Expenses related to travel for two Fredericksburg City School Board members, Jarvis Bailey and Malvina Kay, amounted to almost half the Board’s total budget for travel for professional development, according to documents provided to the Advance through a Freedom of Information Act request. In both cases, the Board members had in their possession while attending out-of-state conferences the credit card issued either to the Board Clerk, Angie Roenke, or the Superintendent, Marci Catlett. School Board member Malvina Kay (Ward 4) purchased a first-class ticket for her flight to Atlanta to attend the National School Board Association’s annual conference in April. In her expense reimbursement report, Kay wrote that the first-class ticket was the “only viable option” because the “comfort ticket was sold out,” and “Main seating is all the way in the back and [I] had a meeting to get to.”…Concerns about out-of-state travel—as well as the fact that there was no previous policy regulating School Board travel for professional development—led to the development of a policy on these matters, Rowe said last week in an interview with the Advance.

There could be changes coming to how public comment operates at Richmond School Board meetings. Board members on the Policy Committee worked through ideas they could add to its rules surrounding public comment last Monday night. The entire board agreed earlier this month to have the Policy Committee meet to review its public comment rules and consider potential changes. Members of the policy committee agreed to not change the 30-minute allotted time for public comment. They also agreed to keep the three minutes given to individuals and five minutes given to organizations to speak. But the members discussed additions to the policy, including a “cadence” or limitation on how often certain pre-registered public members speak at meetings. Questions were raised around whether such speakers can speak on different topics rather than what they previously talked about and if the board could create specific public comment sessions for specific agenda items. Megan Rhyne, director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said while she understands the need for efficient meetings, policies like the potential cadence “does a big disservice to citizens,” as it further stifles people being able to speak up about what’s important to them. “You have to pick and choose and prioritize without knowing what’s going to come up in the future,” she said. “I think that’s unfair to citizens.”

If you don’t like the way the County Board conducts public-comment sessions, come up with an alternative proposal. That was the message from Board Chair Takis Karantonis on July 19, as the governing body again received criticism for limiting speakers at public-comment sessions to one per topic. “You’re welcome to propose something that works better,” Karantonis said to the critics. He suggested they do so in the fall, so it could be considered when the 2026 Board convenes in January. Friction between a County Board chair and those trying to skirt the one-speaker-per-topic rule is almost a tradition in Arlington governance. Over the years, some chairs have offered broader leeway than others in interpreting the rule. Karantonis said the July 19 agenda included 52 action items, including six public hearings. He said allowing public comment to run interminably was unfair to those waiting for those items to be discussed. Karantonis, and last year’s Board chair Libby Garvey, both regularly told advocates there are multiple ways to communicate concerns to elected officials, such as “Open-Door Monday” events hosted by individual Board members. Those, however, are conducted out of sight of the public, while Board meetings have a potential worldwide audience through online streaming.

During a special meeting Friday night, the Purcellville Town Council placed Town Manager Kwasi Fraser on administrative leave with pay following his Wednesday night arrest. The motion to place Fraser on administrative leave was made after an hour and a half long closed session with Town Attorney John Caffreky. It passed 6-0 with Vice Mayor Ben Nett abstaining. Net was also indicted by the grand jury on six charges relating to improper use of a police database as well as bid rigging and commercial fraud. Nett arrived after the closed had begun and entered the meeting but left shortly after, returning for the open session. He was not included on the list of people allowed into the closed meeting.

A federal political action committee was one of the largest donors to state Sen. Aaron Rouse’s campaign for lieutenant governor. Where that money came from won’t be known until months after the primary election. A difference in reporting requirements between the Federal Election Commission and the State Board of Elections has created a loophole that allows for federal PACs to temporarily shield the source of their money, even as they contribute to state candidates in Virginia’s off-year elections. The PAC, called Our States Matter, contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Rouse for Virginia, the senator’s campaign for lieutenant governor. Where the PAC got the tens of thousands of dollars to contribute to Rouse’s campaigns won’t be known until after July 31 — the FEC’s midyear reporting deadline for the 2025 “off-year.”

This week, I’m taking you back to Jan. 20th, President Donald Trump’s first day in office. That’s when he signed an executive order calling for North America’s tallest peak, Denali, to revert back to its previous name, Mount McKinley. Curious about the internal response from the the US Board on Geographic Names and the National Park Service, which operates the Denali National Park and Preserve, I fired off Freedom of Information Act requests to both. They responded by sending me more than 200 pages of emails, text messages and other documents. It turns out it will take years for the name change to be reflected everywhere, from signs to maps to park brochures!