File cabinets. (Getty)
One of the less noticed features of the Virginia Way is the long-running tendency of the commonwealth’s leaders to conduct their decision-making behind closed doors. While the Virginia Freedom of Information Act presumes all government business is by default public and requires officials to justify why exceptions should be made, too many Virginia leaders in practice take the opposite stance, acting as if records are by default private and the public must prove they should be handled otherwise.
In this feature, we aim to highlight the frequency with which officials around Virginia are resisting public access to records on issues large and small — and note instances when the release of information under FOIA gave the public insight into how government bodies are operating.
Payroll error cost Petersburg schools $140K
Richmond-area TV station WTVR obtained public records showing that a Petersburg Public Schools payroll mistake cost the school division $140,000.
In a January pay cycle, the school division failed to make deductions to employees’ paychecks for money going to health insurance and retirement, leading to an unexpected pay bump for employees. Instead of getting the money back, according to WTVR, former Superintendent Tamara Sterling allowed employees to keep the extra money.
Sterling was mysteriously placed on leave earlier this year and officially resigned as the school division’s leader in late April.
Emails obtained by WTVR suggested the Petersburg School Board was unaware of how much the error, and Sterling’s decision to let it slide, would cost the division.
<infobox>The Mercury’s efforts to track FOIA and other transparency cases in Virginia are indebted to the work of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, a nonprofit alliance dedicated to expanding access to government records, meetings and other state and local proceedings.</endbox>
Youngkin lawyer appointed to ‘citizen’ seat on FOIA council
The Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council is supposed to be a mix of public officials, private citizens and media professionals. But those aren’t always distinct categories.
A lawyer working in Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration was appointed late last year to fill a citizen seat on the council, which studies FOIA issues and publishes advisory opinions on how FOIA laws should be interpreted.
Lindsay Fisher, a deputy counsel to the governor, was selected to serve a four-year term on the council by former House of Delegates Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah on Dec. 27, shortly before Gilbert handed over the office to current Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth. Fisher previously served as Gilbert’s policy director.
Youngkin’s administration routinely denies FOIA requests for records related to the governor, often using broad transparency exemptions shielding the governor’s “working papers and correspondence.”
The state law creating the FOIA council doesn’t define citizen to mean someone who doesn’t work in government. Instead, it defines a citizen as anyone who’s not a member of the General Assembly.
In a newsletter published this week, Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, argued officials should do a better job of finding actual citizens to serve on the FOIA Council.
“It’s hard to imagine citizen-forward proposals coming out of the FOIA Council when citizens are not part of the process,” Rhyne wrote.
Garren Shipley, a spokesman for Gilbert, who now serves as the House Minority Leader, called Fisher a smart and talented person.
“Leader Gilbert trusts her to do a good job,” he said.
Records reveal new Loudoun schools superintendent’s busy travel schedule
In his first academic year in charge of Loudoun County Public Schools, Superintendent Aaron Spence has spent about a month traveling to various conferences, according to records obtained by TV station WJLA.
Over the course of three months, Spence went to conferences in Miami, San Diego, Puerto Rico and Richmond, WJLA reported. He’s taken at least 10 trips this academic year and spent 24 school days at conferences in the same period.
Neither Spence nor Loudoun School Board Chair Melinda Mansfield responded to WJLA reporter Nick Minock’s questions about the superintendent’s travel.
Have you experienced local or state officials denying or delaying your FOIA request? Tell us about it: info@virginiamercury.com
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