RE: Clarification or correction of your [Principal Jacobs'] statement regarding teaching experience for Mr. Arce-Larreta
Greg Clark
My letter to Principal Jacobs is now posted on Whipsnet.
From: Greg Clark [mailto:Greg....@utah.edu]
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 5:51 PM
To: west-parents...@googlegroups.com
Subject: FW: Clarification or correction of your [Principal Jacobs'] statement regarding teaching experience for Mr. Arce-Larreta
As sent to Whipsnet.
From: Greg Clark [mailto:Greg....@utah.edu]
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 5:48 PM
To: 'whip...@googlegroups.com'
Cc: 'gra...@comcast.net'; Certified Real Estate Services (daveg...@gmail.com); greg....@utah.edu
Subject: Clarification or correction of your [Principal Jacobs'] statement regarding teaching experience for Mr. Arce-Larreta
I am resending the letter below to Whipsnet for posting, because it has not yet appeared on Whipsnet despite the fact that I submitted it yesterday. Perhaps a mistake occurred the first time round, either on my own part or others’.
Alternatively, if my submission was deliberately excluded by Whipsnet moderators, I request that they change their decision.
The topic is appropriate for posting. There is no information included that is not already in the public domain, and no reason to exclude it as a “personnel” issue, given Principal Jacob’s own public statements on the matter.
Further, Whipsnet is allowing posting of others’ letters on this topic. Indeed, Whipsnet has already posted a letter supporting Jacobs from one individual. It would not be appropriate for Whipsnet moderators to post only selected information that agrees with one point of view while censoring other points of view.
Further, Whipsnet moderators cannot reasonably claim that “that nothing new is coming out of the discussion” in shutting down further comments, as they did previously for McGuire posts.
Thanks,
Greg Clark
From: Greg Clark [mailto:Greg....@utah.edu]
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2011 11:54 PM
To: 'whip...@googlegroups.com'
Subject: FW: Clarification or correction of your statement regarding teaching experience for Mr. Arce-Larreta
From: Gregory Clark [mailto:greg.a....@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2011 11:43 PM
To: Parley...@slc.k12.ut.us
Cc: amanda.t...@slcschools.org; alama....@slcschools.org; do...@mdxperts.com; rosemar...@gmail.com; heather...@xmission.com; laurel...@slcschools.org; kristi...@slcschools.org; mckell....@slcschools.org
Subject: Clarification or correction of your statement regarding teaching experience for Mr. Arce-Larreta
To: West High School Principal Parley Jacobs
Date: 11 September 2011
Re: Clarification or correction of your statement regarding teaching experience for Mr. Arce-Larreta
Cc: Superintendent Withers; Board of Education
Principal Jacobs,
I am writing to request that you provide timely and appropriate clarifications or corrections regarding Mr. Arce-Larreta's reported positions and teaching experience at Weber State and the University of Utah.
The recent and past communications present serious discrepancies that must be resolved.
These discrepancies exist not only between your statements and the information provided by others, but also between your own statements themselves.
Specifically, please indicate explicitly:
1) Whether your statement that Mr. Arce-Larretta "has been an adjunct professor at Weber State and the University of Utah" is correct, or instead is incorrect, as has been claimed;
2) The actual titles of the positions that Mr. Arce-Larretta has held at Weber State and the University of Utah, respectively;
3) The dates that he held those positions at each institution; and
4) The courses he taught in each of those capacities.
Below I remind you of the past information provided, and note the discrepancies therein:
1) Your official statement of August 26, posted on the West High whipsnet site.
Therein, you stated that Mr. Arce-Larreta (spelling corrected here) "has been an adjunct professor at Weber State and the University of Utah." A reasonable reader of your statement might further infer, potentially incorrectly that Mr. Arce-Larreta may have taught university-level courses in those positions.
2) Whipsnet posting and University of Utah website.
A subsequent posting on whipsnet (Aug 27) indicates that your official statement did not seem accurate. To my knowledge, you have not yet responded to this issue.
As previously noted, the University of Utah website http://faculty.utah.edu/u0076538-CARLOS_ENRIQUE_ARCE-LARRETA/teaching/index.hml lists Mr. Arce-Larreta as "Associate Instructor, Academic Outreach Contin Ed, University of Utah", not adjunct professor, as you had indicated. This website further indicates that Mr. Arce-Larreta was teaching one-week summer (2011) courses to preteens and teens. The Youth Education Summerscool catalog http://continue.utah.edu/dl/youth.pdf indicates that none of these courses is in Physics.
There is, of course, a considerable difference between teaching one-week, non-physics courses to pre-teens and teens, and teaching University-level courses or high-school advanced Physics courses.
But also, of course, web information is not necessarily accurate or complete.
3) Your letter of Sep 9, 2011, regarding Physics at West High
Your Sep 9 letter, distributed widely and posted on whipsnet, omits your previous claim that Mr. Arce-Larreta "has been an adjunct professor at Weber State and the University of Utah." Notably, however, it does not indicate whether your previous claim was incorrect.
The questions naturally arise:
a) Was your previous claim that Mr. Arce-Larreta "has been an adjunct professor at Weber State and the University of Utah" correct? Or was it incorrect?
b) If your previous, still-posted claim was incorrect, then why did you simply omit that claim in your Sep 9 letter, rather than taking the opportunity to correct it in a timely and appropriate manner?
c) If your previous, still-posted claim was incorrect, who is responsible for the distribution of this misinformation?
Students, teachers, parents, and citizens have the right to expect and receive timely and appropriate information on this issue, and on other issues. Release of misinformation damages credibility.
I thank you in advance for providing the specific information being requested as a matter of factual public record.
Sincerely,
Gregory A. Clark