Adam Herbets

SALT LAKE CITY — Tim Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), has filed a defamation lawsuit against Miss Utah 2004.

SALT LAKE CITY — Tim Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), has now filed defamation lawsuits against seven women who accused him of sexual misconduct.

SALT LAKE CITY — FOX 13 News is compiling a list of public school teachers and district employees in Utah who have been disciplined in the 2022-2023 school year and 2023-2024 school year for violence, bullying, cyber-bullying, retaliation, boundary violations, grooming, or sexual misconduct involving students.

FOX 13 News is investigating dozens of cases across Utah of teachers bullying students. Some of the districts were transparent, but others refused to provide access to responsive records.

The kids say they were bullied by the teachers. The teachers say they were bullied by the kids. Neither side is happy with the way Athlos Academy handled it.

Some lawmakers are considering whether to require the Utah State Board of Education to undergo anti-bullying training due to the behavior of board member Natalie Cline earlier this year.

Six women have filed a federal lawsuit against Tim Ballard and the nonprofit he founded, Operation Underground Railroad.

Alpine School District holds student safety records behind $389 paywall Prev Next For months, the FOX 13 Investigates team has been trying to report on teachers who have already been disciplined by Alpine School District in the last two school years. Posted 2 minutes ago UTAH COUNTY — For months, the FOX 13 Investigates team has been trying to report on teachers who have already been disciplined by Alpine School District in the last two school years. The district is now trying to charge close to $400 in fees for access to records related to teachers who were disciplined for grooming, boundary violations, sexual misconduct, and violence against students. Alpine agrees that the disciplinary records are public. Parents say they believe the prohibitive fees are a way for the district to hide otherwise public information. “This should be public knowledge,” said parent James Gaffney. “Why do you have to pay for this?” Gaffney attended a recent Alpine School District board meeting to voice his displeasure with sexual content in schools. He said he was surprised to see the amount of misconduct cases statewide. The Utah State Board of Education has provided information on dozens of cases where teachers received state discipline since 2022. Here are a few examples. Case 1896: An educator spent “alone time” with a student, having “inappropriate conversations” and “providing alcohol to the minor student on three occasions.” Case 1901: An educator “had an inappropriate relationship with a high school student, which included private travel together and getting matching tattoos.” Case 1924: An educator “touched students inappropriately, including touching a student's genitals over her pants while she was babysitting in the educator's home.” The educator also contacted students over social media. Case 1936: An educator “described a student's behavior as ‘hot,'” and “took questionable photos of students in a yearbook class.” Case 1810: An educator “kissed a female student after a school activity.” The educator also “exchanged messages” with the student on social media and met up with the student off campus, giving “inappropriate gifts” and exchanging “inappropriate photos.” So far, it's unknown how many of those cases (if any) occurred within Alpine, the largest school district in Utah. USBE has not provided a list of names or districts, and Alpine continues to hold disciplinary records behind a paywall. Alpine is charging... for sustained cases of grooming for sustained cases of boundary violations for sustained cases of sexual misconduct for sustained cases of violence against students Alpine also charged a fee for records related to sustained cases of cyber-bullying, even though Alpine has identified zero sustained cases in the past two years. FOX 13 News is appealing the fees under Utah's public records law. Many districts have already supplied disciplinary records for free, citing a “public benefit.” They say they're committed to taking swift action against teachers who harm children. Some districts are charging even higher fees than Alpine. Davis School District for records related to cyber-bullying, retaliation, boundary violations, violence with students, grooming, and sexual misconduct Granite School District Unknown fee for records related to cyber-bullying, retaliation, boundary violations, violence with students, grooming, and sexual misconduct Nebo School District for records related to violence with students, boundary violations, and sexual misconduct Weber School District for records related to boundary violations and violence with students. Tooele County School District for records related to bullying, cyber-bullying, retaliation, boundary violations, violence with students, grooming, and sexual misconduct. Gaffney referred to Alpine's fees as a “cover up.” “It's borderline protecting pedophiles from what I'm seeing on here,” Gaffney said. “Grooming kids?! This could be happening in my child's high school... You shouldn't have anything sexual in front of kids, period.” According to state law , records that "primarily benefit the public” should be provided “without charge.” Kraig Brinkerhoff, an attorney for Alpine School District, agreed that there is a public benefit in providing the data. “Sure, but that's not the question,” Brinkerhoff said. “We will follow the law.” Gaffney said providing the records for free would be a transparent way to allow parents to know what is happening in their kids' classroom. Sara Hacken, the president of Alpine's school board, said “it depends.” “Some information is confidential,” Hacken said. “(Parents) don't have a right to it... A teacher or a parent has a right to confidentiality, and that has to be respected as well. It's not like everything that ever happens, everywhere, the public has a right to know, because they don't.” "Yes, but not if they've been disciplined,” said FOX 13 investigative reporter Adam Herbets. “Well, maybe,” Hacken responded. Sara Hacken Hacken accused FOX 13 News of “looking to dish dirt on teachers.” Gaffney disagreed. “It's not that you're trying to make teachers look bad,” Gaffney said. “They made themselves look bad because they did it!” Hacken said she believes “teachers are doing the best job they can.” She declined to say whether she thinks there's a public benefit for parents to have access to the information. “They're not perfect,” Hacken said. “Sometimes they make mistakes. We do what we can.” AnnMarie Gordon, another parent, said she wasn't surprised to see Hacken's reluctance. “They're just unaccountable to parents,” Gordon said. “They feel like they don't need to be transparent. They see themselves as above scrutiny... In theory, I think they'd like to (be transparent), but their actions over and over again show us that they're not necessarily trying.” Gordon said she has also tried to request public records from Alpine, unrelated to teacher discipline. When she ran into roadblocks, she said she had to ask state lawmakers for help. She believes releasing records related to sexual misconduct would act as a deterrent. “Grooming happens very slowly, and it happens very carefully,” Gordon said. “If that can help protect a child, I think that it is in the public's best interest... The reality is, the more times that news media outlets expose this type of information? If it gets out there? Believe me, teachers (or whoever) won't do it. It won't happen in the first place.” Gaffney said he would like to see other members of the public email their board members or attend Alpine School District meetings to “lift their voices.” FOX 13 News reached out to Alpine School District board members Mark Clement and Stacy Bateman for an interview. Clement and Bateman declined to comment. Copyright 2024 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Sign up for the Breaking News Newsletter and receive up to date information. 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After more than a year’s worth of efforts to keep his appointments secret, the Utah Attorney General’s Office has released part of Sean Reyes’ calendar to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Lawmakers across Utah say they were not surprised to learn that Rep. Kera Birkeland (R-Mountain Green) was stepping down from the Utah State Legislature despite her reelection just last month.