CAMANO: School Board members accused of withholding public records

Isabella Loy reports from the Stanwood-Camano School District for the Stanwood Camano News. Read the whole story.

The Stanwood-Camano School District has failed to adequately respond to a letter sent by a lawyer representing the Stanwood Camano News that demands the district turn over public records from School Board members’ personal email accounts that the state Public Records Act requires to be disclosed.

On Jan. 23, the newspaper sent a formal demand letter to the district, alleging that at least three board members — President Al Schreiber, Vice President Steve King and Legislative Representative Betsy Foster — used personal email accounts to conduct public business but have not turned over those communications, despite repeated requests.

While the district has promptly provided emails from district accounts, personal emails that appear to involve board-related matters have not been disclosed.

Under the state Public Records Act, any record, regardless of the account or device used, that relates to the conduct of government is subject to disclosure if it is “prepared, owned, used, or retained” by a public agency.

They Said It

Foster and Schreiber did not respond to a request for comment regarding their use of personal emails for board business.

King responded in an email, saying he does not believe he has “ever used a personal email account to conduct any school business,” though he acknowledged using personal accounts to become knowledgeable on education-related topics that could become relevant to board discussions.

“In responding to the multitude of public records requests, which are often very broad, I’ve been trying to respond with anything which in any way relates to education,” he said. “That is extremely time-consuming, and I’m struggling to do a thorough job of finding and submitting everything.”

King said he has since instructed those wh/o wish to email him to use only his district email.

“For example, as soon as I declared my candidacy, Stuart Hunt (a personal acquaintance from years ago) started sending me a flood of emails about his passion for improving the performance of SCSD students,” King said.

“In response to public records requests, I’ve provided about all of those,” he said. “Some months ago, I asked him to ONLY communicate via my district email account.”

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