The Provo school board is trying to stop its president from resigning.

Board president Darryl Alder gave the board his resignation Tuesday night. He wasn't trying to resign as a board member, only as president.

"The resignation was not accepted. The board members asked him to sleep on it and think about it," said Greg Hudnall, the district's director of student services. "It was just a very frustrating time for everybody. I think emotions got high."

In a statement sent out Wednesday morning, Alder said he is going out of town for three days and will think about the issue.

He gave the board the handwritten letter of resignation near the end of Tuesday's scheduled meeting. The letter came after discussion concerning a records request policy got heated. The board had taken a recess to calm down after member Sandy Packard left the room.

Alder said his behavior during the meeting wasn't becoming of him.

"It was not professional for me to have lost my temper," Alder said Tuesday. "The board needs a calmer president than me."

He also expressed frustration at reports concerning the district's handling of the disbursement of records, saying the district's staff works hard to serve people. Any comments he made that could have been taken as critical shouldn't have been made or taken that way.

"This district is in good hands. These men and women are doing excellent work and deserve to have been stood by," Alder said.

Board Vice President Mary Ann Christiansen said board members had refused to accept the resignation because they had confidence in Alder's leadership.

Board member Shannon Poulsen said Alder does a good job.

"He's been a very good president. He's well prepared. He listens to both sides," Poulsen said. "He's a good board member. He's intelligent and he knows the ins and outs of being a president."

Tuesday, the board approved a district Government Records Access and Management Act fee policy without the support of Packard. She wanted a set fee to be included on the policy. As it stands, the district can charge a fee, but it is not pre-determined. She also wanted a fee exemption for school board members.

Hudnall said the board left the policy vague so there could be flexibility.

As it was passed, the policy allows the district to charge for copies if a person requests more than 50 pages in a year. The policy also allows a fee to be charged for requests that take more than 15 minutes of staff time.

The policy was created in response to a request from Packard made earlier this summer. While the board was working on the budget, Packard asked for documents from the staff. She asked the board to request them for her, but the board voted against the request.

Packard turned to GRAMA. Her request was for more than 3,000 pages, and the school district staff told her the fee would be hundreds of dollars if she wanted her own copies. She could have inspected the documents for free, without copies.

Hudnall said the intent of the district has never been to withhold documents.

"Honestly we just make it available, and if it becomes too much, we just say this is what the current rate is," Hudnall said.

Brittani Lusk can be reached at 344-2549 or at blusk@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C1.