2 September 2014
DELIVERED VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
Kristi Swett, President
Salt Lake City Board of Education
2256 South King Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84109
Re: Closed Executive Session
Dear President Swett,
I will be voting NO this afternoon to go into a closed door session at our 4:00 p.m. scheduled meeting for the reasons already stated in my letter to you dated: August 26, 2014, titled:
DEMAND FOR FULL DISCLOSURE (see attached)
If there is a two-thirds majority vote of the School Board to go into closed session, I will abide by that decision if I am present.
I will not however, participate in the closed door meeting if it is your intent to allow district employees such as the Superintendent, Business Administrator and the Superintendent’s Attorney (or any other school employee) to be present when the School Board is presented with the findings by the external investigators.
I for one would like to hear the findings of the investigators without interference from school district employees (those whose actions are under investigation). I am interested in obtaining the conclusions of the investigators without the usual bureaucratic interpretations, spins and manipulations.
As you are aware, on February 14, 2014, I submitted a letter to you titled:
A CALL FOR AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION
In that letter, I requested that the actions of the employees within the chain of command of the Child Nutrition manager be investigated. That list included the Superintendent and Business Administrator (see attached).
I was assured by you, that the questions in my letter would be answered as a result of the external investigations.
In subsequent school board meetings, we agreed that the findings of the investigation would be given directly to the School Board.
Indeed this was part of the criteria of the Request for Proposal that allowed for the hiring of the external investigator. RFP #JB1509-11:
“…The investigators will present a detailed report of their findings directly to the Salt Lake City Board of Education.”
I have reason to believe that even that directive by the School Board has already been breached. As already stated, it is my desire that the findings of the investigation be released to the public. If however, the School Board is going to convene a closed door session that excludes the public, then it should also exclude district employees.
Please let me know if it is your intention to allow employees of the district to be present when the findings of the investigation are presented to the Board of Education. Your response will allow me to plan my day accordingly.
Shalom,
J. Michael Clára
Board Member, District 2