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First, we would like to thank the current Grand Jury for informing us in a timely manner regarding the press conference and the release of this final document. The district was not able to be present at the original press conference that released the report as the district neither received the advance notice nor the advanced copy as required by legal guidelines. We also would like to thank the Grand Jury for including the district’s entire response.
Second, today’s press statement from the Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury mentions the similarities between a Grand Jury and a School Board Trustee, specifically that both are a group of private citizens who volunteer time to serve the community.
While the PVUSD agrees that members of both groups spend a great amount of time serving the community, there are major distinctions between the overall operations of the two organizations.
School Board Trustees are elected by the public to serve a four-year term of office. School Board Trustees are bound by open meeting laws and must function with full transparency in business operations. The Board of Trustees is subject to public information requests for non-confidential correspondence, and must supply that information in a timely manner. The Board of Trustees is held accountable by a multitude of state and federal laws with which they must comply.
In contrast, members of the Grand Jury are chosen from a pool of candidates to serve a one to two year term, and are not elected by the public. Unlike a School Board, members of the Grand Jury operate in a closed, confidential environment, are not subject to open meeting laws or requests for information. Correspondence between jury members, all interviews and all written material, with the exception of public documentation generally available, used by the Grand Jury is confidential.
Therefore, any public agency investigated by the Grand Jury is unable to review the basis for allegations, including erroneous information, which the Grand Jury may then use in its report.
In a final clarification from the press release, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees did not hire a legal team, as stated in the Grand Jury press release. Attorneys were part of the team that prepared the report, as many items in the Grand Jury report involved either potential legal violations or past or ongoing lawsuits. Any potential or real legal matter mentioned in the report needed to be carefully reviewed by attorneys to ensure that the Board was in fact in full legal compliance, and so any pending legal issues within the PVUSD were not affected by the District’s responses.
Any further questions may be directed to Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board President, Kim Turley.
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