As Alice once said about Wonderland, the case of the Uintah School lunch manager and the trashing of children's lunches in January is getting "curiouser and curiouser."
Amid suspicions by some parents that a recent report blaming then-Uintah nutrition manager Shirley Canham was a whitewash absolving Salt Lake City School District officials, one school board member has been pressing for answers.
Now, he says, district brass are investigating him.
Michael Clara, who represents the west side, says he became concerned the district was making the lunch manager a scapegoat when he learned she had been interviewed by two city police officers.
He discovered that the officers, who came to Uintah in April and asked Canham to meet them at police headquarters for an interview, have relationships with the district. One provides security for the district at various events; the other is a high school resource officer in the district.
Rumors were emanating from district personnel that Canham may be charged with a crime.
An investigation by the Salt Lake City law firm of Thompson, Ostler & Olsen put the blame largely on Canham for throwing away the lunches of children whose parents were behind on their meal payments.
But several parents and Clara question the report's objectivity, especially how it downplayed that tossing out lunches for nonpayment was district policy.
When a parent confronted district officials at a Sept. 2 school board meeting about police being called to question Canham, the officials acted as if they didn't know about it.
But police spokesman Dennis McGowan confirmed that the officers questioned Canham at the district's request, asking them to investigate possible fraudulent activity.
Police sent the case to the Salt Lake County district attorney's office for screening. But D.A. Sim Gill said his office declined to file charges.
The case now is closed.
Clara, in his inquiries to the police department, wanted to know why two officers who have ties to the district were the ones who questioned Canham.
The law firm's report emphasized allegations that Canham had lied to the district supervisor by telling her she routinely threw away lunches as per district policy. It ignored that Canham previously had not dumped the lunches because she didn't have the heart to deprive the kids of their meals. But she feared she would get in trouble with the district if it was known she was violating that policy.
The report also noted that Canham had transferred money from one account to another. But Gill said his office determined she didn't do that for any personal gain, just to help one of the kids whose account was short. Gill said neither set of parents objected to that.
Clara has filed an open-records request for the police report. And the school district has submitted one to the city for all communications Clara has had with city officials.
Clara, in turn, has filed a request with the district asking why it submitted a records request on him.
prolly@sltrib.com