written and distributed in their name. Equally execrable; copies of these letters were never sent to me, although I was portrayed by you as the villain in both of them. How do you justify sending vitriolic correspondence in the name of the Board without that body’s approval? [5]

In last weeks letter to the Planning Commission you stated “As I am sure you know, the powers of the board are vested in the board as a whole, and not in the individual board members.” I would respectfully point out that the same is true for you, when it comes to yielding “the powers of the Board”.

I do believe you have abused the powers of the Board by using its name as a weapon against one particular member of that body, your predecessor was no different. If you want to call out a fellow Board member, then do so under your name. If you want to do it in the name of the Board, then first, obtain their approval.

I would ask that the use of correspondence utilizing the letterhead of the Board of Education be placed on the agenda of our next Board meeting, so that we can decide if we are going to enforce our current policy, [6] or allow you to continue on your present course.

ETHICAL STANDARDS
When viewing the Board letter to the SLTA president, through the lens of the Ethical Standards, [7] I see nothing that “represents the board with dignity and integrity”. [8] Can you honestly tell me that this Board letter is “treat[ing] [a] fellow board member…with respect and consideration, through civil discourse, exhibiting both honesty and decorum…”? [9]

HONESTY
As discussed in our Friday phone conversation, the words attributed to me from the report[10] that you quoted in the Board letter, did not come out of my mouth. I don’t even know what “negotiated bumping rights” are, nor would I ever use the term “poor side of town”.

I was shocked to hear you say, you were aware that Principal Ken Grover [11] and Principal Rachel Nance [12] (who were also quoted in the report) were misquoted. The shock comes in that I was not extended the opportunity to confirm that the words attributed to me, were my own.

If three people from the Salt Lake City School District were quoted in the report and you knew that two of them were misquoted, why would you think the third one was accurately quoted? This goes back to what I said at the beginning of this letter, had you sought Board approval, to write a letter in their name, about one of their own; clarity would have replaced assumptions.

Furthermore, I know that you are aware that I never said that “60 to 70% of our teachers are ineffective”, it’s a matter of public record that I did not use the phrase “ineffective teachers” as a verb and I was instead asking a question about data. [13]

Truly, the “deliberate twisting” of the facts surrounding my use of the word “ineffective teachers” in February 2013, is a product of the “shoulder to shoulder” working together between you, your predecessor, the superintendent and the current SLTA President. [14]

Moreover, I find it ironic that you would attempt to demonize me in the eyes of the teachers. My record speaks for itself. You will recall that while serving my first year on the Board, I made a motion in the June 2013, meeting, to amend the budget, in order to provide our teachers with a 3 % COLA increase. I stated that I wanted to “rectify the disparity” of giving the Superintendent a 6% increase while giving our teachers a meager 1%.[15]

That “atmosphere of trust and collaboration” between the administration and SLTA leadership held strong and the teachers received a 1% in the shadow of the superintendent’s 6% that year. I renewed that same request in 2014. [16]

I trust this letter will serve to remedy the false witness you brought against me, under the guise of the Salt Lake City Board of Education.

Shalom,

J. Michael Clára

Board Member, District 2

Enclosures (Not all documentation referenced in the footnotes is included)

cc: Salt Lake City Board of Education
Salt Lake Teacher’s Association Leadership
Salt Lake Teacher’s Association Representatives

P.S. I want to apologize for any problems I might have caused in your home on Friday. After your husband interrupted our phone conversation, I gathered you did not have his permission to be on the phone as there are certain prescribed times for phone usage in your home, I can and want to respect those parameters.  Before your husband hung up the phone on me, I tried to apologize and explain that you called me, not the other way around. For future reference, there are no such restrictions in my home, you are free to call me at anytime,