Transparency News, 10/5/2022
Wednesday
October 5, 2022
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state & local news stories
The Richmond School Board on Monday voted 5-4 to approve creating working groups to review the division’s reading, math and science curriculums with the intention to develop a three-year plan to address curricula concerns, beginning in the 2023-24 academic year. Vice Chair Kenya Gibson, who represents the 3rd District, prevailed Monday night with her motion regarding the division’s curriculum. Two of her previous motions in prior meetings, meant to scrap the division’s curriculum, failed. According to emails sent to the School Board chair by a Virginia Department of Education official, the two surprise motions that Gibson introduced at meetings in August and September undermined the board’s efforts to maintain order and were not in compliance with the memorandum of understanding the board has with the department. “When things are allowed into motion without being on the agenda as an action item, it undermines the processes you all are attempting to institutionalize,” Aurelia Ortiz, director of the office of school quality, instruction and performance for the Virginia Department of Education, wrote in a Sept. 13 email, according to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by parents and obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Roanoke Times has obtained footage of a May 9 incident that prompted Rocky Mount town employees to call police to the municipal building because of businessman and town council candidate Phillip Bane. Since at least 2014, Bane has had plans to develop downtown Rocky Mount’s old Morris Furniture building — 325 Franklin St. — into a hotel. Bane and the town have spent the last two years in a back-and-forth over various zoning issues. Bane is a candidate in this year’s town council race. In a Sept. 26 Roanoke Times article, town staff said Bane has been combative and has not adhered to the proper laws and procedures during his efforts to develop the Franklin Street building. Town staff have called the police during three of Bane’s visits to the town office, most recently on May 9. In a Sept. 26 Roanoke Times article, town staff said Bane has been combative and has not adhered to the proper laws and procedures during his efforts to develop the Franklin Street building. Town staff have called the police during three of Bane’s visits to the town office, most recently on May 9. In the Sept. 26 article, Bane alleged that Town Manager Robert Wood hit him with a paper, which Wood denied. Both said they had video of the event. At that time, Bane declined The Roanoke Times’ request for his video. The Roanoke Times asked again before publishing this article and Bane declined to do so. The town supplied its footage of the event — three separate videos — to The Roanoke Times following a public records request.
The Roanoke Times
As the Harrisonburg City School Board and a group of parents and teachers prepare to go to court over interpretations of teacher training materials given last year, Superintendent Michael Richards filed a sworn statement that counters some of what one of the teachers has been saying to media. Deborah Figliola, one of the district’s teachers involved in bringing the lawsuit, was a guest on “Fox & Friends First” last month and said she “didn’t want to lie to children and didn’t want to lie to parents” about changes in names and preferred gender pronouns that students might request. Figliola and fellow teachers Kristine Marsh and Laura Nelson, as well as parents Timothy Nelson and John and Nicolette Stephens, filed the lawsuit in June. A court date has been set in the case for Nov.1 at 1:30 p.m. at the Rockingham County Courthouse. Figliola told The Citizen that she was among several people who spoke at school board meetings before contacting Alliance Defending Freedom to begin the lawsuit. The Citizen reviewed School Board meeting minutes that span June 2021 through June 2022 — the timeframe between the introduction of the training materials in August 2021 and the filing of the lawsuit this June. The minutes reveal that while Figliola spoke at two board meetings last fall, neither of those comments reflected concerns about the change in the nondiscrimination policy. While a number of people who spoke during public comment against the changes in the nondiscrimination policy, none of the other five plaintiffs made any public comments at any meeting during that timeframe, according to the minutes.
The Citizen
editorials & columns
A free press. No institution has weathered the storms of democracy longer than the free press in America. And no institution is more central to democracy’s survival. That the free press is under assault today is certainly noteworthy, but it’s far from unusual. Among the American right, the free press has come under particular scrutiny. The Tea Party launched an aggressive anti-press campaign early in the new millennium best summed up by bumper stickers reading: “I don’t believe the liberal media.” Later, then-President Donald Trump’s took things further, declaring that the press is the “enemy of the American people.” That he said this, repeatedly, isn’t all that surprising given Trump’s inability to speak truthfully. But Barack Obama was hardly friendlier to the media, though he was more restrained in his public critique. Under his administration, he used the Espionage Act to relentlessly pursue people who leaked information to the press. In addition, AP press members had their phone records seized by the Justice Department. And both New York Times reporter James Risen and Fox News correspondent James Rosen were electronically surveilled in an attempt to identify their sources. Assaults on a free press aren’t limited to the national stage, however. Local reporters every day dig into stories of corruption, fraud, misuse of funds, abuse, and more in their writing about local politicians and power-brokers. And local powers are every bit as combative as national powers.
The Free Lance-Star
National Newspaper Week, which started Sunday, is an opportunity to take a moment and recognize all the ways that community newspapers like this one make a difference. If you’re reading this, you probably already have a good understanding of why it is important to have a healthy newspaper. By subscribing to or advertising in your local newspaper, you are providing much-needed support to keep trained, professional journalists covering the issues important to you. Your local newspaper is committed to being the local watchdog, covering town and county governments and school boards to make sure your tax dollars are being spent properly. But, there are many other ways newspapers serve their readers and communities, things even regular readers might not always consider.
The Smithfield Times
