![\"April](\"http:\/\/michaelclara.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/SecurityBoardMeeting.jpg\")
<\/a>April 21, 2015 Board of Education Meeting<\/p><\/div>\n
TEXT OF LETTER TO BOARD PRESIDENT:<\/p>\n
4 May 2015<\/p>\n
DELIVERED VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL<\/span><\/b> Dear President Bennett, 1 –CLOSED EXECUTIVE SESSIONS<\/b>: 2- ACTION AGENDA<\/b>: I would like to have a little more detail as to what this issue is about and why does it appear on both the closed and public session of the agenda?<\/p>\n Is this agenda item in reference to your \u201crequest that our resource officer, Gary Trost, come to the front of our boardroom on 3 February as a safety precaution\u201d<\/i> [1]<\/a> because \u201cMr. Clara\u2019s telephone behavior was so extreme\u201d<\/i> [2]<\/a> ? If so, I request that this issue be discussed by the Board of Education in the public session portion of the meeting and NOT in Closed Executive Session.<\/p>\n I also renew my inquiry (still unanswered)<\/span> [3]<\/span><\/a><\/span> as to why the School Resource Officer was pulled from the last Board of Education meeting [4]<\/span><\/a> <\/span>and replaced with plainclothes private security?<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Was this change isolated to that one meeting? Or is this a permanent change?<\/p>\n Is there a reason why you will not provide me an explanation? In the absence of an explanation from you on this matter, I feel compelled to bring my own security as I indicated in the email I sent to you last week. [5]<\/a><\/p>\n The deployment of School Resource Officers<\/b> has been a matter of community discussion as I indicated in our February 17, 2015, Board of Education meeting. In that meeting you were dismissive of my sharing the community\u2019s sensitivities towards the police and their placement.<\/p>\n Contrary to your assertions [6]<\/a> that this is not a priority issue for communities of color and contrary to you accusing me of \u201cconflate[ing]\u201d <\/i>and being \u201cspecious\u201d<\/i> [7]<\/a> on this issue, I draw your attention to recent quote by Salt Lake City Councilman Kyle LaMalfa:<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to the policing issue, though\u2026I’ve heard grown Pacific Islanders say out loud that they live in fear of the police, that the police presence is too much. He’s also heard very sincere teachers and administrators argue that the full-time police officer at the Glendale Middle School busts kids for the same adolescent problems that happen at the Hillside Middle School on the east side\u2014but, since it’s Glendale, the punishments are more severe and push kids into the criminal-justice system\u2026\u201d<\/i> <\/i>[8]<\/a><\/p>\n As you are aware the courts currently are reviewing the actions of the police in partnership with Salt Lake City School District:<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026a class-action lawsuit on behalf of ethnic-minority students \u2026 rounded up by police in December 2010 at West High School in Salt Lake City\u2026The suit says that officers forced Kaleb, who has no juvenile record, to pose for a photo \u2014 to put in a gang database \u2014 holding a sign with his name and the word \u201ctagger\u201d on it. After he was released, the suit says, Kaleb was shaken, called his parents and asked to go home. The suit says that when Lisa Winston, his mother, protested what had happened officers told her the sweep was done because of \u2018a problem with the Mexicans.\u2019 On March 1, the Salt Lake defendants filed a court document admitting that police had entered the school and questioned students\u2026they deny that they \u2018acted unconstitutionally\u2019.\u201d<\/i> <\/i>[9]<\/a><\/p>\n Whether in the lunchroom or the boardroom, the deployment of School Resource Officers<\/b> is a matter of public interest and neglected public policy. The Salt Lake City School District needs to take responsibility for its actions and speak about this subject openly and transparently.<\/p>\n Its time that we reject the practice of subjecting students of color or their elected representatives to \u201cracially biased police discretion\u201d <\/i>which is allowed to label us with the \u201cstigma of criminality\u201d <\/i>which then allows others to view us as \u201cless than human, like a shameful creature\u201d .[10]<\/b><\/a><\/i> J. Michael Cl\u00e1ra cc:<\/b> Board of Education<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Heather Bennett Memorandum 02\/17\/15<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid<\/i> <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n [3]<\/a> Michael Clara email exchange with Heather Bennett 04\/29\/15<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [4]<\/a> See attached photograph of 04\/21\/15 Board of Education Meeting<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [5]<\/a> Michael Clara email exchange with Heather Bennett 04\/29\/15<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [6]<\/a> Board of Education Meeting 02\/17\/15<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [7]<\/a> TribTalk: Bennett, Clara talk about issues, discord on the Salt Lake City School Board 04\/13\/15<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [8]<\/a> Salt Lake City Weekly: To Write a Wrong \u2013The Tragic Story of Siale Angilau 04\/29\/15<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [9]<\/a> The Center for Public Integrity: Controversy Over Cops in Schools Flares Anew 03\/05\/13<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [10]<\/a> The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander<\/p>\n PDF Version of Letter<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TEXT OF LETTER TO BOARD PRESIDENT: 4 May 2015 DELIVERED VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL Heather Bennett, Board President Salt Lake City Board of Education 909 South 800 East Salt Lake City, Utah 84105 Re: Deployment of Security Personnel? Dear President Bennett, In an effort to be prepared for tomorrow night\u2019s Board of Education meeting, I am seeking clarification on two agenda items: 1 –CLOSED EXECUTIVE SESSIONS: (B) Deployment of Security Personnel 2- ACTION AGENDA: (E)(1) Possible … Continue reading
\nHeather Bennett, Board President
\nSalt Lake City Board of Education
\n909 South 800 East
\nSalt Lake City, Utah 84105<\/p>\n
\nRe:<\/span><\/b> Deployment of Security Personnel?<\/span><\/p>\n
\nIn an effort to be prepared for tomorrow night\u2019s Board of Education meeting, I am seeking clarification on two agenda items:<\/p>\n
\n(B) Deployment of Security Personnel<\/p>\n
\n(E)(1) Possible motion to enact the Deployment of Security Personnel<\/p>\n
\nShalom,<\/p>\n
\nBoard Member, District 2 <\/b><\/p>\n
\n