Sam Fant has thrown down the
gauntlet.
“Produce that email and I’ll
never run for political office again.”
While the Manteca Unified
School Board voted 5-2 on Tuesday to accept the findings of the San Joaquin
County Civil Grand Jury, that didn’t prevent the embattled Fant from setting
the record straight on at least one portion of the scathing report that painted
both him and Trustee Ashley Drain – both of whom voted against accepting the
findings – in an extremely unflattering light.
Fant, who was asked by Drain
not to specifically address aspect of the report so not to give the “garbage”
document any credence, piped up in an exchange with Superintendent Jason Messer
about whether an email that was attributed to him that claimed that the
district could be sued because they have deep pockets was ever actually found.
During a Freedom of Information
Act request, Fant said – he was backed up by Messer – that nowhere on the
district’s servers was that email ever actually found as it was listed in the
overall report.
Because Grant Jury findings and
investigations are confidential, the source of the email that was quoted was
not disclosed.
“If anybody can produce that
email, I will not run for any political office ever again,” Fant said boldly.
“I’ll be done.”
The board also approved the
majority of the recommendations made by the Grand Jury, and will implement some
of them as early as Sept. 30 – mostly streamlined policies and procedures
designed to inform the Superintendent of any wrongdoing of any board member and
disseminate that information amongst the board members themselves.
A policy suggestion to provide
annual training for board members was already enacted.
“I’ve learned that you need to
be careful who you piss off. To be careful about whose toes you’re stepping on
and to be careful about not knowing,” Drain said when commenting on the report.
“I don’t want to call it garbage but this garbage report showed a perspective
that I’ve never seen – a perspective that was different from the one that I
operated on.”
And some in the audience
questioned the legitimacy of portions of the document and the fairness in which
the report was actually prepared.
According to activist teacher
Leo Bennett-Cauchon, Grand Jury investigations are prompted by complaints, and
all of the information that’s obtained is done so confidentially. The issue
with that, he said, is that those who are targeted never get a list of the
witnesses who provide the information contained within and therefore never get
a solid chance to face those who are making accusations.
And the rebuttal did include
some rank-breaking.
Drain, who was portrayed as
somebody defiant of administrators and boisterous about happenings on social
media sites, urged Fant to not go through with a section-by-section breakdown
of the report because it wouldn’t do any good.
“Sam, I understand what you’re
trying to do and protect your reputation, but how you act is truly reflective
of your character – what you actually do is what is important,” Drain said –
making a reference to how she knows of the work that he does for the community
because people are able to use the pool at Weston Ranch, something that shows
actual results.
The actual response to the
Grand Jury, and the deviations from what was suggested, will be brought back
for formal recommendation when the board meets next month, and implementation
of new programs and procedures will take place later this year.
It was documented in the Grand
Jury report that Fant had brought the pictures to Bulletin Editor Dennis Wyatt
in advance of the meeting. Wyatt declined to publish them.
July 22, 2015
Manteca
Bulletin
By
Jason Campbell
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