It's pretty bizarre that Jim Peabody and others seem to be continually stonewalling Michael's repeated requests without even providing an explanation that's legally acceptable. Are they really hiding under the guise that it's too burdensome?? First, most organizations can easily cull out all emails that have been sent between specific email addresses. If DMUSD cannot, they need to find a new IT person. Second, why would any human eyes have to look at any of these emails at all? Just release them. It's all part of the public domain. No need to look it over. There appears to be absolutely no justifiable reason to hold up this straightforward request, and it's pretty scary that the district somehow is continually ignoring it.

Mr. Peabody and DMUSD Board of Trustees, please address this issue as soon as possible in a wide public forum, preferably at a Board meeting, in a letter/column printed in this paper, and on your website The community deserves an immediate and thorough explanation as to why you can't/won't do this.

What would be even better is to simply produce the information that's being requested and put this behind you. Seems like that would make the most sense. Plus, that's the legal and ethical thing to do and would send a much better message to all those children of ours that you're educating.

Dear Jim,

I, for one, am prepared to believe you when you say to Michael Robertson, “We have no interest in ‘hiding documents' as you've charged."

Why can't Mr. Robertson accept that you really want to turn over all the documents, but for some reason you just can't? Maybe no one in your office can find the documents. That was the reason given by your lawyer Dan Shinoff and his partner Ray Artiano when they didn't produce the documents I subpoenaed when Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz law firm sued me for defamation. But there could be other explanations in your case. Heaven knows it's a crazy world. Maybe someone took the documents to the beach and they got all wet and sandy! Whatever the reason is, I'm sure it's a good one.

I see that you have provided three alternate explanations for why you haven't turned over the documents:

Alternate explanation #1:

“The district objects to the requests as they are vague, overbroad and burdensome.”

There you have it. It's just that it would be too much work to produce them, not that you want to hide them. Excellent response!

Alternate explanation #2:

“In addition, the district objects to your requests insofar as they seek any information unrelated to the conduct of the public’s business.”

Now I'm confused. I thought you said you weren't interested in hiding the documents. This seems to be a justification for hiding the documents. It appears that do you want to keep them secret.

Alternate explanation #3:

“The district further objects to your requests insofar as they seek records exempt from disclosure because the public interest in not disclosing the information clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure.”

Ah! Now this explanation is pure genius. You are not interested in hiding the documents, the public is! Who can argue with that?

Well, I guess the public can argue with that. I'm afraid you've given Mr. Robertson an opening here. If you say it's in the public interest to keep the documents hidden from public view, then you're pretty much obliged to consider the public's opinion on the matter. Mr. Robertson is clearly part of the public.

And there's another problem. Why exactly is it in the public interest to keep the public ignorant? Are you saying that the public benefits from being kept in the dark? Perhaps the information would change the way they vote, and you want to protect them from themselves? You want to stop them from electing someone unsuitable? Now we're getting into the very heart of the matter. The precise reason we have open government is so that the public can decide if the people it has elected are performing as they wish. The public has the right to elect someone who seems unsuitable to you. Without transparency, elections are a joke. Voters don't really know how their elected officials behave behind closed doors, so they don't know who will best represent them. Until schools start operating transparently, school board elections are hardly more effective than rolling dice.

Whats more, the staff is bare bones in that office, and asking for them to review 4000 documents to see if they meet the criteria is indeed burdensome. When our staff could be doing the district's business, they are instead spending time on this wild goose chase.

And his tone does appear to be inflammatory. If he asks for something, and does not get it, he resorts to escalation. This sounds like a CEO used to getting what he wants by laying the smack down on the situation; now he resorts to a lawsuit because he has the money to do so. Sounds like he wouldn't stop at any cost, anyway.

It seems Robertson is creating his own maelstrom. And its costing the DMUSD time and money that could be better spent on our children.