‘I think people need to know how unsettling it was…’

During the “superintendent’s comments” portion of a Yelm Community Schools (YCS) Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, March 12, Chris Woods, YCS Superintendent, and members of the school board addressed an “unsettling” situation that transpired at the district office one week prior on Thursday, March 5.

YouTube channel “I.A.M Free - Inland Auditing Media,” which has over 108,000 subscribers on its page, posted a video titled “School District Calls Police For This?!” on to its platform. In the near half-hour long video, the man recording, who only addressed himself as “Steve,” used a Go Pro to capture a conversation regarding YCS public records requests between him and several district office employees. The video has surpassed 37,000 views in just eight days.

You can view the full video here: https://tinyurl.com/YCSYouTube.

Specifically, “Steve” sought “the records index” and “public procedures manual” from YCS. He stated, “I’m looking to inspect the procedures manual for records, and then the index.”

When asked where he was from, he stated, “I can’t really get into that right now either.”

Additionally, the man recording the video was allegedly dressed in a green vest with a black mast covering his face.

YCS board member, Denise Hendrickson, was the first to comment on the situation that unfolded in the district office on Thursday, March 5. She prefaced that the YCS district office is part of school property, just like each individual school, transportation facility and maintenance facility.

“The people that work in those facilities are all employees of Yelm Community Schools. When the guy shows up in a green vest, black beater mask covering his face, Go Pro Camera on a stick, gives his first name of Steve and proceeds with his agenda for content he can edit for a YouTube video,” Hendrickson said. “He never wanted what he came in and asked for. It was a set up, just like the other schools he’s been to. In fact, the guy’s name is Robert Anthony McDonald, and he was banned from Walla Walla Public Schools for safety concerns.”

The Nisqually Valley News could not verify if that was the man’s true identify, however, The News Tribune has previously reported that Seth Jameson Price, 39, a “first amendment auditor” who posts to the YouTube channel “I.A.M Free - Inland Auditing Media” was booked into Pierce County Jail last October on two counts of assault in the second degree.

Hendrickson added that the YouTuber did not show up in Yelm by accident, but was rather contacted by someone to show up at the district office.

Following Hendrickson’s remarks, Woods said that he had just returned back to the district office and upon his arrival, he spotted “Steve” sitting inside of the building.

“I looked at our receptionist, and by the look on her face, I could tell that this was not OK. You can imagine seeing somebody walk into your building looking like this is pretty unsettling,” Woods said. “Immediately, he goes into a number of things. He pulled out his phone and starts scrolling through things to ask us for.”

Woods added that the person behind the “Inland Auditing Media” video did not give out his full name and only identified himself as “Steve.”

“He says his name is Steve, or some other alias,” Woods said. “He comes in and he wants to know ‘where is your index of records?’ Basically, an index of records is just what it says. It’s an index that shows all of the records you keep in your district.”

Within YCS, according to Woods, there’s a specific policy that states the district doesn’t keep those because of the “sheer volume” of records it has.

“We don’t keep an index, which is common for school districts,” Woods said. “However, if someone were to make a public records request for a specific type of document then we produce that. Any type of document we produce in our district is something that’s subject to public record. So, first, he wants an index of records. I gave him our policy, and then, from there, he wants to make a public records request.”

Woods added that employees inside of the district office gave “Steve” the specific paperwork for him to file a public records request, but he opted to do a “verbal” records request instead. Woods, with a clipboard and pen in his hand, asked “Steve” what he’d like to say in order for the superintendent to track that information down to provide a public records request.

“He didn’t want to tell me,” Woods said. “So, later, Dee Dee (Buckingham) had a turn. She got to go through the exact same thing with him and offered to write down his request. He was there for an hour and 20 minutes. That’s an hour and 20 minutes in our district office where our receptionist can’t do any work up front because he’s looking at her computer from around the desk, taking pictures of everything that’s going on, taking pictures down the hallways and yelling for various things that he wants.”

Additionally, Woods stated he pulled YCS district office staff into his office so they “wouldn’t be subjected to that.” He also called the police while his staff was in his office.

According to Woods — and confirmed by the YouTube video — Yelm Police Department sent three officers to the district office. The superintendent stated the three officers did a fantastic job of handling the situation.

“They were very professional, very calm,” Woods said.

The superintendent added that he eventually left, and the auditor exited the building with police shortly after.

“He does this in public buildings, in government buildings,” Woods said. “Never really wants to see documentation, does want to create a little bit of chaos and wants to present it as though ‘your organization has been exposed’ or ‘is doing something incorrectly’ or ‘against the law.’ He’ll go to multiple districts and the reason he’s been ‘no trespassed’ for two years from Walla Walla is because he was going around to open doors, just walking in and taking pictures and video.”

Additionally, Woods said YCS has notified the transportation department and facilities department that they are to keep front doors locked at their buildings.

“If they were to see somebody dressed in a mask or a concerning outfit to not let them in. I think this would be concerning to anybody that is working in a place of business and they see this person come in,” Woods said. “He does not go to schools — at least he has not up to this point because he knows he can’t take footage there because of children. However, right next door to our district office, we have our extension school and on a Thursday our students are coming and going in for class.”

Woods also stated the auditor has returned to locations of his YouTube videos and that he’ll be sending out emails to YCS staff on how to handle the situation if Inland Auditing Media returns to the district.

“Unfortunately, this is the world that we live in now where people like to record anything,” Woods said. “They can edit it however they want. They can make it present however they want. Our staff did a fantastic job. I think people need to know how unsettling it was for an hour and 20 minutes of someone standing there and demanding various things from staff.”