I have titled this series of Blog entries;

“The Cannibalization of Public Education”

The point being that if the school bureaucracy is going to expend resources monitoring the activities of the elected officials that are charged with oversight of the school district, then who is managing the education of our children?

If the bureaucracy is allowed to intimidate and marginalize education policy makers, then public education as we know it will continue to implode on itself.

What would happen to our City Government if the City Council staff started utilizing City resources to work against the elected City Council members?

We can ask this question about any other form of local government. The point being, that the outcomes of the ethnic minority students in my community are never going to improve if  the school bureaucracy is going to actively work against their duly elected representative.

In September of this year I was notified by several friends of mine, (elected officials) that the Salt Lake City School District had issued GRAMA request seeking information about me.  Here is the text to a letter I wrote to the Superintendent:

24 September 2014

DELIVERED VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
Mr. McKell Withers, Superintendent
Salt Lake City School District
440 East 100 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111-1891

Re: GRAMA REQUEST: Monitoring Elected Officials

Superintendent Withers,

It has been brought to my attention that you are utilizing School District resources to monitor my activities and communications.

Can you please advise me, where in your job description does it state you are to track the activities of School Board members?  As I understand Utah state law, you work for the Board of Education, not the other way around (see Utah Code §53A-3-301 & 402).

Furthermore, state law and school board policies give me the authority and the obligation to monitor your activities and those of the district. Where does it say that a local school district superintendent is to spend his time and taxpayer dollars investigating the activities of Board of Education members?

I can assure you that you are going to wear yourself out, if you think you are going to keep up with me and my happenings. Moreover, who is running the School District if you are fixated on tracking the activities of elected members of the Board of Education?

Pursuant to Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA), Utah Code §63g-2-204:

I am requesting a copy of all records (a book, letter, document, paper, map, plan, photograph, film, card, tape, recording, electronic data, or other documentary material regardless of physical form or characteristics) in reference to any employee of the Salt Lake City School District submitting a GRAMA request or other type inquiry, investigation, complaint etc… to any and all public or private agencies pertaining to Michael Clara for the time period of November 1, 2012 to the present.

I am also requesting all records (including emails) of Superintendent McKell Withers, Business Administrator Janet Roberts, Kristina Kindl, and School Board’s Attorney John Robson & Joan Andrews wherein Michael Clara was mentioned or discussed with each other or anyone else, in or outside of the school district (from November 1, 2012 to the present).

I believe that releasing this information is also in keeping with Utah’s Open and Public Meetings Act:

“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” (see Utah code §52-4-101).

Utah Code §63g-2-203(4) encourages agencies to fulfill a records request without charge. 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. Furthermore, based on Utah Code §63g -2-203 (4c) my “legal rights are directly implicated by the information in the record” as I am an elected member of the Salt Lake City Board of Education (see Utah Code §53A-3-402). I am of the opinion that the public has a right to examine all the records pertaining to my request.

Shalom,

J. Michael Clára
Board Member, District 2 

PDF Link to above letter

This is a link of a GRAMA request that the School District sent to Utah House of Representatives. Similar letters were sent out to 15 public agencies seeking records on my conversations with other elected officials or public agencies.

PDF Link to GRAMA by the School District