Transparency News, 4/11/2022
Monday
April 11, 2022
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state & local news stories
"Reporter Patrick Wilson then filed a petition in Richmond General District Court on April 1 asking the court to order the Department of Education to comply with FOIA."
A judge in Richmond on Friday ordered the Virginia Department of Education to provide more specific information to the Richmond Times-Dispatch in response to a FOIA request the newspaper made for communications between state officials and a nonprofit in Washington, D.C. The newspaper in February requested communications between certain Department of Education officials and people at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank that, records show, has assisted the department in its work. The department found 53 emails responsive to the newspaper’s FOIA request and provided the records, withholding five of the emails as working papers of the governor’s office. Virginia FOIA says that when a public agency opts to withhold records, it must cite the code section that allows the withholding and “shall identify with reasonable particularity the volume and subject matter of withheld records.” When the newspaper asked the department to describe the particular subject matter of the five withheld emails, the department’s FOIA officer declined. Reporter Patrick Wilson then filed a petition in Richmond General District Court on April 1 asking the court to order the department to comply with FOIA.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Montgomery County School Board Chairwoman Sue Kass presented the timeline for the search and hiring of a new superintendent during a meeting last week. The process, which Kass described as relatively standard for such searches, is being prompted by the school board’s unanimous decision last month to formally terminate former Superintendent Mark Miear “without cause.” The decision has over the past few weeks led to criticism of the board, with some in the community questioning why the district hasn’t publicly elaborated a little more on the reason behind the firing and whether the former MCPS chief is entitled to severance pay — and, if so, exactly how much taxpayer money would be spent on it. MCPS officials, including school board members, have declined to openly discuss details of the firing, citing the issue as a protected personnel matter. “Until this matter is discussed openly and there is an accounting for how OUR money is being spent, not a single one of you deserves an ounce of trust from the community on how the school system is being run,” Blacksburg resident Dave Perks wrote.
The Roanoke Times
The Spotsylvania School Board on Monday will consider restricting the time and subject matter of public comments. There’s also a proposal to amend the approved minutes of the Jan. 10 meeting, which is now the subject of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The proposed changes to the policy governing public comments are an attempt to “streamline and improve the use of Public Commentary to reach important board decisions,” according to the agenda. During the Jan. 10 meeting, the board entered into a closed session after which then-Superintendent Scott Baker was fired. The meeting, and the closed session in particular, are the subject of a lawsuit filed by a former Spotsylvania student that will be heard in Spotsylvania General District Court on April 29. The proposed amendment to the minutes is not included with the posted meeting agenda, but School Board member Dawn Shelley said Friday that it is her understanding “that they plan to update that part of the minutes, saying that [board members Lorita Daniels and Nicole Cole] went into the closed session, which they did not participate in.”
The Free Lance-Star
Former House Speaker Kirk Cox and other veteran legislators don’t favor turning the General Assembly — the oldest representative body in the Western Hemisphere — into a full-time legislature, but pressure is beginning to build for changes to a winter calendar established under the constitution in an agrarian age. “Increasingly it is clear that our elected leaders don’t have enough time in session to do the people’s work,” said Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, in a column published in The Washington Post last month after the assembly adjourned again without a budget. “The short session has never been short since it was put into the constitution,” said Senate Clerk Susan Clarke Schaar, who joined the Senate in 1974 and became clerk in 1990. “I think it ought to go to 60 days.” Schaar also thinks the session should begin on Feb. 1 to relieve the mounting strain on the professional workforce that supports the annual legislative sessions, especially attorneys in the Division of Legislative Services who work through the holiday season to prepare for the annual legislative onslaught of thousands of bills and resolutions. But legislative veterans also say the assembly has the power now to solve the problem by limiting the number of bills that lawmakers introduce, avoiding duplication and unnecessary work for staff.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Timothy Simmons wants more access to school board meetings in Augusta County for the public. Thursday night during the board's monthly meeting, the Pastures District representative brought up for a vote the topic of using Facebook Live to stream meetings. While it was met with some opposition — two of the six members present voted against the idea — Simmons' idea passed, giving residents of Augusta County one more option to view meetings. The technology is in place and is currently used by the Board of Supervisors to stream meetings. At this time only those who show up in person at the meeting can speak during the delegations portion.
News Leader
And yet another member of the Richlands Town Council has submitted a resignation. Richard Brown confirmed Facebook reports April 7 that he submitted a resignation. Brown said it was effective immediately. His departure leaves the town with just four council members heading into budget season. A public hearing on several proposed rate increases to taxes and utilities is scheduled for the April 12 town council meeting. He joined Mary Ann Strong in leaving the council this week. Brown was completing the final year of his term and that seat will be on the ballot in November.
The News and Press
editorials & columns
"Local governments will complain that they will have to hire more employees. That’s great. What could be a better use of government funds than hiring people to provide information to its citizens?"
Even in hyper-partisan times, we hope there is one thing on which people of all political persuasions can agree: Charging citizens hundreds of dollars to acquire public information that they have the right to know is not just an oxymoron, but also moronic. A recent bill received by a woman in rural Smyth County who made a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request triggered this reaction. We are agnostic about Veda Odle’s opposition to a private airstrip that county supervisors approved beside her cattle farm. What all Virginians citizens should question is the $900 the county billed Odle when she sought public records that supported the airstrip owner’s request for a special use permit. The issue here is not about an individual or an onerous request for data. It concerns the costs of transparency or the lack thereof. Sometimes, VFOIA requests are comprehensive. Journalists are trained to make public information requests as broad as possible so public officials or agencies cannot hide behind technicalities. Are these requests a pain for the employees who have to track down correspondence and memos? You betcha. They are also necessary to protect the public.
The Daily Progress
Charging citizens a fee to receive information from a local government they pay taxes to is a practice that needs to end now. Localities regularly use the threat of high costs to discourage citizens and news organizations from requesting information. It’s time for that to end. Delegate Nick Freitas of Culpeper has a bill waiting for the governor’s signature requiring municipalities to supply the requested records at the lowest possible cost. The bill also requires governments to notify citizens making FOIA requests that there could be a charge and to ask them if they would like an estimate of the costs. The bill is a nice try, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. The “lowest possible cost” is free. FOIA requests should all be provided for free. Local governments will complain that they will have to hire more employees. That’s great. What could be a better use of government funds than hiring people to provide information to its citizens?
Bristol Herald Courier
The familiarity that local news helps create between government leaders and those they govern plays a critical role in strengthening the civic bonds that hold us together as a people. Local journalists are also the ones who closely follow how local government leaders are spending tax dollars. Tracing this information requires hours poring through budgets both current and past, speaking with government leaders, and connecting the dots between promises and the money spent to deliver results. This is work that the average citizen simply does not have time to undertake. And when government leaders go silent, as have school board members in Spotsylvania County, it is local journalists who dig in and try to understand what they are doing, how their actions impact the community, and continue to press for answers that taxpayers want and deserve.
The Free Lance-Star
