Transparency News, 11/3/2022

 

 

Thursday
November 3, 2022

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state & local news stories

 

"All my teacher wants to talk about is how the book is sexist because it portrays the warriors as men and not women."

A high school senior in rural Riner, Va., reported his English teacher to state authorities for the way she was teaching “Beowulf.” “All my teacher wants to talk about is how the book is sexist because it portrays the warriors as men and not women,” the student wrote Jan. 30 to the teacher tip line that Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) had just set up to banish “divisive concepts” from public education. “I believe my teacher is in violation of Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order which prohibits the teaching of ‘divisive topics.’ ” The student’s email was one of 350 that the Youngkin administration released this week to settle a lawsuit that The Washington Post and a dozen other media outlets brought in April, after the governor refused to release tip-line submissions under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The 350 emails — many of them duplicates — are thought to represent a small fraction of the tips, although the total number submitted remains under wraps. Youngkin claimed that the tip-line submissions fall under a FOIA exemption for a governor’s “working papers and correspondence.” Under the terms of the settlement, his administration released only those tips that were also sent or forwarded to a Virginia Department of Education email address. The nonprofit ethics watchdog group American Oversight, which also sought copies of the tips, is still suing for them in a separate case filed in August in Arlington County Circuit Court.
The Washington Post
The news organizations reached a settlement agreement with Youngkin last month that called for the Department of Education to produce about 350 documents in its possession that included emails sent to the tip line. The governor’s office was not required to hand over documents sent to its office. “This Settlement Agreement is entered into as the result of a compromise solely for the purpose of avoiding additional expenses and the risk of further litigation. It should not be construed as adopting or rejecting the position of any Party to the litigation,” the settlement agreement says.
Associated Press
Thousands of people used Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s education tip line to issue a range of complaints, from accusations that schools are not complying with special education laws to anger about mask mandates, according to a review of records released from the governor’s office this week. The release of the emails comes as part of a settlement that the administration reached with a coalition of news outlets — including The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press — of a lawsuit they filed this spring. The group argued that, in refusing to release the emails, the administration was not complying with the Freedom of Information Act. Youngkin’s office claimed the emails were not public, citing an exemption that allows “working papers and correspondence of the Office of the Governor” to remain private. The coalition of news outlets — which also includes The Associated Press, National Public Radio, The Washington Post and CNN, among others — agreed to a settlement from Youngkin’s office that only emails that were also sent to the Department of Education, in addition to the tip line, would be released. “While we are grateful to have gotten some insight into the contents of this tip line, we know that this represents only a fraction of the thousands of emails the administration has received,” said Kris Worrell, editor in chief of Virginia Media, which includes The Pilot and Daily Press. “Questions remain about why this line was set up in the first place and how Gov. Youngkin intends to use the information they have gathered from the public, if at all.”
The Virginian-Pilot

Attorneys for Spotsylvania School Board member Nicole Cole on Wednesday withdrew a request for a temporary injunction preventing new division superintendent Mark Taylor from taking office, but said they plan to refile the request. Cole and her lawyers, Charles King and Phillip Thompson, were in Spotsylvania Circuit Court on Wednesday afternoon for a hearing on the request, which was filed Oct. 26, six days before Taylor’s Nov. 1 start date. Jeremy Capps, representing the School Board, filed a response Wednesday morning, arguing that since Taylor’s contract went into effect Tuesday, the legal concept of sovereign immunity—which provides that the government cannot be sued without its consent—prevents the court from being able to issue the injunction.
The Free Lance-Star

Well after the sun rose Wednesday, the page turned to the next chapter for Prince William County -- for better or worse. Around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Board of County Supervisors voted 5-2 along party lines to amend the county’s Comprehensive Plan to create the PW Digital Gateway data center complex. Around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Board of County Supervisors voted 5-2 along party lines to amend the county’s Comprehensive Plan to create the PW Digital Gateway data center complex. The vote came after a more than nine-hour public hearing, which eclipsed the length of the Planning Commission’s hearing on the project, and a roughly 14-hour meeting. The hearing started at 10:37 p.m. Tuesday and ended at 8:08 a.m. Wednesday. The board did not vote until 9:46 a.m. By the bitter end, 178 spoke in person and 61 spoke virtually for a total of 239. Supervisor Victor Angry made the motion to approve the proposal immediately after the public hearing ended, including a litany of changes to the staff proposal. Supervisor Jeanine Lawson was irate that Supervisor Ann Wheeler was not allowing her to ask more questions of county staff after the public hearing, saying it ignored the concerns raised in the hearing.
InsideNoVa

Following At-large Lynchburg City Councilman Randy Nelson’s announcement that he would resign in less than a week, fellow city leaders weighed in on the 12-year councilor’s career. Nelson’s decision to resign, which he said is effective Monday, Nov. 7, is because he wants to see one of the victors in Tuesday’s election specially appointed to council prior to the scheduled January swearing-in date in order to allow that person more time in the seat prior to fiscal year 2024 budget discussions. With the councilman’s impending resignation, City Attorney Matthew Freedman said Lynchburg City Council would have 30 days upon vacation of the seat, or until Dec. 7, to appoint a new member to council. The appointment of a new councilor would either happen during a special called meeting or during council’s regular meeting, Freedman said. The only regularly scheduled meeting left prior to the new year is scheduled for Dec. 13. Freedman said council would have to issue a notice of a special called meeting prior to that taking place, which according to the Freedom of Information Act is at least three working days prior.
The News & Advance
 

editorials & columns

"A $20,000 tab is nothing more than a disingenuous attempt to thwart the release of information that should be easily and openly available to any Virginian."

If Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares truly wants to restore trust in elections in the state, here is a good first step: Return the $20,000 deposit the NAACP made with a Freedom of Information Act request for documents that describe in detail what the AG’s new election integrity unit has done and what it has revealed about any episodes of election fraud. Miyares should also throw in the cost to taxpayers of the 20-lawyer unit. Virginia’s freedom of information law allows—but does not require – public officials to charge reasonable costs for gathering information requested by the public. The NAACP worries that Miyares’ squad may use tactics that intimidate voters of color. A $20,000 tab is nothing more than a disingenuous attempt to thwart the release of information that should be easily and openly available to any Virginian. If Miyares has dug up the kind of widespread, game-changing corruption that justifies spending hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of tax dollars on an election integrity unit, he needs to make that information readily available at no charge to any citizen. 
The Daily Progress


 

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