Superintendent Withers
TEXT OF THE LETTER SENT TO THE SUPERINTENDENT ABOUT HIS SPYING ACTIVITIES:
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