Provo City School District Board President Darryl Alder was so upset by his behavior during a debate about access to public documents at a board meeting Tuesday that he has handed in his resignation.

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

No one is happy about the press the district received when it asked board member Sandy Packard to pay money for several hundred pages of documents she requested earlier this year.

The board was scheduled to approve a district Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA) fee policy at the board meeting in response to Packard being asked to pay for her requested documents.

Superintendent Randy Merrill voiced objections to reports about the GRAMA issue in local newspapers. Discussion got heated -- Packard left the room at one point.

"We have never said no to a GRAMA. We have never said no to information," he said.

The board took a recess to calm down, and Alder decided he had had enough.

He went to the front desk of the district office, decided a yellow sticky note was too small, and hand-wrote his resignation on a half-sheet of used paper.

After that, he returned to the board room where the meeting had reconvened without him, handed in his letter, took his jacket and left.

Alder said he was unhappy that he lost his temper during the meeting and not sticking by the district's staff in comments he made to the media about the GRAMA incident.

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

The board did vote to accept the policy that allows the district to charge for more than 50 pages per person 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 passed 6-to-1 without the support of Packard who wanted a rate to be included and an amendment added saying she as a board member could get documents for free.

Alder is still a member of the board even in light of his resignation as president.

Board member Shannon Poulsen asked Alder to sleep on the decision to resign.

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

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.