Politics & Government

FCPS, Board to Addressing Open Meetings Violation Charges Today

County resident sues for alleged violations of FOIA/open meetings law

Officials of the Fairfax County Public Schools and members of the school board will be in Fairfax Circuit Court Wednesday at a trial to determine whether they violated Virginia’s open meetings or Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws during meetings that include those where board members discussed the closure of Clifton Elementary School.

Their appearance in court is the result of a lawsuit brought by Fairfax County resident Jill D. Hill, who is being represented by T. Michael Guiffre, an attorney with Patton Boggs in Washington, D.C. Guiffre has not returned Patch’s calls for comment.

Thomas J. Cawley, who is representing Fairfax County Public Schools and the board and is a partner at Hunton & Williams in McLean, said, "It's up to the petitioner to present her evidence.” In addition to Cawley, the legal team defending the FCPS will include Stuart Raphael, a partner at the firm, and Sona Rewari, also a partner.

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Patton Boggs issued subpoenas for the school officials and the entire board.

At a pre-trial hearing on Friday, attorneys for the school officials and board told the judge that the Wednesday trial was inconvenient for all 12 school board members to attend.

Find out what's happening in Kingstowne-Rose Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Cawley and his team argued that it was excessive for the entire board to be made to appear in court, since most of them hold full-time jobs.

The plaintiff's attorney argued that people who serve on juries must appear in court to do their duty and that it was up to the board members to show why it would be considered harassment to come to the courtroom for the trial.

The judge compromised, and said that instead of all 12 members of the school board appearing, that only six would have to appear. The petitioner got to choose which six board members should appear, Cawley said.

The revised list of Fairfax County Public School officials and board members who will appear at the trial on Wednesday are:

  • Pam Goddard, executive assistant and clerk to the board
  • Sara Kolb, management technician, Communications Dept., Fairfax County Public Schools
  • Paul Regnier, media coordinator, Fairfax County Public Schools
  • Dean Tistadt, chief operating officer, Fairfax County Public Schools

School Board members who will appear are:

  • Liz Bradsher
  • Martina Hone
  • Jim Raney
  • Patricia S. Reed
  • Kathy Smith, chairman of the school board
  • Judith Wilson

Those who will NOT appear are:

  • Brad Center, vice chairman
  • Sandra S. Evans
  • Stuart D. Gibson
  • Ilryong Moon
  • Daniel G. Storck
  • Jane K. Strauss 

At the pre-trial hearing on Friday, lawyers for the Fairfax County Public Schools told the judge that all documents requested through FOIA have been handed over, except for those that feature information regarding confidential HR or student information. The judge was to determine this week whether those e-mails are exempt.

Patch will be at the trial today, so look for the latest information late Wednesday.


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