October 21, 2005
John Hutak Superintendent
Dear John,
Lillian Smith advised the candidates that she intends to hold her forum on the report from the Education Committee that she co-chaired. As I remember it, your predecessor allowed the report to be turned in supposedly to the board, but probably only to the superintendent, without copies to the community or the rest of the media. I would like you to produce a copy of the report, along with any other reports, agendas, or committee member lists for the Education Committee.
If these documents are not in the school files then it supports my position that this committee didn’t exactly follow the Brown Act or the Public Records Act. But, I am really hoping that you can find the document because as I remember it being read, it was a pretty good report.
this committee started out as a private committee, operated by Kathy Howell, has now been renamed the Joint Use Committee.
She then let slip at a school board meeting that she was negotiating for joint use of school facilities at Vasquez High with the County of Los Angeles and there was then talk by Wagner, at the request of the board, that the committee should be made public and reconstituted with new members, which were to apply to the board and be approved by the board.
My records and review of the board minutes shows this never happened and that Howell, along with Wagner, continued to meet in private with the County, and that Howell was allowed to claim to the County Supervisor, county agencies, and legislative members that she spoke for the school board and the community.
In fact, she spoke for her self-chosen community members and herself.
I have brought this issue up at numerous board meetings before you became superintendent.
If you can find any record that these variously named committees were ever approved by the board, and ever operated under the Brown Act and the Public Records Act, I’ll be surprised and personally apologize to Ms Howell. I believe that what you’ll find is that Linda Wagner found that she did not like what both the Facilities Committee and the Budget Committee had done. These committees operated under the Brown Act and operated in public.
If it is an illegal committee, I would like to have you notify the various government agencies that Ms. Howell does not speak for the school district in any form.
These are basically the same questions that were asked by Eleanor Braun at the meeting on October 18, 2005.
Further, I intend to make a Public Records Request of all the various government agencies, of each and every one of Ms Howell and her committee’s documents to these agencies.
I’m sure that just a request to see the school’s documentation of who gave her what authority to act will be honored without a formal request.
By the way, I very much like what you and the school’s legal services is doing and readily saw the total shock between you and the attorney when you learned at the school board meeting that Howell was claiming to these government agencies that she represented the board.
Charles Brink