Transparency News, 3/15/2022
Tuesday
March 15, 2022
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state & local news stories
In honor of Sunshine Week, I'm hosting three lunchtime drop-in sessions to ask, "WTF? What the FOIA." It's free, but you have to register, and you can drop in or leave at any time during any or all sessions.
As part of our investigation into the State of Education in Virginia, 10 On Your Side filed two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests about proposed changes to the public education system in Virginia — both of which were denied. These requests hoped to paint a clearer picture of changes coming to classrooms in Virginia, but with both requests denied by state leadership, 10 On Your Side — and therefore you at home — are left with as many questions about these changes as before. One FOIA request was sent to the governor’s office and another was sent to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). Both requests were denied citing the same reason, Va. Code § 2.2-3705.7(2), or the working papers exemption. It’s an exemption Megan Rhyne from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government says has been somewhat abused. “If you’re being denied, the public is being denied,” she said.
WAVY
The Pound Town Council is slated to meet Tuesday night with its first quorum since December. The future of Pound has been the subject of some debate in recent months, as a bill that now awaits the governor’s signature gives the Wise County town until November 2023 to get its affairs in order or lose its charter. In the face of the ultimatum from Richmond, a number of residents and local officials mounted an effort to keep the town alive, saying that once the council could again conduct business it could begin to address Pound’s ongoing problems.
Cardinal News
A recent graduate of Courtland High School in Spotsylvania intends to file a lawsuit against the Spotsylvania County School Board on Friday. The Edwards Law Firm announced the pending litigation in a Facebook post on Monday afternoon. The suit will be filed in Spotsylvania General District Court on behalf of Makaila Keyes, 19, a 2020 graduate of Courtland. It alleges that the School Board, specifically Kirk Twigg, April Gillespie, Lisa Phelps and Rabih Abuismail, violated the Freedom of Information Act, employment and education law in actions taken during its Jan. 10, 2022, meeting. “The petition alleges that School Board Chairman Mr. Kirk Twigg willfully and knowingly violated Ms. Keyes’ [FOIA] rights when, against the warnings of certain colleagues, he chose to: (1) Propose, push, and pass a substantially and materially altered meeting agenda without an opportunity for public inspection; (2) Declare and conduct an unlawful closed meeting that was on neither the original proposed agenda, nor on the substantially and materially altered substitute agenda, and; (3) Declare and conduct an unlawful closed meeting without holding a vote to go into closed session,” the law firm’s statement reads.
The Free Lance-Star
NOTE: FOIA does not require that there be an agenda, only that if it does, it has to be made available to everyone at the same time the members get it. FOIA does not speak of alterations to an agenda, however.
A sociology professor at Marymount University and a former housing lawyer are poring over century-old property records to locate Arlington’s segregated neighborhoods. It’s a time-consuming process, but the goal is to map Arlington’s “history of exclusion,” says professor Janine DeWitt. “Our research is to take a look very closely at a granular level — lot by lot, parcel by parcel — and map the racially restrictive covenants that were in Arlington,” she said during a discussion hosted by the Arlington Historical Society last week. “We want to know the Arlington we’re in right now and how much of that was exclusionary.” DeWitt says she and Neun would have started their research at the Arlington County courthouse, leafing through physical pre-1951 property records, but due to Covid they conducted research every way they could until the county wrapped up a two-year project to digitize land records documents.
ARLnow
stories of national interest
Each year during Sunshine Week (March 13-19), The Foilies serve up tongue-in-cheek "awards" for government agencies and assorted institutions that stand in the way of access to information. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock combine forces to collect horror stories about Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and state-level public records requests from journalists and transparency advocates across the United States and beyond. Our goal is to identify the most surreal document redactions, the most aggravating copy fees, the most outrageous retaliation attempts, and all the other ridicule-worthy attacks on the public's right to know.
MuckRock
NOTE: Two entries on the list are from Virginia.
A judge in Florida on Monday agreed to make permanent an order that prohibits the release of photos, video or other records related to the investigation into the death of comedian Bob Saget. During a court hearing in Orlando, Circuit Judge Vincent Chiu said he would issue a permanent injunction that had been requested by Saget's widow, Kelly Rizzo, and his three daughters. The family members had filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the release of any records from the local medical examiner's office and the Orange County Sheriff's Office involving the investigation into Saget's death.
CBS News
