Source Documents: View the signed statements where officials stated no records existed
Public Records Retention

Where Did Their Text Messages Go???

The records, the law, the college’s own policy, and the question the public has a right to ask.

Are the Wenatchee Valley College Board of Trustees and College Administrators Destroying Public Records? You decide.

This post is not about making accusations.

It is about presenting the records, the law, the college’s own newly released policy, and asking a simple question:

Where did the records go?

WVC’s Newly Released Personal Device Policy

Wenatchee Valley College recently released a new Board policy titled:

000.180 PERSONAL DEVICE USE POLICY

The policy states that its purpose is to ensure that work-related communications conducted through text messaging or personal devices are managed in compliance with the Washington Public Records Act, Washington State records-retention laws, and Washington State Archives retention schedules.

“Text messages and communications created or received on personal devices that relate to college business are public records and must be managed accordingly.”

It further states:

“All Wenatchee Valley College employees are responsible for ensuring that communications related to College business—regardless of the device used—are properly retained, accessible, and produced in accordance with state law.”

That policy was approved by the president’s cabinet on April 21, 2026 and adopted by the Board of Trustees on May 20, 2026.

But the legal duty did not begin in 2026.

Washington public-records and records-retention laws existed long before WVC adopted this policy.

Here Is the Issue

Several WVC officials and trustees signed statements saying they had no responsive text-message records. Those signed statements are available here for the public to review directly.

But text messages produced from Maria Iñiguez’s phone show public-business communications with WVC Board Chair Paula Arno Martinez, Trustee Wilma Cartagena, Trustee Tamra Jackson, and others. Compare those records with the signed no-record statements here.

So the question is simple:

If those public-business texts existed on Maria’s phone, where are the corresponding records from the other officials’ phones?

Why did officials state they had no responsive records when Maria’s phone showed they were part of those conversations?

And if those records no longer exist on their phones, when were they deleted, why were they deleted, and were they deleted in compliance with Washington retention law?

The Diana Garza Text Message Concern

The same concern applies to WVC Vice President Diana Garza.

Anna Brown, now known as Anna Fransk, publicly posted a text-message exchange showing Garza’s image and a message. Yet when a Public Records Act request sought Garza’s version of that same communication, the response was that no responsive records existed.

Again, the question is simple:

Where did the records go?

Why This Matters

The public has a right to ask whether WVC officials properly searched for, preserved, and produced public records involving public business.

Public records do not stop being public records because they are on a personal phone.

Public records do not stop mattering because they are inconvenient.

And public officials should not be able to simply say “no records” when other public records show the communications existed.

Read the Records and Decide for Yourself

View the public-record text messages wenatcheecollege.com/text Read the broader article wenatcheevalleycollege.com/news/ Take Action Sign and share the petition change.org/wenatcheevalleycollege
Wenatchee Valley College belongs to the public. Public records belong to the public.

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