Jordan District to hand over meeting records

Tape recordings and minutes of Jordan School Board meetings will be handed over to the Utah Attorney General's Office in a deal that temporarily averts a lawsuit over open records and open meetings.

"I'm pleased that they're going to turn over the tapes for us so we can do our job," Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said late Friday afternoon.

Representatives of the Jordan School District declined comment Friday, on the advice of legal counsel. The district and the attorney general's office issued a joint statement saying the decision was made "in the spirit of mutual cooperation."

The Jordan School District agreed to hand over its minutes of a pair of school board meetings that were held behind closed doors. The Utah Attorney General's Office will review them to decide if they are "protected" under the Government Records Access Management Act or if there was a violation of the Utah Open and Public Meetings Act.

"We're going to look at it, and if we find there's been some kind of violation, we plan to discuss that with the district and see what they plan to do to resolve the issue," said assistant Utah Attorney General Sheila Page. "There's always the possibility that we may end up going to court down the road. This is obviously a much better route."

At the center of the legal battle is a complaint lodged by the Deseret Morning News. In September 2006, the Jordan School Board began discussing whether to continue financing school resource officers or look for other options, such as hiring private security.

In October and November, the board held a pair of meetings behind closed doors. The Deseret Morning News protested the decision to the Utah Attorney General's Office, which attempted to investigate. On two separate occasions, the school board rejected the attorney general's efforts.

Shurtleff called the district's actions "sad and ridiculous." As far as anyone in the attorney general's office can recall, it's the first time one state agency has had to threaten to sue another to get information.

The Jordan School Board did an about-face after meeting behind closed doors on Tuesday. The agenda for that meeting said they were discussing property, potential litigation and personnel.

Shurtleff said Friday that he had finally gotten a chance to talk with Jordan School District Superintendent Barry Newbold and appeal to him.