THE SEPT. 15 Bay Guardian opinion piece by Mark Sanchez and Jane Kim could just as well have been called fiction. The Sunshine Ordinance is about access to public records, not personnel evaluation, media relations, or speech rights, the main concerns of Sanchez and Kim's article.

Adoption of the city's Sunshine Ordinance by the San Francisco Unified School District has been proposed several times, but important concerns about student privacy and SFUSD autonomy from city government have prevented the school board's adoption of the city ordinance's language. On the other hand, the Board of Education and Superintendent Arlene Ackerman are strongly committed to openness and access in all our official activities.

Ackerman arrived in San Francisco in 2000 with a promise to open the district to public scrutiny, to aggressively uncover mismanagement and corruption, and to reveal it to the public. She stated repeatedly that finding and exposing the district's dirty laundry was necessary to restore public trust. She has kept that promise, though not always with unanimous support from the board.

Audits and investigations begun by the superintendent have led to the restoration of millions of misspent General Fund dollars; to the firing, indictment, and prosecution of several upper- and midlevel administrators; to the civil and criminal prosecution of corrupt multinational corporations; to the receipt of nearly $50,000,000 in settlement and whistle-blower awards to the SFUSD; to congressional recognition of Ackerman and her staff for exposing a national pattern of fraud in the federal E-Rate program; and to a restoration of public trust in the SFUSD.

Sanchez and Kim raise the false allegation of a district-wide free-speech gag order. At almost any board meeting, members of our staff address the board freely and sometimes even vehemently without reprisal or censure. Ackerman and the Board of Education fully support employees' rights to frankly respond to media inquiries. The superintendent has so directed all administrators in staff meetings and has issued responses to media inquiries affirming all employees' rights to contribute their opinions to the public discussion of the SFUSD's mission and function. The San Francisco Chronicle and other publications have carried these statements for all to see, and they are a matter of public record.

Far from waging a "war on reporters," the SFUSD's Office of Public Engagement has responded to media inquiries with professionalism, working with other district staff to be sure complete and accurate information is provided in accordance with legal timelines, assisting schools that request information, and holding numerous press conferences to respond to public interest and to report on district programs and achievements. Those efforts are important to the district's commitment to full public participation in the SFUSD.

Sanchez and Kim's article asserts, incredibly, that an employee was forced from the district because of whistle-blowing. Not only does this contradict the extensive public record of encouragement of whistle-blowing, but this vaguely described rumor also violates confidentiality. Rumor and innuendo serve neither the former employee, the district, nor the public. It is not sunshine; it is mud and character assassination.

Since coming to the SFUSD, and in spite of often lacking unanimous support on the Board of Education, Ackerman has run an open administration, responsive to public inquiry and input, and accountable to the people of San Francisco. All measures of district finance and administration and rising student achievement demonstrate the value of the board's and superintendent's insistence on accountability and openness. In response to Ackerman's having opened the windows and turned on the lights, commissioner Sanchez and candidate Kim are crying, "Fire, fire" – but there's not even smoke.

We, who led the fight against the prior administrations' privatization of schools, corrupt self-dealing, and incompetent administration, know the importance of openness and full participation. We hold Ackerman and ourselves fully accountable to the same high standards we demanded in ousting the prior administration.

Dan Kelly is president of the San Francisco Board of Education. Eddie Chin and Jill Wynns are board members.