Did you miss yesterday’s FOIA Council meetings? Click here and then choose the “recordings” option on the left-hand side. The three FOIA Council recordings are under the heading “Week of Jul 6, 2025.”
When the Norfolk School Board abruptly fired Superintendent Sharon I. Byrdsong last month, it was the final act in a years-long campaign against her by a faction of the board that opposed her even before she was considered for the position. In February 2020, the board voted 4-3 to hire Byrdsong after scrapping the search process to consider her. At the time, she was serving as interim superintendent. Byrdsong had not applied for the position and that was because of a phone call with former school board member Rodney Jordan, former school board chair Dr. Noelle Gabriel wrote in an email to board members obtained through a public records request….On June 16, reporter Jim Morrison filed a public records request with Norfolk Public Schools for any emails sent or received, including deleted emails and group emails, by school board chair Sarah DiCalogero from June 10, 2025, through June 12, 2025. The school’s Freedom of Information Officer initially claimed the request was not specific enough, delaying fulfillment. Then he wrote that the district would not respond until July 22 because offices are closed from June 25 through July 11. Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act requires a response within five working days but permits an additional seven working days to fulfill the request. A July 22 response would be outside that legal limit.
Former Hopewell City Manager Dr. Concetta Manker has filed a multi-million-dollar federal lawsuit against the city and four councilors for wrongful termination, saying she was let go May 1 over deliberate acts of racial discrimination and conflicts of interest by the White majority on council. The lawsuit, filed July 3 in U.S. District Court in Richmond, specifically calls out Mayor Johnny Partin Jr., Vice Mayor Rita Joyner, Ward 4 Councilor Ronnie Ellis and Ward 5 Councilor Susan Daye. Joyner was named on two of the suit’s five counts – violation of “liberty interests” and defamation against Manker – and Ellis was named on one count of conflict of interest in making the May 1 motion to dismiss Manker. Manker’s lawsuit also demands she be reinstated immediately because the termination violated Robert’s Rules of Order, the blueprint Hopewell uses in meeting conduct.
